A MOTHER WORTH FIGHTING FOR
Perhaps had Dick been less noisy as he came up the walk he might have caught his mother in tears; for he felt sure he detected the signs of recent weeping upon her thin face as he entered and threw the package he was carrying on the table.
"I'm glad you found Mrs. Oliver at home," said Mrs. Morrison, "and she had the work ready. I can start on it to-night, and perhaps finish the whole thing this week," and she opened the package, and examined the goods that had been in the wrapper.
"You're working too hard as it is, mother," said Dick, putting an arm around her and looking up into her face, "and I've determined that this sort of thing just can't go on any longer."
"What do you mean, my son?" she asked. "You know that since I am a good needle-woman and the times are so hard with us just at present, I am fortunate to be able to get work from several of the ladies around Riverview. Perhaps it will not have to be for long, Dick, dear."
"I know it won't if I have any say in the matter. You're sitting up every night sewing long after I've gone to bed. Why, one night, you remember I woke up and it was after twelve, yet you were still sewing. You are getting thin and careworn, mother. Do you think I don't notice it? And do you imagine I can stand it right along? There has got to be a change, that's all. I've made my mind up."
She looked into his resolute face, and seeing the love that shone in his eyes felt that after all her burdens could not be so hard when Heaven had given her such a stalwart son to be the staff of her old age.
"And what have you decided, Dick? Will you get after that company and force them to begin paying dividends again? I think that would be a blessing to more widows than one; but I'm afraid it would prove a task beyond your strength, dear," she said, patting him on the head as he stood beside her, almost three inches taller than his mother.
"No, I don't think I could manage that, but there is one thing I can and will do and that is to find a job, so that I can be bringing in something every week to help out. Then you needn't sit up at night as you do. Please don't say anything against it, mother. I've made up my mind to it. The vacation has begun, and unless things take a turn for the better, school and Dick Morrison have parted company for good. I'm only sorry I don't seem to have inherited any of father's genius for tools, or I could get a position as an assistant to Mr. Plane, the carpenter. But I've been considering the situation, and I'm going to find some way to bring in a few dollars each week, even if I have to set out to be a fisherman."
She smiled with pride, and in that moment the fond mother did not envy the wife of the rich department store keeper who rode about in her carriage and delighted to let other people realize just how small and mean they appeared in her sight.
"Well, it is nice to hear you say all that, Richard, for it tells me that your heart is true, and that no matter what befalls I can depend on my boy's love. But there's no use crossing a river before we come to it. I shall offer no opposition to you doing any honest work that comes your way during vacation; and if times have not improved when school opens again, I suppose I must endure the thought of your continuing on. You have always been a lucky fisherman, and what you bring home has been so sweet and palatable that it seems to me you could easily find purchasers for all you could catch," she said, leaving him, to begin to look after the supper that was cooking on the stove.
"Only if everything else fails can I try that," he explained. "You see one can't depend on the fish to do their part of the contract. Some days they refuse to bite at all, and then other days are stormy. But I've got several ideas that I'm bound to try out, and I'm going to start to-morrow."
That was all he said, for Dick never liked to boast in advance of what he expected to accomplish, having learned from sad experience that very often a snag is apt to sink the craft freighted with hopes, and when least expected.
He busied himself setting the table, while his mother lighted the lamp and prepared to serve their frugal meal.
It was a time of year when very little came in from the small garden that lay back of the house, and which they took care of in common, Dick doing all the hard work and his mother some of the weeding; later on they expected that the proceeds from this patch would provide many a good meal, should the weather smile upon their united efforts.
Being naturally a boy who looked upon the bright side of things, as a healthy lad might be expected to do, Dick had proved a blessing to his mother times without number.
He laughed and chatted as they sat at the table, and for the time being the poor little woman really forgot that there was such a thing as anxiety in this world.
Even the little encounter with Ferd was related with more or less humor; and yet while Mrs. Morrison found herself compelled to smile at Dick's quaint description of the way in which Ferd over-leaped himself, at the same time a shade of worry crept over her face.
