Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1863-10-19
FIVE YEARS A WIFE,
AND NINETEEN YEARS A WIDOW
A wANDERER RETURNED.

Romantic stories occasionally find theil
way into newspapers, in the form of locaI
items. They are not always to be relied
upon. The state of the local market i:
sometimes the key 10 their credibility
and when dearth of items prevails that
fact should receive fair degree of allow.
ance
But il is not always She most inproba.
ole story that has the least foundation in
iacs. Truth is stranger than felton,
Our informant preixed that remark Ia
his own revelation, which is about as fol.
lows-and we are not suffering under an
item-iamne, we must bespeak the readers
credulity for the case in hand
Twsnty-four years ago this blessed Octo-
Der, young gentleman and lady, who
shall be nameless, living then in Old Eng
land, met like Rachel and Jacob, at we'll
curb, and exchanged healths and VOWS
II was love at first sight, at second sight
they were married. They moved TO
America, and begat sons and daughters.
Five years of welded life elapsed, and one
tne morning the affectionate and Csyoted
husband, who wao rover before knc.s, 10
forego the slightest conjugal or paterna,
obligations, was missing.
Nineteen years passed BY, in which the
absent HUSBAND was mourned as myste.
rlously deceGsed and quite forgotten b.
wluow AID children. They had moved
RON their original residence in pursuit of
oetter fortune, and they came TO Roch-
ester, where they have for some time resi-
ded. Last week, while the widow was
signing in loneliness at the protracted
absence of her eldest son, somebody
knocked at the door, which was opened
and 10, the husband appeared ...
The renegade took a chair, and said he
had come back to take care of his family
He had been like Sinbad, the sailor, wan
deripg over the earth and sea, sometimes
throwing beefsteaks into the diamond
valley and making heavy profits on recoy-
ering them from the cormorants that
picked 'em up; he had been 10 Lilliput
and Brobdignag, engineering huge cara
vans across Sahara, traced the sources oil
the Nile slept in the grottoes of Monte
Cristo, made chronological chart Of the
Sphynx, revelled in the halls of the
Astecs. eaten mud pies with the Hotten-
tots, and turned the cold shoulder on the
Esquimaux.
In short, he was uarrAting his expe-
rience at length, when his eldest daughter
moved that he adjourn sine die, as they all
supposed that he had, long ago. A vote
was taken on the proposition by the fam
lily circle, and although the wife aud
mother only sustained lhe negative, she
maintained that she Ea&u the majority
that the erring husband should remain .
that poverty was his best recommenda-
ton, and if he could not take care of his
family, she would take care Of him, accor-
ding TO the original tenor of their agree
ment, till death do them part" Com
ment is superfuous. - Rochester Democrat.
A DEsERTER RETRIEVED AT THE
LAST MoMEST,-An execution was to
have taken place on the 9th inst, in
the second division, army of the Poto-
mac. The grave was dug, the coffin
paraded, the victim had closed his
eyes upon the world--all preparations
for the execution had been made,
when an order arrived from the Pres
ldent to suspend it. The effect of the
prisoner was electric Though few
moments before certain death stared
him in the face, now life, with all its
hopes and enjoyments, cheered his
future. The prisoner, Williams f.
Wiltks, belonged to the Fifty-ninth
New York Volunteers. He deserted
on tho 1Oth sc noos,,, 49,, lo,@ n. .ko