Show THE lil ATI WITH SILVER R TAILS A STORY stoby TOLD TO A CHILD there was a cuckoo clock hanging in tom turners cotta cottage e when it struck one toms moms wife od jayd th the tho 0 baby in the cradie cradle cradie cradle and took a saucepan off the fire from which came a very savory smell emell her two little children who had been p playing lay iny g in the open doorway ran to th the e tili till taule table e and began softly to drum upon it with their pewter spoons looking eagerly at their mother as she turned a nice little piece of pork into a dish and set greens reens and potatoes around it they fetched fetched the salt then they set a chair for their father brought their own stools and pulled their mothers rocking chair close to the table bun run to the door billy said the mother and see if fathers coming billy ran to the door and after the fashion of little children looked first the right way and then the wrong way but no father was to be seen presently the mother followed hiat him and shaded her eyes with her hand for it etwas yas hot if father co come san she observed the apple dumpling dumplin will be too much done by a deal there he is cried the little boy he is coming round by the woods and and now hes hea going goin over tile the bridge 10 0 father bikk mak haste and have some som apple dumpling I 1 tom toni said his wifel wife 6 as he be came near I 1 art tired today to day uncommon tired said tom and he threw himself on the bench in the shadow of the il thatch latch has anything gone gono wrong asked his wife the he matter matter repeated tom is anything the thel natt hatt r the matter is this mother 3 that im a miserable hard worked slave and abid he clapped his hands upon his knees e es and muttered in a deep voice wh which 1 c frightened the children a miserable slave bless us said the wife and could not make out what he meant I 1 A miserable ill used slave continued tom and always have been always have been said hla hia wife NAM why by father I 1 thought thou used to say at the election time that thou wast a free born briton f t women have no business with poll politics said tom getting gettin g up rather sulkily and whether it was the force of habit or the smell of the dinner that made him do it has not been ascertained but it is certain he walked into the house ate plenty of pork and greens and then tock a tolerable share in demolishing the apple dumpling when the little children were gone out dult duit put to play his wife said to him tom chope I 1 hope thou and master hav ent hab haa had words today to day dby I 1 master said tom toni yes a pretty master he has been and a pretty slave ive been dont talk to me of masters 0 tom tom cried his wife but hes bes been a good master to you fourteen gh shillings illings a week regular wages not a thin thing to make a sneer at and think how warm the children are lapped up 0 ow winter vinter inter nig nights lits and you with as good shoes to your feet as evar ever kept him out of the mud what of that said tom M my y tabar labor worth the money im not beholden to my employer ile he gets a as good from me as he div gives e s very like tom the theres ets els not a man lor for formales miles round that can match you at a graft and as is to early peas but if master cant anft do without yau you im su sure bure re you can cau cant t do without ut him 0 6 dear to think that you vou and he should have had bad words weve had no words said tom impatiently in pa but im siek sick of being at an hermans ot beck and call its ita tom noih do this and tom toni do that and nothing but work mork mork work work work from monday morning lilt 1114 till Satu saturday vday iday nighta ight and tid I 1 was thinking as I 1 walked over overdo to S squire aire iio ilo Mor Ifo kons fons to to ask 11 for tor ha turnip im seed fo for r master I 1 was thinking sally that I 1 am anit nothing but a poor workingman working man after all ail 11 J jn shortt short im a slave and my spirit wont stand it so saying tom flung himself out opt at the cottage door and his wife thought he was going back to his bis work as usual but shermas she was mistaken he wai wal walked ked kod to the wood and there when he came to the border of a little tinkling Dg stream lie sat down and began to brood ov erbis over bis his grievances it was a very hot hob day now ill tell you what vh at said tom to himself its a great deal pleasanter plea piea santer saliter sitting here in the shade tian lian t lon ion broiling over celery trenches and then tbell thinking of wall fruit with a baking sun still at onelli ones back and a hot wall before his uses tes ees but im a miserable slave I 1 must either work or see lein yein em starve tarve ti a very avery hard lot lob to be a workingman working man but it is not only the work that I 1 complain of but being obliged to work just as he fa pleases ea ses its enough to spoil any mans temper e m p er to be told taid to dig up those asparagus beds just when they were getting to be chevery the very pride of the parish and what for why to make room for madams gravel walk that she may not wet her feet going over the grass now I 1 ask you continued tom still talking to himself whether that enough to spoil any mans temper ahem allem said a voice close to him tom started and to his great surprise saw a small man about the size of his own baby sitting composedly at his elbow he was dressed in a green hat green e n coat green shoes he had very fkr bright agh t black eyes and they twinkled very much as lie he looked at tom and smiled servant sir said tom edging himself a little farther off miserable slave said the small man art thou so far lost to the noble sense of freedom that the very salutation acknowledges a mere stranger as thy master who are aro you said sald tom Toni and how dare you call me a siave slave siave slave toni tone tom said the small man with a knowing look dont speak roughly keep your rough words for your wife my man she is bound to bear them w what at else is she for in fact ill ril thank you to let my affairs alone interrupted tom shortly tom im your friend I 1 think I 1 can help y you ou out of your difficulty di I 1 admire your spirit would I 1 demean myself to work for a master and attend to all his whims As he said this the small man stopped and looked very earnestly into the stream drip drip drip went the water kater over a little fall in the tile stones and wetted the water cresses caresses till they shone in the light while the leaves fluttered overhead and and the moss with glittering spots of sunshine tom