Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-07-21

the purchaser. But the shillings never
came back-perhaps people did not think
so small a sum worth returning so he
went on to half-crowns and crowns, and
now and then, in very particular cases,
he even ventured a guinea but it was
always with the same luck, and the long
er he tried, the more he distrusted there
being any honest in the world, and the
more disposed he felt to leave all his mo-
ney to Leah Leet, who had lived with
him so long, and to his belief, had never
wronged him out of penny.
What's this you have put into the
cruel, Mary ?" said pale, sickly looking
man one evening, taking something out
of his mouth, which he held towards the
feeble CLEANS emitted by farthing rush
light standing on the mantle piece.
~" What is it, father ?" inquired a young
girl, approaching him. Isn't the cruel
good ?''
It's good enough" /" replied the man !;
&c but here's something in it it's shil-
ling, believe"
cts guinea, declare !'' exclaimed
the girl, as she took the coin from him
and examined it nearer the light
ga guinea ?" repeated the man "well,
that's the first bit of luck I've had these
seven years or more. 1t never could
have come when we wanted it worse
Show it us here, Mary 2"
" But it's not ours, father" said Mary.
81 paid away the last shilling we had for
the meal, and here's the change"
Z" God has sent it us, girl He saw
our distress, and He sent it us in His
| lNn a..
OF gold with his thin, bony fingers.
1t must be Mr.. Benjamin's," said she.
He must have dropped it into the meal
tub that stands by the counter"
How do you know that ?" inquired
the man with an impatient tone and half
angry glance. " How can you tell how
it came into the cruel ? Perhaps it was
lying at the bottom of the basin, or at the
bottom of the saucepan. Most likely it
was"
Oh, no, father" said Mary, sit is
long since we had guinea"
"a guinea that we knew of but I've
had plenty in my time, and how do you
know this is not one we had oyerlooked?"
We've wanted guinea too much to
overlook one" answered she. "But ne
yer mind, father eat your Cruel, and
don't think oft your cheeks are getting
quite red with talking so, and you won't
be able to sleep when you go to bed.''
" don't expect to Sleep" said the
man, peevishly " never do Sleep"
"Ithink you will, after that nice cruel, y
said Mary, throwing her arms round his
neck. and tcnderly kissing his cheek.
And guinea in it to give it relish,
too" returned the father, with faint
smile and an expression of archness, be-
tokening an inner nature very different
from the exterior which sorrow and pov
erty had encrusted on it.
His daughter then proposed that he
should go to bed and having assisted
him to undress, and arranged her little
household matters, she retired behind a
tattered, drab colored curtain which sha-
ded her own mattress, and laid herself
down to rest.
The apartment in which this little scene
occurred, was in the attic story of a
mean house, situated in one of the mar
row courts or alleys betwixt the Strand
and Drury-lane. The furniture it con-
tanned was of the poorest description /; the
cracked window -panes were coated with
dust and the scanty fire in the CRATE,
although the evening was cold enough to
make large one desirablc-all eombi-
ned to testify to the poverty of the inha-
bitants. 1t was sorry retreat for decli-
ming years and sickness and sad and
cheerless home for the fresh cheeks and
glad hopes of youth and all the worse,
that neither father nor daughter was to
the manor born - for poor John Glegg
had, as he said, had plenty of guineas in
his time at least, what should have been
plenty, had they been wisely husbsnded
But John, to describe the thing as he saw
it himself, had always had luck against
him." 1t did not signify what he under.
took. his undertakings invariably turned
out i'll.
He was born in Scotland, and had pass
ed great portion of his life there but
unfortunately for him, he had no Scotch
blood in his veins, or he might have been
blessed with some small modicum of the
caution for which that nation is said to be
distinguished. His father had been a
cooper, and when quite young man
John had succeeded to well-cstablished
business in Aberdeen. His principal com
merce consisted in furnishing the retail
dealers with casks, wherein to pack theil
dried fish but partly from good-nature
and partly from Incidence, he allowed
them to run such long accounts, that they
were apt to overlook the debt altogether
in their calculations, and to take refuge
in bankruptcy when the demand wa.
pressed and the supply of goods withheld
his negligence thus proving, in its re-
suits, as Injurious to them as to himself
The snug sum of five hundred pounds
embarked in a scheme projected by toe
sanguine friend, for establishing local
no.Ssnno,. ,nL;aL &. l:oI nro ;t ,,,ns he,,r, 81