A thoughtless fellow told a dirty story in the presence of some apprentices; and Madden, listening to this, drove the offender implacably from his employ.

It was years now since any one who knew him had ventured upon lewd pleasantries in his hearing.

Jokes of the sort which women might hear he was very fond of though he had not much humor of his own.

Of books he knew nothing whatever, and he made only the most perfunctory pretence now and again of reading the newspapers.
The elder son Michael was very like his father--diligent, unassuming, kindly, and simple--a plain, tall, thin red man of nearly thirty, who toiled in paper cap and rolled-up shirt-sleeves as the superintendent in the saw-mill, and put on no airs whatever as the son of the master.
If there was surprise felt at his not being taken into the firm as a partner, he gave no hint of sharing it.

He attended to his religious duties with great zeal, and was President of the Sodality as a matter of course.