"Oh! I hope he will not tell his father about it and try to lay the blame on your shoulders," she said, sighing.
"But why should he, mother? I had nothing to do with it, and never even touched his old motor-cycle until I offered to help him get it out of the ditch? Now you never told me that Mr. Graylock came around to complain about me that other time, but I guessed it all the same. It was just like him to threaten that he would do something awful if I ever put a hand on his precious son again. Poor little fellow, he's only three inches taller than me. You know I told you all about that trouble at the time, mother?" he expostulated, indignantly.
"Yes, yes, so you did, my son, and I told Mr. Graylock that you could not have been to blame—that after all it was only a boyish dispute, and no serious damage had been done. He called you a bully and a terror, and said he would make an example of you if it ever happened again. Oh! he frightened me so."
"The old wretch, to come and talk that way to a lady, and she a widow, too. What do you suppose father would have done to him if he had been alive? Nearly every boy there will tell you I refused to fight up to the time he struck me in the face and called me mean names. Then I commenced. Perhaps I did hit him a little harder than I should, but I was stirred up, and meant to teach him to leave me alone after that. I guess I did it all right," and Dick, boy-like, smiled grimly as, in imagination he could see the deplorable condition of his antagonist when Ferd humbly admitted that he had had enough.
"But you see it happened that his father met him on the road while his face was all covered with blood. It was only because he had been struck on the nose; but it looked terrible to his father, and angered him. I hope you will not have any trouble with that ill-natured boy again, son," she said, earnestly.
"I never want to, mother, nor with any fellow; but there's a limit even to the patience of Job. Father always taught me never to seek a quarrel; but at the same time never to run away from one like a coward. I try to follow his advice, mother."
"Yes, I am sure you do. And your father was a peaceable man; yet I can remember once or twice when he took off his coat and thrashed a bully until he howled for mercy. In fact, to tell the truth, that was the way I first made his acquaintance as a boy, for he came to my assistance when a big ruffian of an overgrown coward had stopped me on the road and declared he was going to kiss me. Of course I screamed and your father, then a lad learning the carpenter trade, jumped from the roof of a kitchen near by and came to my rescue."
She laughed as the recollection came back to her mind, and once again she could see the young man she had loved for many years standing up as her knight; Dick too looked pleased at hearing how the father he remembered so well had been ready to defend the right.
"I don't think Ferd will say anything about this last little adventure. You see his father was opposed to his getting that motor-cycle, for he said it would be just like Ferd to have an accident, and perhaps get his neck broken. And to tell the truth, a little later on if nothing else turns up I mean to try and get work in Mr. Graylock's store. It's a busy place, and he might give me a chance. He's a deacon in the church, and I've often heard him tell how all of us ought to heap coals of fire on our enemy's head by doing him a good turn. I'm going to put him to the test, mother. Perhaps he may turn out better than we think, who knows?"
"I hope so, dear. I like to think the best of all men; but Mr. Graylock is most unreasonable when angered."
After supper Dick insisted upon his mother sitting down to rest while he washed the few dishes; it was a regular employment with him; not that he liked the job, but it gave him satisfaction to know that he was relieving her from some of the drudgery of the housework.
Later on he busied himself in looking over a lot of fishlines and hooks, since he was bent upon carrying out his scheme for business in case nothing better came up on the morrow.
No one knew better than Dick where the fish lay, and his success in securing a string of the finny beauties had long been the envy of his mates; he had always loved to study the habits of the bass and other denizens of the little river that gave the pretty town its name; and it was really this knowledge that brought about his reward when others went home almost empty-handed.
He lay awake a long time that night, looking out of his window at the bright star that had for many a year peeped in through the window of his little room, and in some way cheered him by its twinkling; he laid many plans for the immediate future, and somehow just the thought of the smile upon the careworn face of his little mother seemed an inspiration, urging him to greater efforts.
Thus he pictured the day when he would be successful in business, and when want would no longer confront them at the door; when he could surround this dear one with all the comforts and perhaps some of the luxuries that other women delighted in, and with such noble ambitions soothing him Dick finally fell asleep.