IN STEVE MILLER’S BAR-ROOM. 61

 

in the end, found himself obliged to sell out.
Some people began to open their eyes after
this. It was plain enough that Jones had
lost his property through drunkenness;
though all did not see so plainly that, in
becoming its owner, Miller had not rendered
back to the community in which he lived
any equivalent use. Not long after this,
the house and acre-lot of another good cus-
tomer went into the hands of the sheriff,
and Miller was the purchaser.

“What was Steve Miller looking about
here for, this afternoon?” asked Mrs. Le Roy
of her husband, one evening when he came
home to supper?

“Tm sure I don’t know,” replied the me-
chanic. “Looking about here ?”

“Yes, he came along with another man,
and stood and looked at the house, and
talked for some time; and then they both
went round, and looked over the fence into
the garden. I was ashamed to have them
do so, for every thing is so neglected to
what it used to be.”