Sunday dispatch. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1845-1854, 1852-03-28
q SlOyp Of Nrm QOlb a ibs pss 1T Grme
LIFE AND ADVENTURES of JACK ENGLE;
AN AUTO BIO GRAPHY
WHICH THE READER WILL FIND SOME FAMILIAR CHARACTERS

which had been his accu toned support for
/ 6fty years, he felt low spirited enough at
times He looked worse than ever; and,
/ after taking the advice of Ephraim, coun-
selled the old man to indulge himself mode
rately in drinking For it was now too late;
Wigglesworth stood with one foot in the
grave, and, TO deprive him totally Of drink,
we thought likely, under The circum-
stances, TO do him more harm than good II
he had reformed ia that respect years before
however, he would -san-anuht haxA i.-4--
u ne neSithler aud q happier rnan.
With respect to my name being what ap-
pears at tho head of this auto biography, all
that knew about It was this--for Ephraim
and Violet had informed me Of as much, and
it Tailed with my own recollection
Jack Engle was the name whereby called
myself, and remembered being called among
the very few who used more than my frat
appellative; it was the name which l gave
at our first acquaintance to Violet's serious
questionings. Moreover, the morning [
came, in my rags, to the benevolent milk
mans door. | was wearing in my ear ring.
some three quarters Of an inch in diameter,
which never remembered being put there,
but which J. knew had hung there as lopg as
my childish memory could know anything
aNout it. 1t was plain round ring, with D
thick square bar straight across the lower
quarter; and somehow had stuck to ma
through ell my wanderiogs. Probably this
'od luck was attributable to the fact that
inc ring, in its dimness and dirt, passed for
nothing more valuable than brass.
Upon an examination which Violet made,
soon after their adoption of me, this ring
proved 10 be of geld The little cross bar
was double, and When the two parts were
separated, there was plainly to be seen, on
the one which was concealed before, the
words Jack Engle" discovery which so
confirmed my juvenile traditions that Eph-
rain aud his wife concluded TO give up their
first intention Of bestowing upon me their
own name Besides, they had some honest
religious scrnples about their right to make
any change Who knew bat what has been
ehristened with that name
A year afterward an incident occurred
which, although perhaps Of 30 impor ance,
may as we'll be mentioned here; for it was
one Of the very few links which had any con-
nection with the mystery Of who the deuce
was and whence l came
Our pious acquaintance, once casually al.
lpded TO In the last chapter, Mr.. Calvin Pc
tSrson. eked out frequently scenCy living
by taking boarders. Calvin wouldn't have
were not very select.
One of his neutrality-suspicious. two vears
subsequent to the period described in the
second chapter, where do myself the honor
OF making the readers acquaintance e-was r
middle aged man, who stayed with the Peter
cons only couple Of weeks, waiting the
departure of a brig in which ne was going to
take passage for q port in South Americs
The man said very litele about himself except
that hc was bound abroad with the intention
of bettering his fortunes, and had no partic
ular idea Of soon returning
Once when | was there playing with Tom
Peterson, s. boy Of my owa age, this man
hearing them call Ely name In full, came
down on the ba * stoop; and / remember his
standing so long and looking 80 gravely al
me that l noticed it, and felt childish feel
ing Of annoyance
Tne next morning, he came around Il
EPhriam's. asked for me, drew me TO his side,
anu looking st me- again as before, iaqvir. q
Of Ephriam how | came to be there Eohrsim
told him the history Of the morning TWO years
previous, and added what he had Learned
from me Of my former life.
The man said he knew more concerning me
than would do any good to cell and that the
name ! went by was the right one. There
were two big tears under his eyes, as he
kissed me on the cheek He thanked GOD
over and over again that had fallen in sucb
good protection. He lifted his hands over
me and fervently invoked blessing on me-
he was devout man, es Mrs Peterson in
formed Violet afserward-and, telling Eph.
riam tha5 he might hear from him again at
some future time, if he ever returned from
abroad, our strange visitor departed
But the trouble of names or an inquiry in
to my parentage, formed about the slightest
Of mine or Ephraim's cares The vagabond
child had rot been left for twenty years un-
cared for, except by strangers, and unasked
for, to make it likely that there would sud
denly arise some mighty important story, to
throw 8 romance about him and his affairs
was not such fool as to suppose go
When | thought about it at all, which was
very seldom, my mind had no other point 10
arrive at than the plain and evident supposi-
ton that my pedigree, if traced at oil, as it
appeared likely would never be the case,
would be found in the lowest grade Of soci
ETY. and that my parents were doubtless
dead long before this time.
Faith it seemed just now as if there were
g combination to sgitate this subject, and
hardly aoything else. For in addition TO
poor crazy old Wigglesworths mutterings,
Lawyer Covert sent for Ephriam, and, under
pretencs of being interested in me, made mi
mute inquiries concerning all the facts with
which the reader is already acquainted He
even made Ephraim sit down, and repeat
them to him deliberately; the morning vixen
l came for my breakfsst-the history of the
cross barred ring and the incident of the
stranger and his visit
Probably it was, that Mr. Covert, in the
activity of his heart, amused himself with
making fanoiful story for me, when he had
nothing else to do; often afterward, when l
looked up from the desk, wearied and in.
wardly cursing the whole science of Law,
with all its appprtenances and here1ita-
mcnts, l would behold Mr. Covert gazing
fxedly at me in what appeared to me Gu
riOus manner.
At the time / paid no attention to these
things, nor to several other incidents that
happened, and peculiarities in his treatment
toward me. 1t was only after other devel-
opments were made that l recalled them
OF these, we shall have true account in the
course Of the story