The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1859-09-22
The Old Cartman.
By BLUNDERBUSS.

I have mind to tell a Iittle story.-
That it is brief may be seen at glance;
that it is true I most emphatically avow.
II the reader despises it because it is the
first, or the editors Of the Era reject it for
the reason Of the last, then I will eschew
truth in the future and devote myself to
the elaboration Of lies into chapters and
the purest fiction into volumes Of seven
teen hundred pages each.
With this understanding, proceed at
once to remark, that FIVE years ago, or
thereabouts, John Ainsley-or "Pap Ain
sley," as he was fausilially .called-was
the owner Of hand cart, and earned a
living conveying miscellaneous parcels
from one part Of the city to another and
receiving therefor the reasonable remune-
ration Of fifty cents per load. To desig'
nate the occupation in the poorest lam
guage possible, he was hand-cart man,
and when not employed, could'always be
found during working hours at the corner
Of Montgomery and California streets.
His hair and long beard were qnite 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 Teuton on the opposite
corner, thereby losing many job and ma
ny dollar, all the light loads in the neigh.
borhood fell to his lot and kind hearted
men not unfrequently travelled square or
two out cf their way 10 give an easy job
to "Pap Ainsley.'
-Four years ago last September, { re-
collect the month, for l had four thousand
dollars to pay, and was compelled to do
some pretty sharp fnanceering to meet
it, J having two or three dozen volumes
of books to transfer to my lodging, gave
"Pap Ainsley' the task of transportation.
Arriving at my room just as the old man
had deposited the armfull on the table and
observing that the old man looked con-
siderable fatigued after climbing three
flights of stairs Eve or six times, invited
him to take glass of brandy-a bottle
of which I usually kept in my room, for
medicinal soporic purposes. Although
gratefu! for the invitation, he politely de-
clined. I urged but he was inhexible. l
was astonished. s..-
"Do you never drink" said I.
every seldom" he replied, dropping
into chair, at my request, and wiplng
the perspiration from his forehead.
swell, if you drink at all" ! Insisted,
"you will not find in the next twelve
months as fair an excuse for INDUCING, for
you appear fatigued and scarcely able to
stand" a.. afr-f-. ia.
"To be frank" said the old man, IL
do not drink now, have not tasted in.
toxicating liquor for fifteen ysars--since
- .tr
"Since when?' l enquired, ,thoughtless.
ly, observing hesitation.
The old man told me. Sixteen years
ago he was 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 then about six
teen years Of age, formed an attachment
for young physician. Acquainting her
father with the circumstances, he flatly
refused his consent to the union with a
man he had never seen, and removing
her from school, despatched a note to the
young gallant. with the somewhat pointed
information that his presence in the neigh
borhood Of Ainsley farm would not meet
with favor. The reader Of course surmi-
ses the result, for such proceedings can
have but one result. In less than month