The Cabin on the Prairie

S STORY.–TH

her," asked Tom, one day, "where yo

what respects?

ngly, "I mean, were folks

say," said she, placidly, fi

father are ignorant," he rep

e married, the country was thickly settled. All the children went to school, and there we

no poor pe

reat many in the large cities,–and t

father's folks

in comfortable

you come west, and why

ok at the black and crazy loggery, with its clay "chinking," that was ever more cracking, and crumbling, and falling to the floor, leaving holes between the logs, through which the wind and rain entered; and the one rickety chair, and the rude benches and boxes for sitting accommodations, and the bedsteads, composed of rough oaken slabs, spiked at the head and side to the walls, and a rough post at the unsupported corner, and the cracked and rusted stove and leaky funnel; and then he would look at his mother, who, despite her coa

of his wife and children? Did father and mother ever know brighter days? and were they never to see them again? And was it duty for him to keep on in the same way, sa

broken scythe, he had been working and thinking through the evening, while the child

edge of the scythe with unusual force, at the same instant springing to his feet with a cry of pain, and a finger in

" he said, with grimaces that added

y son?" asked the mother,

something, and pulled my finger, i

e from which it had thus unceremoniously been torn, and from w

ap, and restoring them to the box, she seated

You asked why we came west. The time has come when you had better know

s seventeen I became secretly engaged to him. My parents did not suspect this, nor did any of the household, except a younger sister, to whom I confided my secret. I now think it would have been better for all concerned had I from the first been open in the matter, and frankly stated to my mother what my preference was. But I knew that he was not their choice for me. They were ambitious to have me marry brilliantly, as the phrase went,–that is, wealthily and in style,–and he was young, and had his fortune to carve out pretty much for himse

on that; and then your father won't be ashamed to ow

to speak thus; but my heart smote

if you do n

plied, impetuously. 'Wha

nd presumptuous it was for a young man, stung by the pride of others, to make that the rule of his life, and go forth in his own strength to

he turned his hand to was remunerative; 85 and w

upon me now if he chooses,' he w

proposed to him by a man of education and gentlemanly

contented to go alone? I have often heard

his appearance that I do not quite lik

stout, robust man, with a high forehead, light hair, always carried a cane, was jovial, and good-natured in the extreme, fond of telling a good story, but sharp in trade. I met him on one occasion, and there was something in the tur

say that he w

sses to be

s a Christian, I do not know what grace has done for him; but i

smoothly, and Joseph woul

o well–is apt to talk against others;

tion, I chanced to meet Joseph as he was goin

and saw no reason why I should be so wakeful. I turned and tossed in bed, and shut my eyes; but all in vain. I even laid my finger on my wrist, that the counting of my pulse might, by the monotony, induce slumber; when, suddenly, before my mind's eye stoo

accounts. Further revelations showed that he had been gradually abstracting the stock. As soon as Mr. Jacques saw that he was being found out, his gentleness and politeness were all gone, and he raged like a beast of prey. Joseph attached his furniture at his dwelling, but found it had all been made over to his son–a young lawyer in the city; meanwhile the dishonest man had fled with his ill-gotten gains, leaving the business in a frightfully complicated 88 state. The result was, as is often the case when a man begins to go down in his affairs, although he may be ever so deserving and innocent, there are enough to give him a push. It was so with him. In vain did Josep

for employment; but his short-sighted and relentless creditor

Tom, interrupting h

ll to his employer, he finds that he cannot pay him anything. In vain he went to distant places to earn a subsistenc

y fortunes. I am going to the west; and it isn't right to hold you to your engagement any longer, for I can never, on my part

your fault that you have failed. God forbid that I should break my promise. If you must go west, you are not going alone. I

old them the whole story. My father was a quick-tempered, imperious 90 man, and my mother lived only for this world: the result you can easily imagine. But I felt that my duty was plain; and we were quietly married

e; it was most appalling. Tom and his mother hastened to the window; they saw a noble buck, his antlers h

I could bring one of them down easy as not,"–as they dashed by, with shor

n wrought in your father by his business troubles. It had given him an unconquerable disgust of society, which he has not yet outgrown, making him uneasy and restless wherever he

apter in the family history, was deeply moved, and, whi

ther'll ever get

see a new reason for not being in haste to leave your father and mother. There is one passage in the Bible I often think of, which directs us to both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of God. Your father's mistake, when he went into business, was, that he was in too great haste to accomplish his own will. This is apt to be the error of the young. They are sanguine of success, and th