+-------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber’s note: | | | |Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+ ANTHONY JOHN BY JEROME K. JEROME Author of “Passing of the Third Floor Back,” “All Roads Lead to Calvary,” etc. [Illustration: Logo] NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1923 COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY, INC. PRINTED IN U. S. A. VAIL-BALLOU COMPANY BINGHAMTON AND NEW YORK ANTHONY JOHN CHAPTER I Anthony John Strong’nth’arm--to distinguish him from his father, whose Christian names were John Anthony--was born in a mean street of Millsborough some forty-five years before the date when this story should of rights begin. For the first half-minute of his existence he lay upon the outstretched hand of Mrs. Plumberry and neither moved nor breathed. The very young doctor, nervous by reason of this being his first maternity case since his setting up in practice for himself, and divided between his duty to the child or to the mother, had unconsciously decided on the latter. Instinctively he knew that children in the poorer quarters of Millsborough were plentiful and generally not wanted. The mother, a high-cheeked, thin-lipped woman, lay with closed eyes, her long hands clawing convulsively at the bed-clothes. The doctor was bending over her, fumbling with his hypodermic syringe. Suddenly from behind him he heard the sound of two resounding slaps, the second being followed by a howl that, feeble though it was, contained a decided note of indignation. The doctor turned his head. The child was kicking vigorously. “Do you always do that?” asked the young doctor. He had been glad when he had been told that Mrs. Plumberry was to be the midwife, having heard good repute of her as a woman of experience. “It starts them,” explained Mrs. Plumberry. “I suppose they don’t like it and want to say so; and before they can yell out they find they’ve got to draw some air into their lungs.” She was a stout motherly soul, the wife of a small farmer on the outskirts of the town, and only took cases during the winter. At other times, as she would explain, there were the pigs and the poultry to occupy her mind. She was fond of animals of all kinds. “It’s the fighting instinct,” suggested the young doctor. “Curious how quickly it shows itself.” “When it’s there,” commented Mrs. Plumberry, proceeding with her work. “Isn’t it always there?” demanded the young doctor. “Not always,” answered Mrs. Plumberry. “Some of them will just lie down and let the others trample them to death. Four out of one litter of eleven I lost last March. There they were when I came in the morning. Seemed to have taken no interest in themselves. Had just let the others push them away.”