watched the small man with earnest attention as he turned over the leaves of the cr esses at last he saw him snatch something which looked like a little fish out of the water and put it in his V pocket bocket it its s my belief tom he said sald resuming the conversation eon that you have been puzzling your head with what people call political economy but look here tom proe proc proceeded ee ded the man in in green drawing his hand out of his pocket and showing a little dripping fish in his palm what do you call this I 1 call it a very small minnow said tom and do you see anything particular about its tail it looks uncommon bright said tom stopping ng to lookyat it it t d does 0 es said the man in green and now ill tell you a secret for im resolved to be youn your friend every minnow in this stream teley are very scarce mind you but every one of them has a silver tail you dont say so exclaimed tom davs opening dg his eyes very wide fl fishing s hing for minnows and being ones own master would be a great deal pleasanter plea piea santer than the sort of life ive been leading this many n u day well keep the secret as to where you get them and much good may it do you said the man in green farewell I 1 wish you joy in your freedom so saying in he walked away leaving tom on ehg the e brink of the stream full of joy and iride tride pride he went to his master and told him lm he had bad an opportunity for bettering himself and rose with the dawn and went to work crork to search for minnows but of all the minnows in the world never were any so nimble as those with silver tails they were very sly too and had as many turns and aud doubles as a hare what a life they the y led him th they ey made him bim him troll up t the 11 e stream for miles then just as he be thod thought lit his chase was at an end and he was flure inure sure of them the they would leap quite out of the wate water r M and dart down the stream again like silver arrows miles arid miles he went tired and wet and hungry he came home late in the evening completely wearied and foot sore with only three minnows in his pocket each with a silver tail but at any rate he said to himself as he lay down in his bed though they lead me a pretty life ilfe and und chave to work harder than ever yet I 1 certainly ain am free no man can order me about now this went on fora whole week he work worked ed very hard but on saturday afternoon lie had caught only fourteen minnows if ii it for the pride of the thing lie ile ald aid to himself id have no more to do with fishing for minnows min is the hardest work I 1 ever did I 1 am quite a slave to them I 1 rush up and down I 1 dodge in and out I 1 splash my myr f self and fret myself and broil myself lff iff the sun and all for the sake of a dumb thing that gets the better of me with a wag of its fins but its no use standing here talking I 1 must bo be off to the town and sell them or sally will wonder why I 1 dont bring her the weeks money so he walked to the town and offered his bis fish as great curiosities very pretty said the first people he s showed liem them to but 1 they never bought anything that was not useful were they good to eat cat asked the woman at the next house no then they would not have them much too dear said a third and not so very curious said a fo fourth iirth but they hoped lie he had bad come by them honestly at the fifth house they said 0 pooh when he exhibited them no no they were not so foolish as to believe there were fish in the world with silver tails if there had been they should often have heard of them before at the sixth house they were so long turning over ovel his fish pinching their tails bargaining and discussing them that he ventured to remonstrate and request til that at they would in make maue ake some haste Ther thereupon dupon they said if he did not choose to wait their pleasure they would not purchase at all so they shut the door upon him and as this roused his temper he spoke rather roughly at the next two houses and was ivas dismissed at once as a very rude uncivil person but Buta iter after all his fish were really great curiosities and when lie he had exhibited them all even over the town set them off in all lights praised their perfections and taken immense pains to conceal his impatience and 11 ill lii temper lie lle at length contrived to sell them all and got exactly fourteen sl shi illings lings for them and no more now ill tell you what tom tu turner r n e r he lie sald said said sald to himself in ill ili my y opinion youl youve ve been macinga ma kinga fool of yourself and I 1 only hope sally will not find it out you was tired of being a working man and that man in green has cheated you into doing the hardest weeks wor kyou ever did in your life by making you believe it was more free like liko and easier well you said you mind it because you had no master but ive found out this afternoon tom and I 1 dont mind your knowing it that that everyone of those customers of yours was your master just the same why you were at the beck of of every man woman and child that came near you obliged to be in a good temper too which was very aggravating look tom said the man roan in in green starting up in his path I 1 knew you were a man of sense look you youre youyee all working men and you must all please your customers your master was your customer what he bought of you was your work well you must let the tho work be such as will please your customers all working men how do you make that out said tom chinking the fourteen shillings in his hand Is Js my master a working man and has he got a master of his own nonsense no nonsense at all he works with his head keeps his books and manages his great works he has many masters else why was he be nearly ruined last year 2 he helas was nearly ruined because he made some new tangled kind of pattern athis at his works and people would not buy them said tom well in a away way of speaking 91 then lie works to please his masters poor fellow he is as one haysay may saya say a fellow servant and plagued with very awkward masters so I 1 should not mind his being my master and I 1 think ill go and tell him so I 1 would tom tow said the man in green tell him you have not been able to better yourself and you have no objections now to dig up the asparagus bed so tom trudged home to his wife gave her the money lie he had earned got his old master to take him back and kept a profound secret his adventures with the tile man in in grun gren and the fish with the s silver liver tal tai tails talis I 1 s JEA jean T INGELOW |