The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1859-09-01
From the San Francisco Era.
THE OLD CARTMAN.
BY NDERBUSS.

l have good mind to tell little story.
That it is brief may be seen at glance
that IT is true | most emphatically avow.
II the reader despise it because of the
first, or the editors Of the Era reject il
for the reason Of the last, then l will es-
chew truth in the future, and devote my
self to the elaboration Of lies into chap
ters, and the purest fictions 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 of handcart, and earned
a living by conveying miscellaneous par
GELS from one section of the city to an
other, and receiving therefor the reason
able remuneration of fifty cents per load.
To designate the occupation. in the pro-
siest language possible, lie was a hand
cartman, and when not employed, could
always be fouad during working hours
at the corner of Montgomery and Cali
fornia streets. His hair and long beard
were quite gray, and his limbs feeble
and if he could not shove as heavy a
load through the deep sand or up the
steep grade above him, as the stalwart
Teuton on the opposite corner, thereby
losing many Il job and many dollar, all
the light loads in the neighborhood fell
to his lot, and kind hearted men not un-
frequently went a square or two out OF
their way to give an easy job to Pap
Ainsley. ."aaomt Ld aata
Four years golast September, (I rec
ollect the month, for had note of four
thousand dollars to pay. and was COM
PEELED to do some pretty sharp financier-
ing to meetit, having two or three doz
en- volumes of books to transfer to my
lodgings, gave g Pap Ainsley" task
of transportation. Arriving at my room
just as he had deposited the last armful
on my table, and observing that the old
man looked considerably fatigued after
climbing three flights Of stairs two or
three times, i invited him to take a glass
of brandy-a bottle of which / usually
kept in the room, for medical and sopor-
ific purposes. Although grateful for the
invitation, he politely declined. | urg-
ed, but he was inflexible. i was aston
ished. :" Do you ever drink ?" |" Very
seldom" he replied. dropping into a
chair, at my request, and wiping the
perspiration from his forehead. :" Well,
if you ever drink at ALL" | insisted.
"you will not find in the twelve months
as fair an excuse foi indulging. for you
appear fatigued and scarcely able to
stand.' 70 be frank" said the old
man, /" do not drink now" l have
not taken intoxicating liquor for fifteen
years-since-' "Since when ?" in
quired thoughllessly, observing his hesi-
tation. mof E11 a.j - b9~gao
The old man told me- Sixteen years
ago he was well-to-do farmer near Syr-
acuse, New York. He had but one child
"a daughter. While attending board
ing school in that city, the girl, then
about sixteen years OF age, formed an
attachment for young physician. Ac-
quainting her father with the circum-
stances, he fatty refused his consent to
her union with man he had never seen,
and removing her from school he de-
spatched note to the young gallant,
with the somewhat pointed information.
that his.presence in the neighborhood OF
the Ainsley farm would not meet with ia
yor