CHAPTER XXXII 



THE HOME-COMING 



IN arranging to move my establishment I was 

 in a quandary as to what it was best to do for 

 a coachman. Lars had been with me fifteen 

 years. He came a green Swedish lad, developed 

 into a first-class coachman, married a nice girl 

 and for twelve years he and his wife lived hap- 

 pily in the rooms above my stable. Two boys 

 were born to them, and these lads were now ten 

 and twelve years of age. Shortly after I bought 

 the farm Lars was so unfortunate as to lose his 

 good wife, and he and the boys were left forlorn. 

 A relative came and gave them such care as she 

 could, but the mother and wife was missed be- 

 yond remedy. In his depression Lars took to 

 drink, and things began to go wrong in the stable. 

 He was not often drunk, but he was much of the 

 time under the influence of alcohol, and conse- 

 quently not reliable. I had done my best for 

 the poor fellow, and he took my lectures and 

 chidings in the way they were intended, and, in- 

 deed, he tried hard to break loose from the one bad 

 habit, but with no good results. His evil friends 

 had such strong hold on him that they could and 



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