josiah hunter sat on his porch one summer afternoon, smoking his pipe, feeling dissatisfied, morose and sour on account of his only son tim, who, he was obliged to confess to himself, gave every indication of proving a disappointment to him.
mr. hunter was owner of the famous brereton quarry & stone works, located about a mile above the thriving village of brereton, on the eastern bank of the castaran river, and at a somewhat greater distance below the town of denville. the quarry was a valuable one and the owner was in comfortable circumstances, with the prospect of acquiring considerable more of a fortune out of the yield of excellent building stone. the quarry had been worked for something like ten years, and the discovery that he had such a fine deposit on his small farm was in the minds of his neighbors equivalent to the finding of a gold mine, for as the excavation proceeded, the quality of the material improved and mr. hunter refused an offer from a company which, but for the stone, would have been a very liberal price for the whole farm.
mr. hunter had been a widower ever since his boy was three years old, and the youth was now fourteen. his sister maggie was two years his senior, and they were deeply attached to each other. maggie was a daughter after her father's own heart,—one of those rare, sensible girls who cannot be spoiled by indulgence, who was equally fond of her parent and who stood unflinchingly by her brother in the little differences between father and son, which, sad to say, were becoming more frequent and serious with the passing weeks and months. it is probable that the affection of the parent for the daughter prevented him from ever thinking of marrying again, for she was a model housekeeper, and he could not bear the thought of seeing anyone come into the family and usurp, even in a small degree, her functions and place.
mr. hunter was getting on in years, and nothing was more natural than that he should wish and plan that tim should become his successor in the development of the valuable quarry that was not likely to give out for many a year to come. but the boy showed no liking for the business. he was among the best scholars in the village school, fond of play and so well advanced in his studies that his parent determined to begin his practical business training in earnest. he looked upon a college education as a waste of so many years, taken from the most precious part of a young man's life, and it must be said that tim himself showed no wish to attend any higher educational institution.
tim had assisted about the quarry, more or less for several years. of course he was too young to do much in the way of manual labor, but there were many errands that he ran, beside helping to keep his father's accounts. he wrote an excellent hand, was quick in figures and had such a command of language that all his parent had to do was to tell him the substance of the letter he wished written, to have the boy put it in courteous but pointed and clear form. the elder had never detected an error in the computations of the younger, who had no trouble at all when the operations included difficult fractions.
all this was good in its way, but it could not be denied that tim had no liking for the business itself. his father had told him repeatedly that he must prepare himself for the active management of the stone works, and that to do so required something more than quickness in figures and skill in letter writing. but it was in vain. tim was never at the works unless by direct command of his parent, and seized the first opportunity to get away.
"no person can succeed in a business which he dislikes," remarked mr. hunter to maggie who on this summer afternoon sat on the front porch, plying her deft needle, while the waning twilight lasted, with bridget inside preparing the evening meal.
"i think that is true, father," was her gentle reply.
"and that boy hates the stone business and i can't understand why he should."
"isn't it also true, father, that one cannot control his likes and dislikes? tim has told me he can't bear the thought of spending his life in getting out great blocks of stone and trimming them into shape for building. he said he wished he could feel as you do, but there's no use of his trying."
"fudge!" was the impatient exclamation; "what business has a boy of his years to talk or think about what sort of business he prefers? it is my place to select his future avocation and his to accept it without a growl."
"he will do that, father."
"of course he will," replied the parent with a compression of his thin lips and a flash of his eyes; "when i yield to a boy fourteen years old, it will be time to shift me off to the lunatic asylum."
"why, then, are you displeased, since he will do what you wish and do it without complaint?
"i am displeased because he is dissatisfied and has no heart in his work. he shows no interest in anything relating to the quarries and it is becoming worse every day with him."
"didn't he help this forenoon?"
"yes, because i told him he must be on hand as soon as he was through breakfast and not leave until he went to dinner."
"did you say nothing about his working this afternoon?"
"no; i left that out on purpose to test him."
"what was the result?"
"i haven't seen hide or hair of him since; i suppose he is off in the woods or up in his room, reading or figuring on some invention. do you know where he is?"
"he has been in his room almost all the afternoon and is there now."
"doing what?"
