Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-08-22
NUMBER 238.
Struggled Relations.

! maze morning call at our mouse, that certain
ornamental object on the table, which was covered
with marbed paper "wasn't marble Years If
reflection upon this injury have fully satisfied me
that the honest object IN question never imposed
upon anybody; further, that my honored parents
though both of sanguine temperament never can
have conceived il possible that 1t might, could
should, would, or did impose upon anybody. Yer
have no doubt that had my ears boxed for yo-
lating tacit compact in the family and among tn.
family visitera, 10 blink the stubborn fact Of the
marble paper and agree upon a fiction of real
marble.
Long after this, whenNly ears had been past
boxing for quarter of a century, knew n man
with cork leg. That he had a cork leg--or Al
| all events, that he was at immense pains TO take
abont with him leg which was not his own leg,
or real leg-was 80 plain and obvious crcum.
stance, that the whole universe might have md,
affidavit of it, Still it was always understood that
this cork leg was 10 be regarded as leg of iesl
and blood and even that the very subject Of cork
in the abstract was TO be avoided in the wearer's
| society.
l have had my share Of going about the world
wherever have been have found the marbed
paper and the cork leg. ! have found them in
many forms; but, Of oil their Protean shapes NJ
once the commonest and s,rangest has been
Struggled relations.
was on intimate terms for many, many years,
with my late lamented friend Cogsford of the
| pTeut prcek mousse Vi JbpsOrN BTOtflnIS tDgS-
ford. was his executor. ! believe he had no
secrets from me bnt one-his mother That the
agreeable old lady who kept his house for him aeas
his mother, must he his mother couldn't possibly
be ANYBODY but his mother, was evident /; not 10
me alone, but to everybody who knew him. She
was not refugee, she was not prescribed, she
was not in hiding there was no price put upon her
venerable head she was invariably liked and re-
| spectcd as good-humored, sensible, cheerful old
soul Then why did Cogsford SNUG rle his mother
all the days of his lifcy have not the slightest
idea why. | cannot so much as say whether .!le
| had ever contracted second marriage, and her
name was really Mrs. Bean; or whether that name
was bestowed upon her as part Of the smuggling
transaction. only know that there shc used to
sit at one end Of the hospitable table, the living
image i'll a cap OF Cogsford at the other end, and
that Cogsford knew that / knew who she waa
Yet, If had been custom-house officer at Fokc-
stone, and Mrs. Bean French clock that Cogs-
ford was furtively bringing from Paris in hat-box
he could not have made her the subject of a more
determined and deliberate pretence. II was pro-
longed for years upon years. IL survived the good
old lady herself
One day received an agitatcd note from CogF-
ford, entreating me to go to him Immediately; |
went, and found him weeping, and in the greatest
affction.
/" My dear friend" said he, pressing my hand,
81 have lost Mrs. Bean. She Is no more"
deepest grief He spoke Of Mrs. Bean, on the
way back. as the best of women. But even then
! he never limited that Mrs. Bean was his mother
and the first and last acknowledgment of the fact
that ever had from him was in his last will
wherein he entreated " his said dear friend and
executor" to observe that he requested to be bu
ried beside his mother-whom he didn't even
name, he was so perfectly confident that had dc.
| tected Mrs. Bean.
Other people, again, put these con-
traband commodities entirely away from the light.
as smuggers of wine and brandy bury tubs. |
have heard of a man who never impaired TO his
most intimate friend the terrific secret that he had
n relation in the world except when he lost one
| by death; and then he would be weighed down by
the greatness Of the calamity, and would refer 10
his bereavement az IL he bad lost the very shadow
OF himself from whom he had never been sepa-
rated since the DAYS Of infancy. Within my own
experience, | have observed smugged relations 10
possess wonderful quality OF coming out when
they die. Ny own dear Tom, who married my
fourth sister, and who is a great smuggler, never
fails to speak to me Of Of his relations, newly
deceased, as though, instead Of never having, in
the rrnotest way, alluded TO that relatives exist
cncc before, he had been perpetlally discoursing
of it, my poor dear, darling Emmy" he said TO
me within these six months, " she Is gone | have
| lost her" Never until that moment had Tom
breathed one syllable TO me OF the existence Of any
Emmy whomsoever on the face of the earth, in
whom he had tho smallest interest. lie had scare
| ly allowed me 20 understand very distantly aud
generally, that he had some relations, :" my peo-
pie" he called them, down In Yorkshire. NV
own dear, darling Emmy, says Tom, notsithstand-
| ing "she has left me for better world" tom
must have left her for his own world, at icast ff
teen years. | repeated, feeling my way, EMMY.
TOM" my iayorite niece" said Tom, in n re-
proachlul tone, Emmy, you know. was her
| godfather, you remember. Darling, fiir.haired
! Emmy! Precious, bluc-eyed child!' Tom burst
into tears, and We both understood that henceforth
the fiction was established between Va that had
been quite familiar with Emmy by reputation
| through a series of years
! Occasionally, smuggled relations are discovered
| by accident; just as those tubs may be 10 which
have referred. NV other halE-I mean, of course,
my wife-oncc discovered large cargo in this
way which had long been concealed. In the
next street 10 us lived an acquaintance Of our-,
who a commissioner Of something or other,
and kept handsome establishment. We used to
exchange dinners, and have equenty beard him,
| at his own table, mention his father as "poor,
dear, good old boy" who had been dead for an in.
definite period. He was rather fond Of telling an.
ecdotcs Of his very early days, and from them II
appeared that he had beon an only child. Onc
summer afternoon my other bali, walking in
! immediate neighborhood, happened 10 perceive
| Mrs. Commissioners last years bonnet, Ito every
inch Of which it is unnecessary TO add che could
have swoIuj going along before her on somebody
clse's head, Having beard generally Of the swell
mob, my good lady's first impression was, that tho
wcarer Of this bonnet belonged to that fraternity,
| had Just distracted the bonnet from It's place of
repose, was in every sense Of the term walking of
with it, and ought to be given into the custody OF
the nearest policeman. Fortunately, however, my
Susannah, who is not distinguished by coseness OF
reasoning or presence Of mind reflected rs It were
| by aash oi inspiration, that the bonnet might
have been given away Curious to sec TO whom
she quickencd her steps, and deserted beneath il
an ancient lady Of an iron-bonnd presence, in
| whom tor my Susannah has an cyc) she instantly
| recognised the lincsmcnts Of the Commissioner!
Eagerly pursuing this discovery, she, that very al
ternoon, tracked down ancient gentleman IN
one Of the commissioners hats. Next day she
came upon the truil Of four stony madens, deco
rated with al tifcal flowers out Of the commission
er's epergne; and thus we dug up the commits
sioner's father, and MOTHER and four sisters, who
had been for some years sccreted in lodgings round
| ,.d he