Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1866-07-11
. GOOD STORY
MYRA MELVILLE.

Thank God ! it is six o'clock at last;
the masons are returning from work
with their empty dinner cans; Myra
will soon be home
Home Il small, low rooted, uncar-
petcd comtortless room, its only turEj-
ture consisting Of a rickety cot bed
stead, Il cracked, tirciesS stove, a deal
table, few trunks, and, by the solita-
ry window, an old rocking chair, in
which inclined a woman evidently in
the last stage of consumption. She
could not have been forty years Of age,
but though her eyes were unnaturaliy
bright, and her checks glowing with
the hectic spots Of fever, her hair was
already streaked with silver, her form
prematHrcly bent, Shrunk and emacia-
ted. She had been knitting, but her
hacking cough prevented continuous
eXcrtion Of amy kind; and now the gilt
tering mesh work OF beads and silk
slipped uuheeded from the transparent
fingers. On the table was paper box
containing some completed hair nets,
their bright hues contrasting strangely
with the squallor Of surrounding ou-
iects The blusterous March wind
moaned in the cold chimney, ratified
the badly fitting window sashes, and
penetrated the broken pane, each fresh
gust shaking down portion Of dry
putty that had evidently been applied
to the cracked glass by some unskiIl-
full hand. In the street the pedestrians
quickcned their steps anxious to reach
shelter from the cutting wind, Even
ing drew on apace, and still the inva-
lid SAT alone in the cold, checrless room
she called home; she who had been
reared amid all the luxures that wealth
could purchase This was her story;
the m0therless child Of a wealthy,
purse proud, London merchant, she
elOpcd with one of his clerks. Her
father not only refused his forgiveness,
disinherited her, and, previous to his
death, which occurred about five years
subsequent TO his daughters i'll l-starred
marriage, begueathcd all his property
| to public charities Mr.. and Mrs Mel
willie struggled on in London for some
| years, and then with their only child
and daughter, came to New York to
improve their condition, and might,
perhaps, have done so, if he had not
fallen into bad company, taking TO
drink, and, in a lit OF despair at having
| lost a good situation, enlisted in one
| of the first volunteer regiments raised
| for the war. Mrs. Melville was Il good
pianist, but she had no friends and
| cOUld not afford to ADVERTISE At last
she obtained few music pupils, and
for some time, with the additional
help granted by the Soldiers Relief
Fund, was enabled to support herself
and daughter, and to send the latter to
4 public school Melvilie's three years
term of service had almost expired
when he fell wounded into the enemy s
hands, and no tidings Of his ultimate
fate ever reached his afflicted family
The Relief Fund was discontinued
poor Mrs. Melville redoubled her ex-
ertions, but she was delicate and could
not bear hardships and exposure, took
a violent cold that brought on rapid
consumption, and now there she lay
heartsick, hopeless in that miserable
room, and in a foreign country, dying
Myra Melville was now sixteen
when her mother fell sick she left
school, and f T. time they had tried
to maintain themselves by making
hair nets for the stores, but this
SO badly paid that their united efforts
were inadequate to supply their wants