1496 
NEW-YORKER 
THE RURAL 
December 18, 1915. 
“Where you goin’, Lant?” asked his 
father, as the boy pulled on his cap arid 
began fumbling in his overcoat pocket 
for his mittens. 
The chores were done, and Lant and 
Leon were quietly slipping into their out¬ 
door clothes, as they had been doing for 
many evenings during the past few weeks. 
“O, we’re going over to Fred’s,” care¬ 
lessly answered Lant, but he looked 
quickly at his mother’s troubled face. lie 
suddenly remembered that she had been 
looking troubled nearly all the afternoon, 
and he wondered if she had heard anything. 
Suddenly, without warning, the storm 
broke from his father. 
“Now see here, Lant, you an’ Leon 
take off yer duds an’ hang ’em up. Ye 
ain’t goin’ to any skatin’ rink tonight or 
any night ef I know myself.” 
The boys’ faces flamed as they stood 
staring—too surprised to obey. 
“Come, peel ’em off, do ye hear?” con¬ 
tinued their father. “I know all about 
yer goin’s on for the past few weeks an’ 
there’s goin’ to be a .stop put to it right 
this minute.” 
The boys obeyed, full of shame at first. 
Then a fierce anger filled the heart of the 
elder boy and made him daring. 
“I'd like to know what harm there was 
in it,” lie blurted out as his eyes filled 
with angry tears. 
“It’s yer sneakin’ off without fellin’ 
where yer goin’, an’ spending the little 
ye had saved on sutliin’ ’taint goin’ to 
do ye a mite o’ good. Here ye been ‘goin’ 
over to Fred’s’ two or three times a week 
fer the past six weeks, an’ I s'pose it. | 
would have run on all Winter ef I hadn’t 
jest happened to see Fred’s father an’ 
happened to mention it jest right so's he 
told me all about it. He carried the idea 
all the while that I knew about it.” 
“I can’t see where the harm is when 
Fred’s father knew about it,” ventured 
Leon. 
“Ye don’t, hey? Well, I do,” said his 
father, “an’ ef I ever catch ye a stealin’ 
off in any sech way ag’in, I’ll tan yer 
jackets so’st ye’ll remember it fer one 
spell.” 
Lant and Leon had always been good, 
honest, obedient boys and this was their 
first thoughtless disregard of their fath¬ 
er’s wishes. 
Lant’s anger flamed again. Putting 
aside all caution he answered his father 
in a way he had never before dreamed 
of doing. 
“What ’ud be the use asking you to 
go anywheres? You'd never let us go a 
step,—and what’s the fun around here 
anyway? Just eating and sleeping and 
doing chores all Winter. Who wants to 
go to bed at seven o’clock every night? 
We can’t never ask the boys over here 
’cause you say you won't have any pow¬ 
wow in your house when decent folks 
ought to be in bed. Then Leon and I 
can’t play checkers or dominoes without 
being sent to bed if we happen to jest 
talk a little loud over the game. O, it’s 
lots of fun that is! You just wait ’til 
I get to be twenty-one. I'll—” 
“Now that’s jest enough, Lant,” said 
his father sternly. “I’m yer boss yet, 
and ye jest remember it.” 
Then he turned suddenly on the young¬ 
er boy. “How much corn did you fellows 
husk this afternoon while I went to the 
village?” 
“A bushel and a half,” said Leon sud¬ 
denly. 
“A plaguy fine afternoon’s work, that 
is” stormed his father, “fer two big strap- 
pin’ fellows like you. What was the mat¬ 
ter couldn’t ye find any ears?” 
Lant was too angry to answer but 
Leon burst out: “Well I guess if you had 
a hand so lame you could hardly break off 
a nubbin you wouldn’t want to husk corn 
in the cold.” 
“There ain’t a mite o’ need of yer 
havin’ to do it in the cold,” said his 
father, “an’ you know it. Here that 
barn floor’s been full of corn since the 
first of October, an’ ye haint got it half 
husked yet. That’s what happens with 
yer gaddin’ off to Chateaugay to a rol¬ 
ler rink! Now you git fer bed an’ yer 
goin’ to husk corn tomorrow. Do ye 
hear?” 
The boys obeyed, but their hearts were 
full of bitter disappointment and eyes 
full of angry tears. 
