The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1858-11-17

us OF only one thing--that he had left
Boston. Immediately conjecturcd he
had gone to your city, with some idea of
his Diseased mind directing him. Very
probably he will see you.
"Will you look for him 2 You can do
it better than we since he does not mag
Inc you know of this change in him, and
consequently will not avoid you. My
husband starts for your city tomorrow,
and will call on you Immediately after his
arrival. Please care for my poor father,
SO helpless and 50 wretched as he is. You
cannot imagine our grief and anxiety
1t seems he has speht nearly all his
money Mary
THIS letter was thunder clap to me
had imagined them so happy, and was SO
unprepared for any such consequence as
this. Here was proof that this old man,
tempest-tost through life, was to 90 down
to his grave in the same storm blast that
had howled about him always-was to pass
away in the same gloomy shadows that
had ever hung about him Il was to pass
away unenlightened, uncheered, by one
CLEAN of hope. 1t was the revelation of
a doom IS irremediable and eternal as
that which hung over the house of the old
Greek. 1t was fated that men should
know Henry Oxford as the Lottery Crazed.
Scarcely had | recovered from the sud-
den shock of these tidings, when Henry
Orf'rd came into the Office. 1 still had
his daughters letter in my hand. 1 saw
him at the door, and as he feebly sham
bled towards me, | read the depth to
which he had fallen-or had been hurled
in the changes wrought in his appear
ance. Changed he was, of surety his
hair long, while, unkempt his face fear
fully scanned with care lines: and his dry,
shrunk, faded, eye more than ever. dis
traught with that terrible anxiety of which
had read tokens in its appearance when
first saw him. In weak, peenish tone,
unimpressive save only of an old mans
wretchedness, he spoke to me few listless
Indifferent, words. | was so confounded
by this complication of events, that could
only murmur in reply few meaningless
expressions of my surprise at seeing him.
Yes, yes" he replied; 81 came off
rather une1pectedly-wanted to see the
city once more" 1 inquired after Mary.
"She's very wsll-told me to give her
particular love to you
This was said with the cunning of
lunatic, as l now became convinced he
was. He sat down and 1 forced myself
to talk with him, being able, however, to
elicit but little from him, for his mind
wandered, His memory was much i'm
paired, and be was childishly fretful and
vacillating.
After while, customer came in; and
l was busy with him for some minutes be-
hind the desk. When l looked around,
the old man was gone, and his daughters
letter, (which I had carelessly placed on
the counter) was lying on the floor by the
chair in which he had sat. He knew all,
then, and would avoid me as he had his
family. In vain looked for him up and
down the street. l could not leave the
Office, for l was alone there. As soon as
Mr.. Morgiston came in, explained the
affair to him, and had his permission to
search for Mr.. Oxford. My every effort
and inquiry that evening were futile. The
weather was horrible-cold, gray, showing
"a bitter time for him who was so feeble
so wretched so crazed.
The next morning, Mary's husband
found me, and after a few explanations
we concluded to continue the search to.
gether The day was even more bleak
than the preceding one. 1t did not snow
but the ground was thickly covered, and
what with the piercing wind, the drear
gray of the sky, with dark lowering cloud
forms moving heavily across from the east
and the general sombre aspect of things,it
was as disagreeable weather as ever ex
perienced. Every little thing connected
with that day is indelibly impressed upor
my mind. was disposed to consider
this forbidding face of nature portent O
things fearful. felt sort of sickly unea
siness, which l could not account for
hanging around me as | sailed forth witt
Mary's husband on our apparently useless
search. As the day waxed older, this un
easiness grew upon me, and feverishly W.
hurried en- from place to place. imag
ined | would most likely hear of the ole
| man from the lottery dealers and nlannsf