Coupon Bonds and Other Stories (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 Excerpt: ...old lady got up, and, without a word of reproach, took care of the young fellow's cap and coat. He saw her stoop painfully to the floor, bending her poor old back, and then reach painfully to the pegs, which it was no effort at all for him to reach; he heard the involuntary groans that escaped her; and there he still sat, not once offering to help her, nor seeming to care. And yet he was not a bad-hearted boy, this Clinton. In the village, he enjoyed the reputation of being a "first-rate fellow." His generous and jovial traits made him a favorite with many, who never suspected what a thunder-cloud he sometimes was at home. There, the agreeable companion became at once a grouty grandson. This was not simply because his home was gloomy, although this circumstance no doubt aggravated his fault. But the dark spirit was within himself; it had been fostered by indulgence and confirmed by habit, until, though his pride and his ambition to please enabled him to conceal it in society, at home it would have been scarcely possible for him to be anything else than a blusterer and an ingrate. "Where have you been, to get so tired 1" asked the old lady. "You ought to have gone to meetin' this arternoon, Clinton; you ha'n't been for a month." "There I knew I should get scolded for something else in a minute I could n't go to meeting; Phil Kermer wanted me. I'm in the ice this year. We've been boring. We've bored in a dozen different places all over both ponds. Phil said he did n't know what he should do without me," said Clinton, brightening, for now he had a chance to brag. "You and Phil are great friends, a'n't ye?" said the old lady; and that flattered him. "I bet we are He is the smartest fellow and the best fe...