. Recollections of Auton house : a book for children . espect. When peopletold us that they knew we were Autons byour resemblance to our daddy, we were !/ J ready to hug them with delight. At schoolwe stood prepared to fight at a moments no-tice to see whose father was the strongest. Wehad many youthful arguments to sustain ourlofty estimate of his character ; for, said we, did nt he manage a bank which was brokeninto ? and was nt he in the city govern-ment and a visitor to the insane asylum ? and did nt he speak to all the poor people in town, and say sar-vant, marm, to the women, and savant,
. Recollections of Auton house : a book for children . espect. When peopletold us that they knew we were Autons byour resemblance to our daddy, we were !/ J ready to hug them with delight. At schoolwe stood prepared to fight at a moments no-tice to see whose father was the strongest. Wehad many youthful arguments to sustain ourlofty estimate of his character ; for, said we, did nt he manage a bank which was brokeninto ? and was nt he in the city govern-ment and a visitor to the insane asylum ? and did nt he speak to all the poor people in town, and say sar-vant, marm, to the women, and savant, sir, to the men ? and didnt he carry a gold-headed cane which he thumped along thesidewalks ? and did nt the butcher hang up venison all winterfor him, and then bring in great long bills in the spring, which hehad to turn over and over and over again before he got to the endof them ? and did nt he indorse pretty promissory notes forCousin Ezra, and then pay up all Cousin Ezras pretty debts forhim? and did nt he have what Mother Auton called a corpo-. FATHER AUTON. 91 ration. Now, reasoned we, how could he do all these wonderfulthings and have all these wonderful traits unless he was a wonder-ful man ? The fact was self-evident. I remember so well that delicate suspicion of tobacco which lin-gered about his hands, and which we used to sniff whenever heplayed with us: Barber ! barber! shaved a mason, or boxed ourears in earnest; on these latter occasions his great hands weigheda ton, and for that reason we begged Mother Auton to do all thefamily castigation — it was so short and soon over. In those days Father Autonwent to market early everymorning with his basket onhis arm, often accompaniedby some of his boys. Hesauntered about from cart tocart inspecting the fresh andtempting merchandise in thecool morning air. It was quite a blow toyouthful pride, sometimes, tobe sent home from the butch-ers wagon with a big cock-turkey dangling between oneslegs, and its gorgeous tailsprea
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1881
