Walter Aimwell

“ At length one morning, as Emily and Harriet were sitting at the bed-side of the sufferer, while their mother was necessarily absent, Mary awoke from a short, troubled sleep, and, with a wild, unnatural look, began to talk very fast and very singularly about a great many different things.
“There’s my old snow man,” she said, pointing to a bed-post on which some light-colored clothing was hanging; “old man, old man, old man, do you know who made you? I know who it was—’twas Clinty. O mother, see that! see that! isn’t it beautiful! ”

“ The truth was, Clinton went to school, that morning, with a vague foreboding that his guilt was about to be brought to light. By some mysterious process, which I cannot explain, a secret impression of approaching evil sometimes weighs heavily upon the mind, without any known cause. This was the case with Clinton, that morning, and the glance which his teacher cast toward him, after reading Jerry’s excuse, sent the conviction to his heart that he was discovered. How easily does guilt betray itself! ”

“ Jerry remained upon the deck nearly all the afternoon; and no one, from Bob to the Captain, took any notice of him, except to laugh at his condition. Sea-sick people generally get but little sympathy from old salts. Towards sunset, feeling no better, Jerry asked one of the sailors if he would please to show him to his bed-room,—for, in his simplicity, it had never occurred to him that a bed-room, and even a bed, were luxuries that did not belong to the sea. ”

“ Jerry took the cigar offered, but Clinton shook his head, saying that he did not smoke.
“You don’t know what you lose, then,” said Oscar. “I’ve smoked these two or three years, and I couldn’t live without my cigar, now. You can’t imagine how much pleasure there is in it. Come, just try this, and see if it isn’t nice.”
“No,” replied Clinton, “I don’t wish to. Father hates tobacco, in every shape, and he wouldn’t like it if he knew I smoked.”
“But this is all prejudice,” added Oscar. “Smoking never hurt me, yet, and nobody can make me believe that there is any harm in it. ”

“ One wrong act prepares the way for another. One bad habit invites and attracts others. Thus the little one soon becomes a troop, and the feeble enemy swells into a formidable giant.
[Pg 62]
Oscar and Jerry were fast descending the downward path of evil. Having nothing else to employ themselves about, mischief-making became the main business of their lives. They were away from home a large portion of the time; and as Mr. Preston was glad to have them go off, for the sake of quiet and peace at home, he seldom troubled himself to inquire where they went, or what they did. ”

“ I don’t like that Jerry Preston, and I’m afraid he is doing Clinton no good.”
“You are only borrowing trouble when there is no need of it,” replied Mr. Davenport. “I don’t see but that Clinton behaves as well now as he ever did. At any rate, I’ve no fault to find with his conduct, and nobody else has yet made any complaint against him. You must not expect that he will always be precisely the same little boy he used to be. As he grows older, he will naturally change, like all the rest of us.” ”

“ Clinton made no reply to their bantering, but kept on digging. After a minute’s pause, Jerry resumed the conversation by saying,—
“Clin, you are the queerest fellow I ever saw.”
“How so?” inquired Clinton.
“Why, I never come over here but I find you hard at work about something or other. You must love to work better than I do.”
“Yes, and such work, too,” chimed in Oscar; “you’re making a complete clodhopper of yourself. You’ll be an old man before you are a young one, if you don’t mind. Why doesn’t your father make his men do this hard drudgery, instead of putting it upon you?” ”

“ After Clinton had concluded his confession, Master Eaton sat in silence several moments, apparently engaged in deep thought. At length he spoke:—
“This is sad business, Clinton,—sad business. You have been guilty of a series of forgeries, in repeatedly signing another person’s name. You have also aided and encouraged a bad boy in his evil ways, and are to some extent responsible for his wickedness.” ”

“ This they undertake to do, by describing the quiet, natural scenes and incidents of every-day life, in city and country, at home and abroad, at school and upon the play-ground, rather than by resorting to romantic adventures and startling effects. While their main object is to persuade the young to lay well the foundations of their characters, to win them to the ways of virtue, and to incite them to good deeds and noble aims, the attempt is also made to mingle amusing, curious and useful information with the moral lessons conveyed. ”

“ Really, husband, I begin to feel uneasy about Clinton. He is away from home a great deal more than he used to be, and when he is here, he seems like a different boy from what he was a year or two ago. You say you don’t notice anything unusual about him, but that only shows that a mother’s eye is more quick to read the heart than a man’s. I see a change in his conduct. He is more reserved than he used to be ”

