A Tea Table Conversation 
     
    
   
   
    
     born the next day, and the woman died. 
     
     Then the first thing anybody knew the 
     
     father skipped clean out, pack and all, 
     
     and was never seen or heard tell of after- 
     
     wards. The Gordons were left with the 
     
     fine youngster on their hands. Folks ad- 
     
     vised them to send him to the Orphan 
     
     Asylum, and ’twould have been the wisest 
     
     plan, but the Gordons were never fond 
     
     of taking advice. Old James Gordon was 
     
     living then, Thomas and Janet’s father, 
     
     and he said he would never turn a child 
     
     out of his door. He was a masterful old 
     
     man and liked to be boss. Folks used to 
     
     say he had a grudge against the sun ’cause 
     
     it rose and set without his say so. Any- 
     
     how, they kept the baby. They called 
     
     him Neil and had him baptized same as 
     
     any Christian child. He’s always lived 
     
     there. They did well enough by him. He 
     
     was sent to school and taken to church 
     
     and treated like one of themselves. Some 
     
     folks think they made too much of him. 
     
     It doesn’t always do with that kind, for 
     
    
   
   
    
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