American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-04-11
HOW PHILIP CLAYTON PUT HIS MONEY
OUT AT INTEREST.
BY GEoRoIANA @. MUNRO.
[Continued.l


BY GEoRaIANA g. MUNRO.
[Contnued.l
! Mrs. Allen was speedily seen at a window
GA ladder Ia ladder!" was loudly called for,
but there was none at hand; and while some
ran off to the nearest place to get one, the un-
happy woman cast herself down upon the gray
eled walk to escape the fiery death she dreaded.
She was taken up insensible, and carried to the
cottage which she had quilted in health and
happiness so few hours previously. In another
minute Allen, who had gone to arouse his son,
came with him to another window The ladder
had arrived, and was quickly planted at it, and
he was observed desiring Frank to descend.
NAllen Allen save yourself: your wife has
escaped ~ cried Clayton.
The last words never reached the ears they
were addressed to; but were lost in Aliens an
swering cry of ''No, no my wife, my wife ~
as he disappeared to seek the partner of his
many years wanderings and msfortunes
"Allen |! Allen y was echoed in twenty voices
to call him back. But crash followed-some
part of the flooring had fallen in-and he was
never seen again.
| Wildly the flames rose and fell, despite the
| quantities Of water from the stream which had
| been so lavishly cast upon them, Pickering, and
dancing, and soaring up towards the sky, whose
stars were now invisible, and casting broad
red radinnce on the crowd, the wide smooth
meadows, and the waters Of the stream Frank
Allen sat on the grass, gazing on the fiery mass,
which blazed, and hissed, and cracked above
the form he had so loved and honored. Just
old enough to feel to its full extent the anguish
of that moment, without the capability Of en-
durance which added years might have i'm
parted, he watched the remorseless flames with
an intensity Of grief which forbade all attempts
at consolation, and resisted every endeavor to
draw him from the spot.
The night passed, the fire began to die out,
and the rising sun found heap of smouldering
ruins where he had left happy dwelling; while
beneath them lay what had once been a living
and breathing form, in full health, and all the
strength and energy of manhoods prime. Then
Clayton led away the sorrowing boy to his own
home, where, for the first time he learned that
his mother, whom he had thought safe and well,
was suffering greatly-it soon proved, dying
beneath the same roof; and the dawn of another
day found Frank Allen alone--an orphan, and
destitute without a relative or a friend from
whom he had right to claim protection or
| assistance.
! But this thought did not at first come to
greve him, for all considerations of self were
lost in deep and overwhelming sorrow, and he
alone was careless Of his future lot while the
whole village was busy talking over it, and
wondering what it would be. There had been
some doubt, too, about the funeral, when it was
known that the Aliens left nothing but Clay
ton set that at rest at once by charging himself
with the expenses and when that day was over,
Frank Aliens fate was the undivided subject of
| conversation.
Several of the most prosperous inhabitants
were talking together on the subject. None of
them were rich, but all were capable of spend
| ing a good many pounds on any thing they
| chose, without much caring if it were wisely
done or not yet not one, while wondering what
should be done with the boy, ever spoke of do
ing any thing for him beyond the merest trife.
81 wonder what he is fit for" observed one.
81 think his father spoke of sending him to
sea-" said another.
"And the best thing that could be done with
him." added third; 9 dare say we could col
| lect money enough to fit him out should not
mind few shillings myself towards it, and |
should think the parish might do a little"
"Ah his father thought of sending him in n
very different manner!" said the first speaker
pityingly. But all that's one now, and Frank
must be content to get his living as he can"
Philip Clayton stood by in silence. He could
not join in those remarks; their tone and man
ner Jared upon his feelings and as he walked
alone along the streamlet's bank he thought of
/
Truly they seemed soon verified a few pounds
from each of those men, and Frank might be
given the power of working his way up in the
world.
But poor Allen was right, sighed Clayton ;
+" the impulses of our maturer years are not to
aid the weak and helpless"
1t was long walk which Philip Clayton took
that night. When he returned he found Frank
Allen still watching the heap Of ruins with which
he thought all the happiness of his life had fallen
for ever. And even so Clayton mused his own
| Harry, yet younger and more helpless, might
have mourned over the desoation of his home,
| and been cast upon the coldness and the charity
of strangers. But his mind had been made up
fully during that long and solitary walk, though
indeed the purpose had been gathering there
stronger and stronger all the while.
Yet he feared to tell his gentle, loving Hen
rietta for he knew that though she had tended
Mrs. Allen as though she had been sister
and wept with Frank and strove to soothe and
comfort his grief with all woman's tenderness
and softness, still money was too dear to her
to be easily parted with, even for the sake of
one whom she pitied and sympathized with so
deeply. But Philip was resolved. And though,
on hearing that he was going to pay fifty
pounds rs an apprentice-fee for Frank, to secure
for him proper instruction in the line for which
his father destined him, his wife shed more
tears than words of his had ever caused her to
shed before and reproached him bitterly with
throwing away the money they had so slowly
gathered, he still was firm; for the memory of
Aliens words came as a bitter reproach to hui
man nature, in which he could not bear to
share
"You ought to think Of your children " said
Henrietta, pressing the youngest to her bosom,
as if to guard it from some evil which his
fathers act was drawing down upon him.
To be continued
WHEELING BRIDGE-If the report Of the
rom ssinnera ha confirmed 10 in oil nrobo-