New Oregon plaindealer. (New Oregon, Iowa) 1859-1866, 1861-11-29

I endeavored to induce him to take a
little time to consider the matter; told
him that there was no hurry; that he
could wait at least day or two; but all
to no purpose. could not make him
talk seriously on the subject at all. He
insisted on signing the roll at once,
''for fear'' as he said, that mis- patriot
ism should ooze out at his fingers ends,
like Bob Acres courage, before to-mor-
row."
Notwithstanding this assumed levity,
l was sure something of very serious
nature must have occurred to induce
Charley to take this step. He had,
not long before been appointed assist.
ant to the postmaster at D., with
a good salary, and was the chief sup
port of widowed mother. Moreover,
he had told me, in confidence, but a
short time before, that Mary M, one
of the prettiest girls in D., to whom
I knew he was engaged, had consented
to name not very distant day for their
union. l could only account for his
sudden determination by the supposi-
tion that she had Tilted him,--."going
to the wars" being the dernier resort
of discarded lovers from time imme,no-
rial; but I thought it scarcely proba-
BILE. At any rate, whatever the reason
might be, I felt that I was entitled, on
the score ofour old friendship, to know
it: and, at the first opportunity, I in
sisted upon an explanation, which he
at last gave me.
1t appeared that the firm of G. e. H.,
then largely engaged in the forwarding
trade in D, had, as they alleged,
enclosed two hundred dollars, IN bank
notes, to their correspondent in Gin
cinnati, and mailed the same in D.
Post Office: since which time nothing
had been heard of either letters or mon
ey. On the day it should have reached
Cincinnati the correspondent had
taken his letters from the Post Office
with his own hands; and though among
them was one G. H., in reference to
different matter, the one containing the
enclosure was missing; Ror could any
trace of it he found. Messrs c. & H.
produced the affidavit of their cores
ponding clerk, testifying to the con-
tents and direction Of the letter, and to
the fact of his having delivered it per-
sonally, with others into the hands Of
Howard, who stated that he remember.
ed perfectly the circumstance Of receiv-
ing them, but could not recall the par
ticular address of any among them.
G. T. H. did not hesitate to express
their belief that Howard had appropri
ated the contents fthe letter; and even
the postmaster, who had always enter
tanned the greatest confidence in his
integrity, and would have been slow
to believe anything to his prejudice,
yielded, at last, sort of reluctant
half concurrence in theirsuspicions; and
an air of coldness and dlstrust took the
place of the frankness and freedom
which had previously marked his man.
ner towards his assistant.
"What could ! do?" said Charley, as
he related to me those circumstances.
':God knows I am innocent; but how
am 1 to prove it? suppose l must
have received the letter. The Cincin-
natl clerk says he remembers distinct
ly that but one letter came to that ad-
dress from here on that day; and last
night l discovered the Postmaster
watching me from place Of conceal
ment while 1 was sorting the mail. l
couldn't stand that-to be watched
as suspected thief so I resigned at
once. This is no place for me now. /
couldn't bear to hear the thousand
rumors which will be ahoat in this Cos
siping town in less than a week. IT'S
hard to leave my poor old mother, and
land other friends, but it must be
done; so the sooner we get our march
ling orders the better I shall be pleas
ed"