The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-07-24

we talk 50 mich and grumble so much, is the
smallest and most easily paid Banner of
Light. 8
Hugh Miller and Mary Duff.
o. i
Hugh Miller, the geologist, journalist and
man Of genius, was sitting in his newspa-
per Office late one dreary winter night. The
clerks had all left, and he was preparing to
go, when quick rap came to the door. He
said come in" and looking towards the en-
trance, saw little ragged giil, all wet with
sleet. care ye Hugh Miller? ~ Yes
"Mary Duff wants ye.",. "What does she
wantin ashes deein." Some misty reco'-
lection Of the name made him at once set out
and with his well known plaid and stick he
was soon stiiding after the child, who trot!
ted through the now deserted High street,
into the Canongate. BY the time he got 10
old Playhouse close, Hugh had revived his
memory of Mary Duff, a lively girl who had
been bred up beside him in Cromarty. The
last time he had seen her WAS at a brother
mason's marriage, where Mary was ..'best
maid" and he "best man" He seemed
still to see her bright, young careless face,
her tidy shortgown, and her dark eyes, and
to hear her bantcring merry tongue.
Down the close went the ragged little girl.
and up an outside stair, Hugh keeping near
her with difficulty; in the passage she held
odt her hand touched him taking 1t in'his
great palm he felt that she wanted a thumb
Finding her way Ike a cat through the
darkness, she opened the door and saying,
That's herr' vanished. BY the light Of
dying fire he saw lying in the corner of a
large empty room som cthing like a woman's
clothes and on drawing nearer became
aware of a thin, pale face and two dar.s eyes
looking keenly but helplesslY upon him
The eyss were plainly Mary Durs, though
he could recognize no other featl.c.
She wept, silently gazing at him. Are
you Mary Duff?' "It's a that's o me,
Hugh" She then tried to speak to him,
something plainly Of great urgency, but she
couldn't, and seeing that she was very i'll,
and making herself worse, he put halfa-
crown into her feverish hand, and said he
would call again in the morning. He could
get no information from the neighbors they
were all surly or asleep.
When he returned next morning the little
girl met him at the stair-head, and said,
ashes died" He went in and found that it
was true; there she lay, the fire out, her
face placid, and the likeness of her maideii
self restored Hugh thought he would
have known her now, even With those bright
black eyes closed as they were, IN aetur-
mum. g "a 1.5 ss-.zas sFfr
Seeking out a neighbor, he said he would
like to bury Mary Duff, and arranged for the
funeral with an undertaken at the close
Little seemed to be known of the poor out
cast, except that she was ''lichet," CT, as
Solomon would have said, tsstrange
woman" "Did she drink?' "Whiles." :
On the day of the funeral one or two resi-
dents in the close accompanied him to the
Canongate churchyard. He observed q
decent looking little woman watching them,
and following at distance, though the day
was wet and bitter After the grave was
filled, and he had taken off his hat. as the
men finished their business, by putting on
and s!apping the sod, he saw this old woman
remaining. She came up, and, courtesying
said, aye may ken that lass, sir?" "Yes /;
knew her when she was young" Tho
woman then burst into tears, and told Hugh
that she Except a bit shop at the Close
mouth, and Mary dealt WI me, and aye pay
ed regular, and was feared she was dead,
for she had been month awin' me a half c
crown !" and then with a look Of awe, she
told Kim how on the night he was sent for
and Immediately after he left she had been
awakened by some one, in her room, and by
her bright fire she aai ssen the wasted
dying creature, who came forward and said
I"Wasn't it half crown?" Eyes" There
it is" and putting it under the bolster, van :
ished
i Alas for Mary Duff! Her career bad
been sad one since the day when she had
stood side by side with Hugh at the wedding
of her friends Her father died not long af
ter, aud her mother supplanted her in the
affections Of the man to whom she had given
, her heart.
Judge OF Toledo, Ohio, has little