Litchfield enquirer., 1860-05-03
THE LOST RING.
BY A RETIRED ATTORNEY.
z Mir. Docket!" :" Yes. madam ,

study for a philosopher. Her eyes were red as though she had been weeping; and when she seated herself by my desk, the pent uT current of her grief burst forth afresh.
 What is the matter, my good woman You seem to be in deep distress" remark ed, in the most encouraging tones coulG command
 I am sir. They say the Lord is near te them that are in suffering, and I am sure He ought 10 be very near to me-"
 dare say he is, ma'am. But you know l that affiictions are sent to us for our OWL good, and We ought never to repine at the discipline of life, however severe it may sometimes seem to us"
 1 had heard an excellent sermon the day before-for it was Monday--on Tribulation and was just in the frame of mind for giy. ing others most excellent advice, which, per haps, l should have been unwilling to follow if the dark waves of trouble had rolled over me.
 "1 try to bear it as we'll as can," she replied, wiping away the tears with the cor. ner of her apron.
 "I don't know as am acquainted with you, ma'am,' l suggested, for the purpose of changing the topic, and buinging her to bu- sincsS.
 "I don't know as you arc," she replied i; and she proceeded to give mo very long and very succinct account of her previous history, beginning back some forty years, when she was born among the White Moun- tains in New Hampshire
 tried to check her, but it was no use. l was as patient as the case would admit, and mindful of the duty we owe to the weak, the infrm. and the ignorant; but my patience was sorcly tried
 1 will not punish the reader with the long, fine spun story she told me, for few lines will suffice to in6rm him of the material facts. She was widow, and her name was Marche. She had an only son, Phillip, who was employed in an insurance office, and received three dollars week for his services. He was good boy, and loved his mother, as son should Upon their united earn ings they lived very comfortably in an ob- scure street, where they hired two rooms. Mrs. Marches catalogue of her sons virtues was certainly very edfyiug. He never spent cent upon himself, never went out nights, and attended church forenoon and afternoon.
 An evil day had come. On the Saturday two weeks preceding. Mir. Carmen, the President of the Insurance Company, as he declared, had sent Phillip with Il very valu- able diamond ring to the jcweer's, to have the stone reset Gu inquiry, the ring was found not to have reached the destination The jcwelcr had never seen it. To make the case more complicated still, Phillip denied having received the ring. Mr. Curmcn had never scnt him ou any such errand
 The boy had been arrested on the charge of stealing the ring, and was now confined in jail. Mir. Carmen was ready to swear he had delivered the valuable article into the hands of the boy, with explicit directions as to where he should carry it, and what should be done with it.
 It looked like bad case The poor wo- man was in the deepest distress. She was sure her darling boy was innocent of the crime. She kmev he wouldn't steal I pit jed her, and promised to do what could for her son.
 When she had gone, called Oh Mir. Car men. l fonnd that he was ono of those still, dogmatic old fellows, who are never in the wrong, who find it impossible to err, even by design, or to make mistake. Ev- erybody is in the wrong but himself 1 tried to argue the point with him, but he would not say much. He told me the story; was sure he sent the ring by the boy, and by mo- body else.
 ventured to suggest that he might be mistaken; that he had sent the ring by some other person.
 "Do you take me for a simpleton, sir? Do you :hink l don't know what am about?" he exclaimed. bestowing on me such a look of whitening contempt. Il sent the ring by the boy, sir The boy has stolen it. Nothing more need be said, sir;" and he turned to the newspaper he had been read ing,
 l was not much pleased with the inter- view. l was vcxed at the naughty, over- bearing manner of the old fellow; and con. fess that my pique rendered me teu!old more jealous in my endeavors to clear my youth- full client.
 visited Phillip at the jail. He was very sad on his mothers account; on his own, he seemed not to care. A more frank, open hearted boy never saw. He told his story. and though questioned him pretty severely he was consistent to the last. made the case my own, and worked un- ceasingly, as it seemed to mo then, for the overthrow of the naughty President of the Insurance Company, as much as for the sal vaton of the widow and her interesting son. l visited more than dozen jewellers shops that afternoon and the next morning; with what results the reader shall learn in the de- tails of the trial, which came on the next day.
 Phillip was duly arraigned, and his poor mother sat by my side, weeping and sobbing like child as the case proceeded.
 Mr. Carmen, with majestic dignity step. pea on the stand. He told the story have before detailed, and was turned over to me for cross-examination. could see that he was nettled, for he certainly could read nd mercy in my face
 "Mr. Carmen, you are willing to swear that you gave the ring to the boy?n
 Certainly, I am," he replied, vexed and angry, for he had answered the same ques ton dozen times in the course of the cross examination. ..r,...-.
 II beg your honor to notice particular, the words of this witness" I remarked t the court
 His honor testify replied that he had no ticed them, as matter of course; he hat them in his minutes; and he rather snubbet G-