Mr. Walton

“ Walton," said Maud, "and keep firm hold."
"I will, if Oscar consents."
"I will see about it. But here is my father. Father, this is my friend, Harry Walton."
"I am glad to see you, Mr. Walton," said Mr. Vincent. "Then you belong to my profession?"
"I hope to, some time, sir; but I am only a printer as yet."
"You are yet to rise from the ranks. I know all about that. I was once a compositor."
Harry looked at the editor with great respect. He was stout, squarely built, with a massive head and a thoughtful expression. His appearance was up to Harry's anticipations. ”

“ The mother would watch the pigeons flying into their hiding-places in the steeple, seeking a refuge from the wild storm, and then her eyes would be lifted higher to the weather-vane, as if seeking for news about the sea-wind. Still higher went her thoughts—to God.
“She’s thinking of him, that son,” said the observant neighbors, who never knowingly gave up a chance to see something. To Aunt Stanshy this bit of mystery only made Mr. Walton all the more interesting.
Mr. Walton thought the next day he would fish for scholars in the Grimes neighborhood, where Tony lived. ”

“ If so, I know where to find you."
"Thank you, sir."
"What's got into the old man?" thought Eustis Clark.
As Mr. Afton returned to his sanctum, Eustis said with a grin, holding up the card:
"Mr. Walton left his card for you, thinking you might not be in time to see him."
"Give it to me, if you please," and the rich man took the card without a smile, and put it into his vest pocket, not seeming in the least surprised.
"Mr. Walton called to pay me some money," he said, gravely. "Whenever he calls invite him to wait till my return." ”

“ Walton had said to him. But Daddy Tuggar would not permit his mind to wander a moment from the simple truth, which he kept saying over and over to himself, "I'm an awful sinner, and the good Lord come after just such."
Another thing that greatly perplexed the old man was that Mr. Walton had not been permitted to live long enough to see his daughter married. As an old neighbor, and because of his strong attachment to Annie, he had been invited to be present. ”

“ Walton in a matter-of-fact way. “He didn’t see it. Some day he’ll see it, but it won’t be because anybody tells him. The only way Hervey can learn that a tree is high is for him to fall out of it. That’s what I mean by his being near-sighted in a way.”
“Do you think those railroad workers are a good set?”
“Oh, they’re a good lot; good, strong men.”
“Well, I don’t care for that Hinkey, do you?”
Mr. Walton did not go into raptures over anybody from New York. He was a good New Englander. Nor had he been carried off his feet by the “million dollar theatre.” ”

“ I only wish I had as good a friend in the world as Mr. Walton has in you." With these words he sprung from the fence on the orchard side, and made his way to the hill behind the Walton residence, leaving the old man mumbling and muttering in a very profane manner.
"Like enough it was somebody visitin' at the Walton's, and I've made a—fool of myself after all. What's worse, that poor little Miss Eulie will hear I've been swearin' agin, and there'll be another awful prayin' time. What a cussed old fool I be, to promise to quit swearin'! I know I can't. What's the good o' stoppin'? ”

“ I warn you, Mr. Kemp, that Miss Walton will exaggerate my services. She has a way of overvaluing what is done for her, and undervaluing what she does for others."
"Well," said Mr. Kemp, with a significant nod, "that's a trait that runs in the Walton blood."
"I long ago came to regard their blood as of the truest blue," said
Gregory, laughing.
"Must you leave us again so soon?" said Annie, with a slight tremble in her voice.
"Yes, Miss Walton, even now I should be on the way to the train. But you are surrounded by those who can best take care of you. ”

“ Walton. “It’s odd how he hit on Montana.”
“One place is as good as another,” said Mr. Walton. “I’m glad it’s Montana, it costs so much to get there. If he had Harlem in mind, or Coney Island, I might worry.”
“He talks of them both,” said Mrs. Walton. “Yes, but I think his heart is in the big open spaces, where the fare is about a hundred dollars. If it were the Fiji Islands I’d be content.”
“Do you think he’d like to go to Europe with us next summer?” Mrs. Walton asked. “I can’t bear to leave him alone.” ”

