Mr. Tibbetts gave him a Desk at the Office and called him Assistant
Something. His Duties consisted of looking at the Clock and writing
Notes to the Gazelles he had met the Night before. If he had been set
out on the Pavement and told to Root for himself, it would have broken
him of the habit of Eating.
Link was whatever they called a Lobster in 1880. Mr. Tibbetts
realized that City Life had an enervating Effect on Boys and made them
Superficial and Wise in their own Conceit.
[Illustration: _Link._]
Chub was 8 years old and had not yet succumbed to the Matinee Habit,
so his Parents decided to ship him out to the Green Fields and keep
him there until he had developed a Character. Mr. and Mrs. Tibbetts
knew that all the Men of Sterling Worth, mentioned in Political
Biographies, had been raised on the Farm. They figured that if Chub
could be left in the Country to run with the Live Stock, he would grow
up to be a Sturdy and self-reliant Character, with no hankering for
Soda Water and the Military Schottische.
Therefore Chub was sent out to live with Uncle Jabez Quackenbush, an
Agriculturalist who owned 480 Acres and was still wearing the Army
Overcoat that the Government had given him when the War broke out.
Chub slept on a Feather Tick up in a Room where they had the Seed Corn
hung on the Rafters. Uncle Jabe would yank him out at 4.30 G.M. and
keep him in the Field until the early Candle-Lighting, so that usually
he had two Meals in the Dark.
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