Ephraim thought he was doing his duty 
by his boys, and it had grieved him sad¬ 
ly to be told of their stolen pleasure 
trips. He was a good man, absolutely 
honest, and really kind-hearted, but like 
hundreds of other hard-working farmers 
of the North Country, he had simply for¬ 
gotten what it was like to be a boy. 
Mand.v, his wife, understood the sit¬ 
uation, and after Ephraim had told her 
of his talk with Fred’s father, she had 
been sadly troubled. Hhe knew that she 
would have to make Ephraim see the 
mistake he was unconciously making, 
and she dreaded the ordeal through which 
she must pass before she should gain her 
end. Never for one .minute did she de¬ 
spair of gaining her point but Ephraim 
was “set in his way,” and it was going 
to be a struggle for sure. 
All the afternoon she had been think¬ 
ing, planning and preparing for the siege. 
As Mand.v finished her work Ephraim 
sat by the kitchen stove with his shoes 
off, as he was in the habit of doing before 
going to bed. Ilis wife had been silent 
all the evening, and perhaps Ephraim 
saw the signs of conflict, for when she 
finally came and sat down near him with 
her knitting he said curiously: 
“Well, Mandy?” 
Over two hours later he got up from his 
chair, filled the stove with wood for tin 1 
night, and as he slammed the dampers 
all t ight, he said: 
“Well, Mandy, mebbe youTe right. 
You ’most always are I guess, anyway. 
I’ll try it as you say. Wimmen folks 
hev queer ways o’ lookin’ at things, I’ll 
be bound, but somehow they seem to hit 
the mark too.” 
He threw off his suspenders and 
walked over to the big calendar that ad¬ 
vertised a well-known brand of fertilizer. 
“Jest a week an’ two days before 
Christmas,” he said. “Mabbe I'd better 
go down to the village tomorrow an’ see 
about ’em. They might hev to send off 
fer ’em.” 
“That would be a good plan, I think,” 
said Mandy, as she finished winding the 
clock. 
Christmas morning Leon awakened his 
brother by shaking his shoulder and say¬ 
ing, “Merry Christmas, Lant. Come, let’s 
look in our socks.” 
“Aw, go on, there ain’t nothin’ but a 
necktie and some handkerchiefs,” an¬ 
swered Lant. “I’m not goin’ to get up 
till I just have to.” 
Ephraim Shows the Boys How to Skate. 
smiled and rubbed his hands above the 
warm stove. 
Finally he said, “Come boys, let’s we 
go an’ do the chores while yer raa gets 
breakfast an’ then mebbe ye can move 
some of the bundles of corn an’ try yer 
skates out there.” 
“The very place,” agreed both boys, as 
they hurried into the rest of their clothes. 
The chores were done that morning 
without any scolding or urging on the 
part of Ephraim; then by lifting the 
bundles of corn and piling them up at 
the back, the boys cleared nearly half of 
the big barn floor. 
During dinner the boys told of the 
fun they were having in the barn. 
“It’s piles more fun than the rink,” 
said Lant. 
“It’s got the rink beat forty ways,” 
said Leon. Then Ephraim told of the 
times, when he went, as a boy, to visit 
an uncle who lived at Chateaugay Lake, 
and how he learned to skate so well that 
he could mark his initials in the ice with 
his skates. 
♦ 
“Come on out to the barn, pa,” said 
the boys, after dinner, “and watch us 
skate.” He went, and spent nearly the 
whole afternoon there. 
That evening after chore time and sup¬ 
per time were over the boys lighted a 
couple of lanterns and started again for 
the barn. Mandy brought out her pan 
“There might be some candy,” said 
Leon. 
“You might feel and see,” suggested 
his brother, “but I’ll bet thex-c isn’t a 
bit. Ma hasn't been to the' village for 
nearly three weeks.” 
Leon crawled carefully out of the warm 
blankets and began feeling for the foot of 
the bed. Ilis hand encountered something 
big that swung against the bed with a 
queer sounding thump. 
“Gee, Lant!” he cried excitedly, 
“there’s something big on my bedpost.” 
He made short work of the paper wrap¬ 
per, and then with a shout he tumbled 
back beside Lant. “Holier skates, as sure 
as preachin’.” he cried. “Feel ’em and 
see!” 
. Lant was thoroughly aroused now, he 
felt Leon’s skates with one hand and 
then made a grab for his bedpost. Ilis 
hand struck another paper wrapped par¬ 
cel—“Me too!” he gasped excitedly. 
.“I’ll bet that’s some of mil's doin’s,” 
said Leon. 
