The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1859-10-14
TILE OLD CARTMAN.
DY BLUuDERBuss.

have a mind to tell little story
That il is brief may be seen at a glance;
that il is true | most emphatically aVow.
II the reader despises il because It lie the
first, or the editors Of the Era reject il
for the reason Of the last, then / will es-
chew truth in the future and devote my
self to the elaboration of lies into chap
ters and the purest fiction into volumes
of seventeen hundred pages each.
With this understanding, / proceed at
once TO remark. that FIVE years ago, or
thereabouts, John Ainsley-or "Pap
Ainsley," as he was familiarly called
was the owner ofa handcart, and earned
living conveying miscellaneous parcels
from one part ofthe city to another and
receiving therefor the reasonable remun-
Grafton Of fifty cents per load. To desig-
nate the occupation in the poorest Ian
guage possible, he was a hAnd-cart man,
and when not employed, could always be
found during working hours at the cor
ner of Montgomery aud California streets.
His hair and long beard were quite gray
and his limbs feeble; and if he could not
shove quite as heavy load through the
deep sand or up the steep grade above
him as the stalwart Tenton on the oppo-
site corner, thereby losing many Job and
many a dollar, all the light loads in the
neighborhOod fell 10 his lot and kind.
hearted men not unfrequently travelled q
square or two out of their way to give an
easy job to "PaP Ainsley"
-Four years ago last September, (T rec
ollect the month, for had a note of fouI
thousand dollars TO pay, and was compel.
cd TO do some pretty sharp inanceerine
to meet it,) having two or three dozen vol
umes Of books to transfer to my lodging
| gave "Pap Ainsley" the task Of trans
portation, Arriving at my room Just az
the old gentleman had deposited the last
urmful on the table and observing that the
old man looked considerably fatigued az
ter climping three flights Of stairs five OF
six times, invited him to take a glass Of
brandy-a bottle of Which usually kept
in my room, for medical soporific purposes
Although grateful for the invitation, he
politely declined. urged but no wai
inhexible. ! was astonished.
"Do you never drink" said /.
"Vey seldom" he replied, dropping m
20 a chair, at my request, and wiping the
Precipitation from his forehead
"Wel, II you drink at all" insisted
''you will not find in the next twelve
months as fair an excuse for indulging
for you appear fatigued and scracely ablG
70 stand"
"To be frank, /" said the old man, Il Dc
not drink now. ! have not tasted intox.
icating liquor for fifteen years-ainee--'
"Since Whenlp / enqulred, thought.
lessly, observing his hesitation.
The old man told me. Sixteen years
ago he was a Well-to-do farmer, near Sy.
racuse, New York. He had but one
child-a daughter. While attending
boarding school in that city the girl, theI
about aixteen years Of age, formed an ~
tachment for a young physician. Ac.
quHinting her father with the circumstance
he fatty refused bis consent TO tho UnioT
with man he had never seen, and remove
ing her from school, despatched a note e
the young gallant, with somewhat point
cd Information that his presence In III,
neighborhood Of Ainsley farm would no
meet a favor. The reader Of course sur
misses the result, for such preceding
could and have but Oac result. In lea
4 than d month there was an elopcmenat
The father loaded his donble-barrel sho
gun, and gwofe vengeance, out filling &
find the fugitives he took to the bottle
His good wife implored him not 10 give
away 70 despair, but he drank the deeper
and accused her Of encouraging the elOpe
msnt