“ Harry looked over to Fletcher, who, with a sour expression, was sitting upright, and looking straight before him.
"He don't look happy, does he?" whispered Oscar, comically.
Harry came near laughing aloud, but luckily for Fletcher's peace of mind, succeeded in restraining himself.
"He won't call you up again in a hurry; see if he does," continued
Oscar.
"I am sure we have all been gratified by Mr. Walton's spirited declamation," said the President, rising. "We congratulate ourselves upon adding so fine a speaker to our society, and hope often to have the pleasure of hearing him declaim." ”

“ Fletcher arched his brows in surprise, and said coldly, "Indeed, I was not aware Mr. Walton was in the city."
"He is visiting me," said Oscar.
Fletcher looked surprised. He knew the Vincents stood high socially, and it seemed extraordinary that they should receive a printer's devil as a guest.
"Have you given up the printing business?" he asked superciliously.
"No; I only have a little vacation from it."
"Ah, indeed! It's a very dirty business. I would as soon be a chimney-sweep."
"Each to his taste, Fitz," said Oscar. "If you have a taste for chimneys, I hope your father won't interfere." ”

“ It will be a pity to have our exercises incomplete."
Fletcher was angry, and wanted to be revenged on somebody. A bright idea came to him. He would place the "printer's devil," whose admission to the Society he resented, in an awkward position. He rose with a malicious smile upon his face.
"Mr. President," he said, "doubtless Mr. Walton, the new member who has done us the honor to join our society, will be willing to supply my place."
"We shall certainly be glad to hear a declamation from Mr. Walton, though it is hardly fair to call upon him at such short notice." ”

“ Why had his father asked him to do this thing?
They were passing through the narrowest part of Borrowdale, where the steep hills confront each other closely in all their rugged beauty. At the bottom of the gorge the river was rushing madly over its rocky bed; overhead towered the mighty Castle Crag, guarding the narrow pass. Every kind of beauty of rock and wood and river, of mossy bank and fern-covered glade, seemed crowded together in that lovely spot.
"What do you think of it, Mr. Fortescue?"
"Glorious!" he said. "How delightful to live amongst it all!" ”

“ To send a boy out into the world to earn his own living is a hazardous experiment, and fathers are less sanguine than their sons. Their experience suggests difficulties and obstacles of which the inexperienced youth knows and possesses nothing. But in the present case Mr. Walton reflected that the little farming town in which he lived offered small inducements for a boy to remain there, unless he was content to be a farmer, and this required capital. His farm was too small for himself, and of course he could not give Harry a part when be came of age. ”

“ Walton; "Harry was always good at his books."
"I guess he knows enough now. You'd ought to set him to work."
"He is ready enough to work," said Mr. Walton. "He never was lazy."
"That's good. There's a sight of lazy, shiftless boys about in these days. Seems as if they expected to earn their bread 'n butter a-doin' nothin'. I've been a thinkin', neighbor Walton, that you'll find it hard to pay for that cow in six months." ”

“ Oscar struck in.
The editor hesitated.
"It is not our custom to pay novices just at first," he said. "If
Mr. Walton keeps on writing, he would soon command compensation."
Harry would not have dared to press the matter, but Oscar was not so diffident. Indeed, it is easier to be bold in a friend's cause than one's own.
"Don't you think it is worth being paid for, if it is worth printing?" he persisted.
"Upon that principle, we should feel obliged to pay for poetry," said the editor.
"Oh," said Oscar, "poets don't need money. They live on flowers and dew-drops." ”

“ “You ought to have principles of your own, Mr Walton.”
“I hope I have. And one of them is, not to make mountains of molehills; for a molehill is not a mountain. A man ought to have too much to do in obeying his conscience and keeping his soul’s garments clean, to mind whether he wears black or white when telling his flock that God loves them, and that they will never be happy till they believe it.” ”

“ When I first knew him, he was only a printer's apprentice."
Fletcher wanted to say printer's devil, but did not venture to do so in presence of a young lady.
"He will rise higher than that."
"I dare say," said Fletcher, with a sneer, "he will rise in time to be a journeyman with a salary of fifteen dollars a week."
"If I am not mistaken in Mr. Walton, he will rise much higher than that. Many of our prominent men have sprung from beginnings like his." ”

