Ten Nights in a Bar Room. T. S. Arthur

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СКАЧАТЬ with a slightly ruffled manner, “who is never disposed to take people as they are when they choose to render themselves disagreeable. If I was Mr. Slade, as I remarked in the beginning, I’d pitch that fellow into the road the next time he put his foot over my door step.”

      “Not if I were present,” remarked the other, coolly.

      Green was on his feet in a moment, and I saw, from the flash of his eyes, that he was a man of evil passions. Moving a pace or two in the direction of the other, he said sharply.

      “What is that, sir?”

      The individual against whom his anger was so suddenly aroused was dressed plainly, and had the appearance of a working man. He was stout and muscular.

      “I presume you heard my words. They were spoken distinctly,” he replied, not moving from where he sat, nor seeming to be in the least disturbed. But there was a cool defiance in the tones of his voice and in the steady look of his eyes.

      “You’re an impertinent fellow, and I’m half tempted to chastise you.”

      Green had scarcely finished the sentence, ere he was lying full length upon the floor. The other had sprung upon him like a tiger, and with one blow from his heavy fist, struck him down as if he had been a child. For a moment or two, Green lay stunned and bewildered—then, starting up with a savage cry, that sounded more bestial than human, he drew a long knife from a concealed sheath, and attempted to stab his assailant, but the murderous purpose was not accomplished, for the other man, who had superior strength and coolness, saw the design, and with a well directed blow almost broke the arm of Green, causing the knife to leave his hand and glide far across the room.

      “I’m half tempted to wring your neck off,” exclaimed the man, whose name was Lyon, now much excited, and seizing Green by the throat, he strangled him until his face grew black. “Draw a knife on me, ha! You murdering villain!” And he gripped him tighter.

      Judge Lyman and the landlord now interfered, and rescued Green from the hands of his fully aroused antagonist. For some time they stood growling at each other, like two parted dogs struggling to get free, in order to renew the conflict, but gradually cooled off. In a little while Judge Lyman drew Green aside, and the two men left the bar-room to other. In the door, as they were retiring, the former slightly nodded to Willy Hammond, who soon followed them, going into the sitting room, and from thence, as I could perceive, upstairs to an apartment above.

      “Not after much good,” I heard Lyon mutter to himself. “If Judge Hammond don’t look a little closer after that boy of his, he’ll be sorry for it, that’s all.”

      “Who is this Green?” I asked of Lyon, finding myself alone with him in the bar-room soon after.

      “A blackleg, I take it,” was his unhesitating answer.

      “Does Judge Lyman suspect his real character?”

      “I don’t know anything about that, but I wouldn’t be afraid to bet ten dollars, that if you could look in upon them now, you would find cards in their hands.”

      “What a school, and what teachers for the youth who just went with them!” I could not help remarking.

      “Willy Hammond?”

      “Yes.”

      “You may well say that. What can his father be thinking about to leave him exposed to such influences!”

      “He’s one of the few who are in raptures about this tavern, because its erection has slightly increased the value of his property about here, but if he is not the loser of fifty per cent for every one gained, before ten years go by, I’m very much in error.”

      “How so?”

      “It will prove, I fear, the open door to ruin to his son.”

      “That’s bad,” said I.

      “Bad! It is awful to think of. There is not a finer young man in the country, nor one with better mind and heart, than Willy Hammond. So much the sadder will be his destruction. Ah, sir! this tavern-keeping is a curse to any place.”

      “But I thought, just now, that you spoke in favor of letting even the poor drunkard’s money go into the landlord’s till, in order to encourage his commendable enterprise in opening so good a tavern.”

      “We all speak with covert irony sometimes,” answered the man, “as I did then. Poor Joe Morgan! He is an old and early friend of Simon Slade. They were boys together, and worked as millers under the same roof for many years. In fact, Joe’s father owned the mill, and the two learned their trade with him. When old Morgan died, the mill came into Joe’s hands. It was in rather a worn-out condition, and Joe went in debt for some pretty thorough repairs and additions of machinery. By and by, Simon Slade, who was hired by Joe to run the mill, received a couple of thousand dollars at the death of an aunt. This sum enabled him to buy a share in the mill, which Morgan was very glad to sell in order to get clear of his debt. Time passed on, and Joe left his milling interest almost entirely in the care of Slade, who, it must be said in his favor, did not neglect the business. But it somehow happened—I will not say unfairly—that at the end of ten years, Joe Morgan no longer owned a share in the mill. The whole property was in the hands of Slade. People did not much wonder at this; for while Slade was always to be found at the mill, industrious, active, and attentive to customers, Morgan was rarely seen on the premises. You would oftener find him in the woods, with a gun over his shoulder, or sitting by a trout brook, or lounging at the tavern. And yet everybody liked Joe, for he was companionable, quick-witted, and very kind-hearted. He would say sharp things, sometimes, when people manifested little meannesses; but there was so much honey in his gall, that bitterness rarely predominated.

      “A year or two before his ownership in the mill ceased, Morgan married one of the sweetest girls in our town—Fanny Ellis, that was her name, and she could have had her pick of the young men. Everybody affected to wonder at her choice; and yet nobody really did wonder, for Joe was an attractive young man, take him as you would, and just the one to win the heart of a girl like Fanny. What if he had been seen, now and then, a little the worse for drink! What if he showed more fondness for pleasure than for business! Fanny did not look into the future with doubt or fear. She believed that her love was strong enough to win him from all evil allurements: and, as for this world’s goods, they were matters in which her maiden fancies rarely busied themselves.

      “Well. Dark days came for her, poor soul! And yet, in all the darkness of her earthly lot, she has never, it is said, been anything but a loving, forbearing, self-denying wife to Morgan. And he—fallen as he is, and powerless in the grasp of the monster intemperance—has never, I am sure, hurt her with a cruel word. Had he added these, her heart would, long ere this, have broken. Poor Joe Morgan! Poor Fanny! Oh, what a curse is this drink!”

      The man, warming with his theme, had spoken with an eloquence I had not expected from his lips. Slightly overmastered by his feelings, he paused for a moment or two, and then added:

      “It was unfortunate for Joe, at least, that Slade sold his mill, and became a tavern-keeper; for Joe had a sure berth, and wages regularly paid. He didn’t always stick to his work, but would go off on a spree every now and then; but Slade bore with all this, and worked harder himself to make up for his hand’s shortcoming. And no matter what deficiency the little store-room at home might show, Fanny Morgan never found her meal barrel empty without knowing where to get it replenished.

      “But, after Slade sold his mill, a sad change took place. The new СКАЧАТЬ