The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1860-12-15
COUNCIL. BLUFFS. IOWA. SATURDAY. DECEMBER Is, 1860.

a - ID n -
and wien this assurance had beea repeated
70 almost . wearysome nuiatsr of1 Nmes
Joe Marran was ccntens, and rearsea h
silence sgain. And there be sat eiai sho las,
rass Of the sun had gone and candies ,hsd
aeen brenght-fhey we're Ell the fnest wax,
yon may be sure-a peculiar EXPRESSION oI
tenJsrnsss on his nlstiH faee.. a. she wns
reading sweet chapter ioviDeiy listenins
&c noble song adnirsng.v. dthen when
he was qasie mufl d up in his greasy old
cloak. as he had come, he ief, the house,
fand hobbied rheumaticaliy when he came
knesr.hss own qnastsrs. h sas 8ss.4
THIS ten, was the brokers' secret, and
this was its history.
About fifteen Years ago Joe Mappin, al
most an old man even then, was called to
bssiss,he goods Of acertain captain Thorson
issing d. the West Enl. The Captain was
enc of thass gar, reckless, loyeable men,
who, ty dint Of sheer animal magnetism
i've for years on credit. and are only aaght
4 TO account when it becomes matt % ofs sl3fe
and death to soms of stha psorrr lcreaisors
i f-ihosecseditors are sorry Cor their debtor
| as if il were themselves going ia the Queen g
/ Bench, and accusing themselves bitterly
the tender hearted at ieast--for the traable
| they are bringing on him. Joe siappin the
hardest Of his profession, the iron hearted
grnsping broker, who was believed not TO
have single human feeling, even be was
touched by the gallant frankness. and graz
eiaus manner of his victim, and as for his
wife. that noble, patient, glorious woman,
1 her little one in her arms something rose
| up in his heart far her which he had never
| felt in his life before. Ii vas an Infinite
| yearning worship; such as be, had read
Eof in the novels of the libraries he had seised,
but which he always thought trash, and the
mere monthings of author fools. He felt
now, for the first time, that there was such
a thing in the human heart rs Love The
| love of beauty, the love Of yirtue,. lore for
| PHYS sake.
Captain Thorton was carried off to the
/ Queens Beuch and after,a short term OF
4 Imprisonment died suddenly Of apoplexy.
He had lived too freely and taken too little
! exercise; and being one of those fair haired
men of saaguiue temperament, who require
abstinence and work, who love ialeness and
.axurv, he had met the fate any medical
.aan would have predicted. His wife and
/ child were thus left alone in the world and
penniless. The broker had never lost sight
IF them. Gifts from an unknown hand.
| ars. Tharten from want all the more vel
come, as BY her marriage che bad displeased
/ her relatives, who were perhaps not sorry
/ now Of this excuse to avoid maintaining her.
IAVhen the Captain died, then Joe Mappin
came forward openly. lie told her he had
i lived an lshmaelte life, without pity and
/ without love; he told her how she had
reused feelings in him-feelings Of reyer-
isnk h.xs,~ IL l. Lc.N
/ known, b3fnre ard the old man how ed
himself before her as to a superior being.
/ and besonght Of her the privilege Of main
tanning her and her child. lie wanted moth
ing he said, but to know that they were
happy. and sometimes to hear them say so.
lie bad not a relation in the world to whom
he could leave his inoney-not one that they
would wrong by taking il; he had boarded
because it was hisFhatare TO hoard; bat he
never knew to what end he sayed.ss Now he
should have saved for Heaven, if she wnuld
accept her life on these easy terms. They
were not hard and if she objected to his
going to see her. he would not. Ind eed
Indeed, it was her happiness, and that sweet
baby's-not his oun-he cared for, in the
/ offers! .-.,.. .... ....s -. =.
| What could she do, that gentle woman
| without friends or fortune, or the means Of
| her subsistence? What could she do, but
look at her child, hold out both her hands to
| that strange old man, and burst into tears
of gratitude and shame, and sorrow, all
mixed up together as she faltered out y es,
| and took her fate from his hands. She
| understood the truth Of his feelings, and
| was herself too noble to assume false
dignity which would have been less digai6sJ
! than the acceptance Of his generosity. She
| thanked him by her tears, and she kissed
| bis withered hand and that touch bound
old Joe Mappin as her slave for life; the
| Esst, last, md only time woman's lips had
| ever, touched him and in this manner
their lives had passed for the last fifteen
years.
: He took beautiful little house for the
widow and her child, and furnished it with
every luxury, dress, jeweIrT, furniture, or
natnents--whateve It might be that was
| rara and expensive he bought them. He
Iayished bis money like water andthought
nothing dear which would call forth a
smile from the child. Their. pleasure re.
paid him everything; it vas bis HeayeD, his
I fife. wa
| But the time was coming fast, now. when
poor ola Joe Msppin, the broker, must face
| the boundary lines between time and
! eternity, and learn tine great secret. When
the winter had killed Margaret's flowers,
/ Fad stripped her sefaniun,s Of their leaves
ana had frozen the songs of the 5iras, the
old man and Death stood face 10 face. his
rheumatisn and asthma had beea very bad
| fer q long while; and living in his nisvard
and neglected way had net given him the
| best ehancs for recovery. u knew he was
dying, but be could not die in peace with
| out looking once more on those two faces
/ he loved 50 rnuch-the orlv two be ever
| loved through the whole OF his long hfe.--
They could Bot.eome TO him, FOR they did
not know his address nor sven his surname.
lie was only aloe" in the beautiful house
In Regents PARK, and the servants thought
/ he was ''alissus's queer old suncle--p srhaps
| from lpgey or furren par.s.s But # they
could not come to bun, be would 60 to them
and must whatever, be believed he could
not die happy, be belieyedhe could not pass
away az all--withous seeing them oaee
more. a- Ea-s as5a4ayg ssa--#.s 5s.,fr = -
Though the seal Of death Was rigidly set
on his face, the Old man resolved to make
!his long and perileHs journey. Ee krew
| be thou!d hasten The supreme m momefs. but
is'woaid bsbe,ter even II he did, hs said,
sadly. lie had done all be eeuld Dc. DOW !;
+. be had established the dear snes, and his
death would no. deprive them nor Of q
/ far.hiug or single comfort. He had sar ed
enough: let him die! He seat for nsigh-
hor 10 dress him for the Inst time, in his
decent clothes: and when this was done
| between faiuting and long fits Of pain--he
told her to 20 for cab, and bargain with
the rnsn fer bis fare up to Regents PARK.
] Because he was old and weak, be would not
Sbe doae even By the biggest rufian Amopg
i them, be groxled oas. When the old woman
( fefs the room, old Joe 1favoed himse,f g