“ CLINTON, AND HIS HOME. Most people on entering the little village of Brookdale for the first time, are struck with the beauty of its location. Those who were born there, and who have always lived in sight of its green hills, and pleasant valleys, and frolicsome rivulets, probably do not think so much of these things as does the stranger who happens to come among them, and who has an eye for the beauty of nature. Beautiful objects often lose their attractions when they become familiar to us. ”

“ Pigs and poultry are frequently carried to sea, to furnish a supply of fresh meat for passengers and sailors; but these particular pigs, to whose acquaintance Jerry was so summarily introduced, were themselves passengers, on their way to a foreign land. A small pen had been fitted up for them on deck, and as cleanliness [Pg 161] is one of the cardinal virtues on ship-board, it was necessary that they should be continually looked after. And cleaning out a hog-sty was to be Jerry’s first experience of “a life on the ocean wave!” ”

“ The sailors regard these birds with much superstitious fear, because they appear in greatest numbers just before a storm, and are besides very singular in their habits; but the petrels are really very inoffensive birds, and have no more to do with getting up a tempest than our ducks, geese, swallows, snow-birds, and other land birds, which are uncommonly noisy and busy just before a storm. Tom, however, like most sailors, believed the traditions concerning the petrel, and when he told Jerry they were messengers of the evil one, they lost none of their interest in the eyes of the young sailor. ”

“ If Oscar had only been at home, he would have lost no time in seeing him; but he knew, from letters received by his parents, that his wayward cousin had gone to sea, several months before. A stranger, in a great city, with no one to advise or assist, and cast entirely upon his own resources, it must be confessed that Jerry felt rather dull, that morning. ”

“ Clinton continued his daily labors in the garden, which now began to give tokens of a fair harvest. He set apart a portion of each day to this business, and was always to be found engaged at his work, when the set hour arrived. While weeding the beds, and hoeing the corn and potatoes, and training the pea and bean vines, his thoughts often wandered far away,—sometimes to Jerry, now probably near the end of his voyage; and sometimes to the little stone cell in which Oscar was awaiting his trial. ”

“ He also discovered that the name of the brig was “The Susan.”
Towards the evening of the second day out, the weather grew milder and the sea more calm. The brig, which had dashed through the water as if on a race, from the moment they got under headway, now began to slacken her speed,—and one of the old sailors predicted an “Irishman’s hurricane,” as a calm is sometimes humorously called. The motion of the vessel was much less perceptible, and Jerry began to get over his sea-sickness. ”

“ The ice upon the pond was still quite thick, but it was too soft and rough for skating. The sled runners cut in so deeply, that there was little fun in sliding down hill. Besides, skating and coasting had got to be old stories, and the boys were heartily tired of all their winter sports. ”

“ Clinton had one sister, but no brothers; her name was Annie; and she was seven years younger than her brother. She was a beautiful child, with large, blue eyes full of confidence and love, a fat, rosy face, and hair that hung in golden curls about her white shoulders. She was all gentleness and affection, and was the pet and favorite of the household. No boy of his age ever loved a sister more than Clinton did his. Though she was so much younger than himself, he spent much of his time with her, joining in sports in [Pg 18] which she could take a part, or making playthings for her amusement. ”

“ He is with his family only four or five months in the year, and during that time he works hard, at farming, not for himself, but as a hired man.”
“I should think he would feel bad, when he thinks how he wasted his youth,” said Clinton.
“He does,” said Mr. Davenport. “He is a worthy and industrious man now, but he cannot repair the errors of his boyhood. Had he worked half as hard when a youth as he has had to since, he would probably be under no necessity of laboring now. But then his parents were rich and indulgent, and he thought he should never be obliged to work. ”

“ They are not at all particular about their location, but will manage to flourish wherever they can find a standing place. They seem to take it for granted that a birch tree is better than no tree, and so they squeeze in and fill up the spaces in the forests, and settle down upon all unappropriated tracts. And in fact they are not to be despised; for they grow rapidly, are rather pretty, and are not only useful to tanners and school-masters, but their branches make strong withes, when green, and their wood makes good fuel, when seasoned.”
“Quite a catalogue of virtues,” remarked Clinton. ”