“ I'm sure I didn't. Why, I calls her my little sunbeam, sir! You'll excuse me saying so, but I don't feel over and above kindly to you for taking her away from me; I don't indeed, sir.'
'Then I don't know what you will say to me when you hear I want to rob you further,' said Mr. Villiers.
'Rob me further?' repeated my grandfather.
'Yes,' said Mr. Villiers, putting his hand on my shoulder. 'I want to take this grandson of yours away too. It seems to me a great pity that such a fine lad should waste his days shut up on this little island. ”

“ She would get Polly's old Testament every night and read to us as we sat over the fire, and tell us what her mother said about the texts. I learnt more from that little lass than I ever knew before."
"I shall never forget one evening, Master Stanley; I had been telling her all about that terrible night when I fetched her from the wreck."
"'Weren't you very frightened, Mr. Jonah?' she says—she always called me Mr. Jonah, bless her!" ”

“ I smiled. “The worldly reputation and the professional reputation of men occasionally differ very greatly, Miss Walton. We do not accept a man here because his name appears often in the newspapers, but because of what the men of his own calling know and think of him.”
“And of course they are always jealous of a man who has surpassed them,” contended Mr. Whitely.
“There must be something more against a man than envy of his confrères to exclude him,” I answered. “My loyalty to the Philomathean, Miss Walton, is due to the influence it exerts in this very matter. ”

“ You're not on the Rock at all, you're on the sand!' He was going to add more, when one of Captain Sayer's men ran up to say the steamer was ready to start, and would they kindly come at once, as it was late already. So the two gentlemen jumped up, and prepared hastily to go down to the beach.
But as old Mr. Davis took leave of my grandfather, he said earnestly,—
'My friend, you are building on the sand; you are indeed, and it won't stand the storm; no, it won't stand the storm!' He had no time to say more, the sailor hastened him away. ”

“ He was talking in a loud blustering voice to several workmen, and as Frank entered he heard the last part of the speech.
“So you can tell Smorthwaite and the rest of ’em that they can come on again on the old terms, but they’ll not get a farthing more. Well, boy,” as he noticed Frank standing humbly in the background, “what do you want?”
Mr Green’s manner was that of an incensed and much-tried man, and Frank felt quite afraid to speak.
“Please, sir,” he said, “do you want a boy in the factory?”
“Do I want a boy!” repeated the overseer, addressing the ceiling in a voice of despair. ”

“ Mr Vallance strode quickly up and down the garden path; he foresaw that he would have to yield, and it made him very angry.
“Nonsense, my dear,” he said testily; “people are much too fond of talking about Heaven doing this and that. That ill-looking scamp of a gypsy fellow hadn’t much to do with Heaven, I fancy.”
“Heaven chooses its own instruments,” said Priscilla quietly; and Mr Vallance made no answer, for he had said that very same thing in his last sermon.
“I’ll have those tramps looked after at any rate,” he said, rousing himself with sudden energy. ”

“ And often now when I hear the notes of 'Home, sweet Home,' it takes my thoughts to old Treffy, and I think what a happy time he must have had in 'the city bright,' all these fifteen years."
"Do you remember how you used to want to go there too, Christie?"
"Yes, Mr. Wilton, and I don't want it any the less now; but still I should like to live some years longer, if it is His will. There is so much to do in the world, isn't there, sir? And what I do only seems to me like a drop in the ocean when I look at the hundreds of people there are in these crowded courts ”

“ “Take my advice, my dear Mr Walton, and don’t make too much of your poor, or they’ll soon be too much for you to manage.—Come, Pet: it’s time to go home to lunch.—And for the surplice, take your own way and wear it. I shan’t say anything more about it.” ”

“ Mr. Anderson smiled. He liked what he had seen of his new apprentice, but he thought Ferguson altogether too sanguine.
"He's a good, faithful boy," he admitted, "but it takes more than that to rise to distinction. If all the smart boys turned out smart men, they'd be a drug in the market."
But Ferguson held to his own opinion, notwithstanding. Time will show which was right.
The next day Ferguson said, "Harry, come round to my house, and take tea to-night. I've spoken to my wife about you, and she wants to see you."
"Thank you, Mr. Ferguson," said Harry. "I shall be very glad to come." ”