“Sure thing,” said Lant. He was sev¬ 
enteen, but no one would have suspected 
him of being more than seven by the way 
he danced and shouted over his present. 
The boys pulled on part of their clothes, 
grabbed the rest in their arms and tum¬ 
bled down the stairs. 
Ephraim had just started a fire in the 
kitchen stove and it was snapping and 
roaring with the dampers wide open. 
“Why, what's up now?” said he as he 
Ephraim’s Christmas Experiment 
By the Brown Owl 
and began to got things ready to set bread 
for the next day’s baking; but Ephraim 
fussed about the kitchen in a way most 
unusual for him. By this time he should 
have had his shoes off and been sitting 
before the oven door, but he had not even 
taken off his shoes. The fire did not 
need more wood, but lie managed to find 
room for one more stick. Then he re¬ 
piled the two armfuls of wood that Leon 
had brought in after supper. 
Mandy watched him with great amuse¬ 
ment. .She knew what the matter was 
and she knew that she would have to help 
him out. Finally she went to the flour 
sack and reaching far over it to hide 
her smile she said : 
“Do you suppose those boys will think 
to hang those lanterns where they’re safe, 
Ephraim?” 
“I’ll go right out an’ see. Mandy,” he 
answered, and he lost no time in getting 
out of the house. lie found the boys en¬ 
joying themselves, and making a great 
racket as they rolled back and forth over 
the floor. Ephraim seated himself on the 
overturned bushel basket close to the pile 
of unliusked corn, and soon found that lie 
was enjoying himself almost as much 
as the boys themselves. Then he began 
to call their attention to mistakes they 
were making. 
“You’ve got to learn to turn yer cor¬ 
ners better’n that. Why don’t ye lift 
yer off foot up and put it clean over the 
other one when ye come to a corner?” 
he said. 
“It’s easier to say it than ’tis to do it,” 
puffed Lant. 
“() pshaw!” answered his father, “I 
don’t believe it’s a mite different than 
skatin’ on ice.” 
“Try it and see then,” answered Lant. 
“By gum, I bet ye I kin show ye 
how to turn a corner right,” boasted 
Ephraim. 
Lant lost no time in taking off his 
skates. Then he dropped on the floor lie- 
side the bushel basket and fastened the 
skates firmly to his father’s feet, being- 
careful to tuck th(> ends of the straps well 
underneath. 
“There, off you go. pa,” said Lant as 
he arose from the floor. 
Ephraim arose boldly to his feet and 
tried to throw his weight on the “inside 
edge” of his skates. There didn’t seem 
to be any inside edge, however, and be¬ 
fore he fairly made the discovery he 
found himself in the air going somewhere. 
He never knew exactly how it all hap¬ 
pened but after a time he opened his eyes 
and found that he was on his back ( on 
the barn floor and the boys were leaning 
against the hay mow just yelling. He 
was mad in a minute and rolling over on 
his face he got carefully up on his 
hands and feet. 
“Come on, pa,” shouted Lant, “show 
me how to turn a corner.” 
“Naw, pa is going to carve his name 
on the barn floor,” laughed Leon. 
Goaded by the banter of the boys, he 
started to straighten up, when like a 
flash he found himself on the barn floor 
again, sitting down this time. 
He had had enough. Without delay 
he tried to unfasten the skates, but the 
light was dim and there were no handy 
levers to pull. After fussing a while he 
lost all patience and cried: 
“Condom it, Lant, take them wheels 
off’n my feet. Another fall like that 
would lay me up.” 
“Aw, don’t he a quitter, pa,” begged 
the boys. “You’re learning fine.” 
But Ephraim wasn’t going to try it 
again. The bushel basket seemed a long 
way off and the boys were determined not 
to relieve him of the skates, so getting on 
his hands and knees he crawled to the 
basket while the boys shouted and 
danced about him. 
“O gosh, if ma was only here to see 
him,” panted Leon. 
But “ma” had seen every bit of it. 
She had reached the barn door just as 
the boys had finished putting on Eph¬ 
raim’s skates, and knowing that her ap¬ 
pearance just then might spoil the fun, 
she put her eye to a knot-hole and stand¬ 
ing there, she forgot the sharp frosty 
night, and laughed until she had to lean 
against the barn door for support. Now 
she opened the barn door and went in 
The boys tried to tell her what had hap¬ 
pened and Ephraim smiled sheepishly 
from his seat on the basket and said: 
(Continued on page 1499.) 
