The Trevor Family;*

CHAPTER II . WE turn from the dead to the living . Mrs . Trevor had been an affectionate wife and fond mother . At her husband ' s death she found herself at the head of a family , consisting of her eldest son , Robert , who had been favoured with a liberal educationand had recently assisted his father in business ; Rosea

, , daughter of eighteen years ; Ella , of twelve ; and Ralph , now in his fourteenth year . Robert Trevor was handsome in appearance , manly in deportment , but lacked that experience necessary to control and direct a complicated business . Rose Trevor was the undisputed belle of the village , and probably knew it , but never seemed conscioas of the fact . Sweet as the flower whose name she bore , she had that beautiful blending of modesty with presence of mind that

made her a general favourite in society , where she shone a bright luminary , but in a way not to create jealousy . Ella , the younger sister , was her especial care , and was a child of bright promise . With such congenial elements it is not difficult to imagine a harmonious household . There was , however , one disturbing cause . Ralph Trevor , now in his fourteenth year , as we have said , gave indications of mechanical genius of a very high order , but was as erratic

as a comet . His father had controlled him , to some extent , by stern command , but he was deaf to all entreaty on the part of his mother or older brother to attend to his studies . He was not vicious nor mean , but he had garret and cellar , barn and woodshed littered with evidences of his handicraft , and , boy as he was , indulged dreams of a grand mechanical triumph that should bring fortune and fame to himselfancl revolutionise the field of labour . And then

, , he assured her , his mother should live in a palace , and servants should run to do her beck ancl bidding . Full of such generous impulses , he despised books , idolised tools ; loathed the school , but adored the workshop . He was now left with no one who could direct and control his misguided energies .

Mrs . Felicia Trevor was not born to command . She enjoyed and deserved the love of her children , and , with the exception of Ralph , she could have desired no change in her family relations . Her home was the handsomest in the village , elegantly adorned within and without , and her neighbours were kind ancl genial . For a time grief overcame all thought of business , but its demands are inexorable . Hermon Trevor was scarcel y laid away in his grave

before bills began to come in , people were suddenly anxious for a settlement , the miller wished to know if more wheat was to be bought , and Robert Trevor found himself harassed by cares to which he was all unused . And now Rose began to evince unexpected force of character . She advised her brother and mother to take steps to secure administrative control of the estate . As for herself , she should go into the store and assist in the business there .

Some five days after the funeral , while these matters were being discussed , Mrs . Trevor received a call from Esquire Faxon , justice of the peace and exstate senator , and Mr . Thomburg , proprietor of the Eagle Machine Works , at the county seat . Mr . Thornburg represented that he had asked Esquire Faxon to do him the honor of introducing him to Mrs . Trevor . He had had the p leasure of the friendship of her late husband . She had a son who , he

understood , had displayed a strong- mechanical bias—in fact , his inclination in that direction amounted to a passion . If properl y directed and kept in legitimate channels , accompanied with the knowled ge to be derived from books , this mechanical bias might prove a life-long blessing , and pave the way to distinction , and even wealth . "Buthe will not read books except such as relate to inventors and their inventions , " said his mother , despondently .

" Not unless he is given to understand that his chances of indul ging his mechanical tastes depend on his pursuit of his other studies as well , " answered Mr , Thornburg .