Aunt Janes Nieces at Work | Page 5

called him a boy, had attained his
majority on the fifteenth day of May. At this time Mr. Watson rendered
his accounts and turned over the estate to its owner. He would then
have retired, but Kenneth would not let him go. Twenty-one years of
age sounds mature, but the owner of Elmhurst was as boyish and
inexperienced as it is possible for one twenty-one years old to be. He
had grown accustomed, moreover, to depend much on Mr. Watson's
legal acumen in the management of his affairs, and would have been
embarrassed and bewildered if obliged to shoulder the burden all at
once.

The lawyer, who had always had an affection for the young man,
perceived this clearly; so an arrangement was made that he should
remain with his young friend indefinitely and strive to teach him such
elements of business as would enable him in time to attend to his
extensive interests understandingly and wisely.
The country around Elmhurst is thickly settled with agriculturists, for
the farms are rich and productive in that part of the state. But it is not a
flat country, and Nature has given it many pretty woodland glades and
rocky glens to add to its charm.
From the hill country at the west came several rushing streams which
tumbled along rocky paths to the river nine miles below Elmhurst, and
there are scenes along these routes that might well delight the eye of an
artist. Kenneth had often wandered into these out-of-the-way places
when a half-forgotten, neglected lad, but had not visited them for years.
Now, however, with the spirit of loneliness upon him, he suddenly
thought of a glen that would make an interesting study for a picture; so
one morning he mounted his horse and rode away to pay the place a
preliminary visit.
The farmers along the road nodded at the young fellow good-naturedly
as he passed them. Everyone knew him well by sight, yet Kenneth
could not have named many of his neighbors, having held little
intercourse with them. It struck him, this morning, that they had little
cause to be interested in him. He had been an unsociable lad, and since
he had become master of Elmhurst had done little to cultivate
acquaintance with the people who lived around him.
One reason for this was that they held little in common with him. The
neighboring farmers were honest, thrifty souls, and among them were
many both shrewd and thoughtful; but they naturally would not force
themselves upon the society of the one really rich man in their
community, especially as that man had shown no desire to know them.
Kenneth was the subject of much speculation among them, and
opinions widely differed concerning his character. Some called him a
"prig" and declared that he was "stuck up" and conceited. Others said

he was a "namby-pamby" without brains or wit. But there were a few
who had occasionally talked with the boy, who understood him better,
and hinted that he might develop into "quite a man" in time.
Kenneth surprised himself this morning by greeting several of his
neighbors with unusual cordiality. He even stopped a man who was
driving along the highway to inquire about his horse, which he
perceived was very lame. The boy knew something about horses and
suggested a method of treatment that he thought would help the nag; a
suggestion the farmer received with real gratitude.
This simple incident cheered Kenneth more than you might suppose,
and he was actually whistling as he rode through the glen, where the
country road wound its way beside the noisy, rushing stream.
Pausing in front of the picturesque "table rock" that he had come to
inspect, the boy uttered an exclamation of chagrin and disappointment.
Painted broadly upon the face of the rock, in great white letters, was the
advertisement of a patent medicine. The beauty of the scene was
ruined--only the glaring advertisement caught and held the eye of the
observer.
At first Kenneth's mind held only a feeling of disgust that such a
desecration of Nature's gifts to humanity should be allowed. Then he
remembered another place further along the glen which was almost as
pretty as this had been before the defiling brush of the advertiser had
ruined it. So he spurred his horse and rode up the winding way to the
spot. There a red-lettered announcement of "Simpson's Soap" stared
him in the face.
This was too much for his temper, and his disappointment quickly
turned to resentment. While he sat on his mare, considering the matter,
the man with the lame horse, whom he had passed, overtook him.
"Can you tell me," Kenneth asked, "who owns this property?"
"Why, I do," replied the man, reining up.

"And you permitted these vile signs to be painted