Alonzo Fitz and Other Stories eBook

THE GRATEFUL HUSBAND

One day a lady was driving through the principal street of a great city with her little boy, when the horses took fright and dashed madly away, hurling the coachman from his box and leaving the occupants of the carnage paralyzed with terror.  But a brave youth who was driving a grocery-wagon threw himself before the plunging animals, and succeeded in arresting their flight at the peril of his own.—­[This is probably a misprint.—­M.  T.]—­The grateful lady took his number, and upon arriving at her home she related the heroic act to her husband (who had read the books), who listened with streaming eyes to the moving recital, and who, after returning thanks, in conjunction with his restored loved ones, to Him who suffereth not even a sparrow to fall to the ground unnoticed, sent for the brave young person, and, placing a check for five hundred dollars in his hand, said, “Take this as a reward for your noble act, William Ferguson, and if ever you shall need a friend, remember that Thompson McSpadden has a grateful heart.”  Let us learn from this that a good deed cannot fail to benefit the doer, however humble he may be.

Sequel

William Ferguson called the next week and asked Mr. McSpadden to use his influence to get him a higher employment, he feeling capable of better things than driving a grocer’s wagon.  Mr. McSpadden got him an underclerkship at a good salary.

Presently William Ferguson’s mother fell sick, and William—­Well, to cut the story short, Mr. McSpadden consented to take her into his house.  Before long she yearned for the society of her younger children; so Mary and Julia were admitted also, and little Jimmy, their brother.  Jimmy had a pocket knife, and he wandered into the drawing-room with it one day, alone, and reduced ten thousand dollars’ worth of furniture to an indeterminable value in rather less than three-quarters of an hour.  A day or two later he fell down-stairs and broke his neck, and seventeen of his family’s relatives came to the house to attend the funeral.  This made them acquainted, and they kept the kitchen occupied after that, and likewise kept the McSpaddens busy hunting-up situations of various sorts for them, and hunting up more when they wore these out.  The old woman drank a good deal and swore a good deal; but the grateful McSpaddens knew it was their duty to reform her, considering what her son had done for them, so they clave nobly to their generous task.  William came often and got decreasing sums of money, and asked for higher and more lucrative employments—­which the grateful McSpadden more or less promptly procured for him.  McSpadden consented also, after some demur, to fit William for college; but when the first vacation came and the hero requested to be sent to Europe for his health, the persecuted McSpadden rose against the tyrant and revolted.  He plainly and squarely refused.  William Ferguson’s mother was so astounded that she let her gin-bottle drop, and her profane lips refused to do their office.  When she recovered she said in a half-gasp, “Is this your gratitude?  Where would your wife and boy be now, but for my son?”