Civilian & telegraph. [volume] (Cumberland, Md.) 1859-1875, 1865-03-02

NJ \ i Nj T.,
THE LOST CHILD OF THE DESERT.
III LOUIS p. CLYDE.
From the Wuvesly Magazine

Harry MAYNARD was the only son Of {
wealthy planter who had heen for many year
widower. When Harry was sixteen biz
father brought home q second wife, but ont
year Harry senior, and possessing beauty o.
an extraordinary character \ clear blonde
with heavy masses Of ravcu hair and eye, o.
Il picr.in. blachnass and brightness, she was
one Of those beings who can never PASS uu-
noticed tl,eoueh the world.
Harry, following the steps too often taken
by step children, at once conceived decided
dislike to his cithcr's wife. AM avoided her
whenever it was possible.
Not So. with her. hcwevcr the handsome
bold boy pleased her wolnans heart to a
greater decree than was warranted by the
relationship existing between them. and by
every art ard vile Of which pretty woman
is possessed, she sought to win him TO her.
But all her advances were met with cold re-
serve, or what stung her pride much more,
with naughty, disdau, till at length the tiger
lui hlilk III uci ich't NdS tiOusCu, anu hHe
determined to crush him since she could not
bend him to her wishes. Possessing an ul,-
bounded influence over her husband she grad
sally poisoned his mind against his son. and
even went SO far rs to excite in the fathers
heart a feeling of bitter jealousy agains. his
boy.
JISt as the bleak winds Of December had
fairly taken possession Of the car.a, and all
nature was slivcrihe in the chilly blasts, she
con;rived scene Of which her husband was
hidden spectator. and which raised his fury
against lis son to the very verge of madness;
and in the blind unreasoning rage Of the father
the son was ordered to quit his home forever
Harry was spirited, self-rclilnt boy
and without word he left his fathers house
toking with him nothing save the clothes he
wore, and a gun, the rrcseut Of distant re-
lative.
During the afternoon he wandered heed
lessly through the dreary woods, taking heed
Of nought save his own bitter thoughts; and
the shades of everything found him deep in
the gloomy cypress swamps with the chill air
growing colder As night came on, now pier
cling his very bones.
Where should he rest? Home lie had none
and it was death to remain without shelter in
that vast, damp woods. a hollow cypress
nH.,,aJ hin, , h., nj; ;pl
and hastily filling it with bunches of the long
gray moss that thckly festooned the trees
around him, be crept into the hollow, and,
nesting down into his messy bed, tried to
keep the warmth in his body.
Night fell. and as darkness fairly set in,
the myrads of insects that swarm in South
ern swamp. and that even the winds of win
ter never wholely extcrminate, made the
crisp air palpitate with their shrll mouoto.
nous cries.
Harry could not sleep. but lay listening to
the drcary music OF the swamp that seemed
to accord SO well with his own heavy heart.
But, distinct from the other noises Of the
woods, was another that attracted his atten
ton, plaintivc, distressed wall that broke
upon the air at regular intervals. What
could it be? lie raised his head to listen;
once. twice. thrice. he heard it repeated, and
then lay down again. 1t was but the cry of
some bounds whelp fast in the bogs Of the
swamp, and whining in terror as he saw doath
staring him in the face.
An hour more passed on, and the cries still
continued, but growing momentarily fainter
and sadder till Harry's heart would no longer
suffer him to lie idly by and permit even
dumb brute to suffer while he had it in his
power to succor it.
Rising shivering from his mossy bed. he
groped bis way very carefully through the
gloom, after having fred few dry sticks to
guide him back to bis retreat, and with no
little difficulty. he made his way towards the
sounds. now plunging deeper into some un-
expected bog. new entangled among the fallen
trees.