From Farm to Fortune | Page 4

"Ain't it?"
"No, it isn't. It wasn't my fault that the milk was spilt, so there!"
"You say much more to me an' I'll tan yer hide well fer ye!" stormed
Abner Balberry.

"Don't you want him to have none of the fish he brought in?" asked the
housekeeper.
"The fish ain't worth much."
"Maybe you'd like to have all the fish yourself?" put in Nat, tartly,
before he had stopped to think.
Angered at this remark the farmer turned around and caught the youth
by the collar and began to shake him.
"I'll teach ye to talk back to me!" he snarled. "I'll teach ye! Now go to
bed, an' be quick about it."
"I want my supper!" came doggedly from Nat. He felt that he had
earned the meal and he needed it.
"Not a mouthful."
"If you don't give me my supper I won't work for you any more, Uncle
Abner!"
"Wot! Goin' to talk to me like this!" screamed the farmer, and caught
the boy once again. "Up to your room with ye, before I trounce ye
well!"
He shook Nat fiercely, and a struggle ensued between the pair which
came to an end when a chair was overturned and then a side table on
which rested some of the things for supper.
"Oh, the eating!" screamed the housekeeper, in alarm. "And the teapot
is smashed!" she added, sadly.
"It's all Nat's fault," came from Abner Balberry. "He is a
good-fer-nuthin', he is! Off to bed with ye, before I git my horsewhip!"
He opened the door leading to the enclosed stairs, and fearful of
another attack Nat retreated. As soon as he was on the stairs, the farmer
slammed the door shut and bolted it. A minute later he and Mrs. Felton

heard the youth ascend the stairs to his own room.
"It was kind of hard on the boy to make him go to bed without his
supper," remarked the housekeeper, as she gathered up the things on
the floor.
"It's his own fault," snorted the farmer. "He's got to be took down, he
has!"
"He hasn't had a mouthful since noon, and we had a light dinner, too."
"I can't help that, Mrs. Felton. I'm goin' to teach him a lesson."
"Nat is a high-spirited boy, Mr. Balberry. Maybe he won't stand for it."
"He has got to stand fer it," was the answer, from the sink, where the
farmer was washing his face and hands.
"But if he won't?"
"Wot can he do, I'd like to know?"
"I'm sure I don't know--but he may do something that you least expect."
"He won't do nuthin'," said the farmer, and sank down in his seat at the
table. "He can't do nuthin'. I give him a good home, but he don't seem
to a'preciate it nohow."
To this Mrs. Felton did not reply, but set the food on the table. The fish
had not been spoilt, and the farmer ate all he wished of the dish.
"Why don't you eat?" he asked of the housekeeper, seeing that she had
abstained from touching the fish.
"I--I don't care for it," she answered. She had in mind to save what was
left and give it to Nat for his breakfast.
"That boy is gittin' too big fer his boots," went on Abner Balberry. "He
acts like he was of age, an' he is only sixteen. Last week he wanted to

know how soon I was goin' to pay him reg'lar wages."
"And what did you tell him?"
"Told him I'd pay him wages when he was wuth it an' not before."
"He does almost a man's work now, doesn't he?"
"Not much! Besides, don't I feed an' clothe him an' give him a
comfortable home? He's got too high-falutin' notions, he has!"
"But don't you think he ought to have some money?" went on Mrs.
Felton, who could be a trifle independent herself at times.
"No. Money is the ruination o' young folks. Week before last he wanted
a quarter to go to the circus with, but he didn't git it."
"Almost all of the boys in this district went to the circus. Tom Bradley
told me it was very good, too."
"Humph! That Bradley boy is going to the dogs as fast as he can go."
"Deacon Slide thinks he is a very good boy."
"Well, the deacon don't know everything. I'm goin' to make Nat toe the
mark until he is twenty-one. After that I'll wash my hands o' him."
The farmer finished his supper and then went out to see that everything
was all right around the farm for the night. A little later he took a lamp
and went upstairs. Tiptoeing his way through an upper hall he came to
a pause in front of