Down,
viper!"
A tumbler thrown from the same parental fist laid out the youthful
Harrison cold. The four other children had, in the mean time,
gathered around the table with anxious expectancy. With a chuckle,
the now changed and brutal John Jenkins produced four pipes, and,
filling them with tobacco, handed one to each of his offspring and
bade them smoke. "It's better than bread!" laughed the wretch
hoarsely.
Mary Jenkins, though of a patient nature, felt it her duty now to
speak. "I have borne much, John Jenkins," she said. "But I prefer
that the children should not smoke. It is an unclean habit, and
soils their clothes. I ask this as a special favor!"
John Jenkins hesitated,--the pangs of remorse began to seize him.
"Promise me this, John!" urged Mary upon her knees.
"I promise!" reluctantly answered John.
"And you will put the money in a savings-bank?"
"I will," repeated her husband; "and I'LL give up smoking, too."
"'Tis well, John Jenkins!" said Judge Boompointer, appearing
suddenly from behind the door, where he had been concealed during
this interview. "Nobly said! my man. Cheer up! I will see that
the children are decently buried.
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