The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1859-09-28
The old Cartman.
BY BLUNDERBUss.

l have mind TO tell little story
That it is brief, may be seen at glance ;
that it is true i most emphatically avow.
If the readers despise it because of the
first or the editors of the Era reject il
because Of the last, then | will eschew
truth in the future, and devote myself to
the elaboration of lies into chapters and
the purest fictions into volumes of 1900
pages each.
With this undertaking, / proceed at
once to remark that five years ago, or
thereabouts, John Ainsley--or "pap Aims
ley" as he was familiarly called-was
the owner of hand cart, and earned a
living by conveying miscellaneous parcels
from one section of the city to another,
and remuneration of fifty cents per load.
To designate the occupation in prosiest
language possible, he was a hand cart
man,and when not employed, could always
be found during working hours at the cor
ner of Montgomery and California streets.
His hair and long beard were quito gray
and his limbs feeble; and if he could not
shove as heavy load through the deep
sand or up the steep grade above him as
the stalwart Trenton on the opposite cor
ner, thereby losing many a job and many
q dollar, all the light loads in his neigh
borhood fell to his lot, and kind-hearted
men not unfrequcntly travelled square
or two out Of the way TO give an easy
job to "Pap Ainsley."
-Four years ago last September { recol-
lect the month, for l had note for four
thousand dollars to pay, and was com
PEELED to do some pretty sharp financier-
ing to meet it) having two or three dozen
volumes to transfer to my lodgings, / gave
Pap Ainsley the task of transportation.
Arriving at my room just as he had de-
posted the last armful on the table, and
observing that the old man looked consd-
erably fatigued after climbing three flights
of stairs five or six times, | invited him
TO take n glass of brandy-a bottle Of
which usually kept in my room for med
ical and soporifc purpose. Although
grateful for the invitation, he declined.-
| urged but he was mfexible. Twas as
tonished, and said:
ado you never drink?"
avery seldom" he replied, dropping
into chair at my request and wiping the
Precipitation from his forehead.
"Well, if you drink at all,' | insisted,
" you will not find rs fair an excuse in the
next twelve month for indulging, for you
appear fatigued and scarcely able to stand" "
"To be frank" said the old man, 81
do not drink now. / have not tasted
liquor for fifteen years, since"
Since when" enquired.
The old man told me. Sixteen years
ago he was well to do farmer near Syr-
acuse, New York. He had one child, a
daughter. While attending a boarding
school in that city,then girl sixteen years
of age, she formed an attachment for a
young physician. Acquainting her faith
or with the circumstances, he fatty refus-
ed his consent to the union with man
whom he had never seen, and removing
her from school, dispatched note to the
young gallant, with the somewhat point
ed information, that his presence in the
neighborhood Of the Ainsly farm would
not meet with favor. The reader oI
course surmises the result, for such pro-
cceding could and can have but one re-
suit. In less than one month there was
elopement. The father loaded his CUR
and swore revenge, but failing to find the
fugitives, he took TO the bottle. His
good wife implored him not to give way
to despair, but he drank the deeper, and
accused her of encouraging the elopement
In three short months the wife died, and
at the expiration of year, when the
young couple returned to Syracuse from
Connecticut, where they had remained
with bis parents, they learned that the ole
man had sold his farm, squandcred The