Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-12-11
Aurslia,sa Unfortunate Young Man
BIZ WARK Twain.

to me BY letter from q young lady who
livss in tlss ksssls5s11s51 sity q san lt1ssss
4 simply signs herself ''AuKelta Maria, p
which may possibly be a fictitious
/ almost heart-broken by the uisfOrtunes
Hhe has undergone, and so confused BY
4 the conflicting eounssls of misguided
| friends and tnsi5ious enemies that she
/ does not know what course 70 pursue in
| order to extricate herself from the web
hopeles8ly involved. In this dilemma
tshe turns to me for help, and supph-
i Gates for my guidance and instruction
/ with q moving elOquence that would
touch the heart of statue. Hesr her
sad story:
/ old she met and loved, with all the de-
/ votion Of passionate nature, young
man from New Jersey, named Williams
son breckenridge Caruthers, who was
| only six years her senior. They were
/ ENGAGED with the free consent of their
| friends and relatives, and for time it
seemed as IL their career was destined TO
be characterized by 30 immunity from
soFrow beyond the usual lot Of humani-
tY. But at last the tide of fortune turn
ed; young CGruthers became infected
with small pox of the most virulent
type, and when he recovered from his
/ illness, his face was pltted like Q waffle
mould, and his comeliness gone forever.
| AUrelia thought TO break of the en-
gagement at 6Tst, but pity FOR her un-
fortunate lover cansed her to postpone
the mhrriageldey for q season, and give
him another trial. e
i The vefv day before the wedding was
| TO have taken places reckinrtdge, while
absorbed In watching the flight Of 3
balloon, walked into we'll and frac-
tured one of his legs, and IL had to be
taken OF above the knee Again Au-'
reIia was moved ts break the engage
ments but again love tr1umphed, and
she set the day forward and gave him
another chance to reform.
And again misfortune overlook
the unhappy youth. He lost one arm
by the premature discharge Of q Fourth
OF July cannon, and within three
months got the other pulled out by
cardinR machine. Aurelia's heart was
almost crushed by these latter calami-
ties. She could not but be deeply
i grieved TO see her lover passing from
her by pisoemeal, feeling, as she did,
that be could not last forever under the
disastrous process Of reduction, yet
knowing Of no way to stop its dreadful
career, and In ber despair she almost
Eegretted, like brokers who hold on and
lose, that she had not taken him at
frst, before he had suffered such an
alarming depreciation. Still, her brave
heart bore her mp, and she resolved to
elT v-sgII FIEs4 fHFiF5rl 81 fInuafural ifsrc-
Again, the wedding day approached,
and again disappointment oVershadow-
ed It; Caruthers fell i'll with the erysip-
elias. and lost the use Of one Of his eyes
entirely. The friends and relatives of
the bride, considering that she had al
II ready put mp with more than could rea-
sonably be expected Of her, now came
forward and insisted that the match
should be broken up; but after waver-
Ing awhile, Aureiias with that noble
and generous spirit which did her cred
it, said she had reflected calmly on the
Breckenridge was to blame.
| So she extended the time once more,
and broke his other leg.
It was a sad day foE the poor girl
when she saw the surgeons reverently
bearing away the saekD whose uses she
had learned by previous experience, and
her heart told her the bitter truth that
some more of her lover had gone. She
felt that the field of her aff1ictionS was
| growing more and more circumscribe
every day, but once more she fr0Wned
down her relatives, and renewed her
betroLhal.
Shortly before the time set for the
lnuptials another disaster occurred.
There was but one man scalped by the
Owen River Indians last year. That
man was Williamson Breckenridge Ca
ruthers Of New Jersey. He was hurry
ing home with happiness in his heart,
| when he lost his hair forever, and in
that hour of bitterness he almost cursed
the mistaken mercy that had spared his
head,
AT last AureIia is in serious perplexi-
ty as to what she ought to do. She still
loved her Breckenridge, she writes, with
truly womanly feeling-she still loves
what is left of him-but her parents are
bitterly opposed to the match, because
be has no property, and is disabled
{ from working, and she has not sufd-
cient means to support both cOmforta-
bly,. "Now, what shall she dO2" she
asks, with painful and anxious solici-
tude.
1t is a delicate question; it is one
which involves the lifelong happiness
of woman, and that of nearly two
thirds of a man, and feel that it would
be assuming too great a responsibility
to do more than make q mere sugges
ton in the case. How would it do tC
build to him? If AUrelia can afford
II the expense, let her furnish her mutila
., ted lover with wooden arms and wood
5, en- legs, and glass eye, and q wig, anC
y give him another show; give him nine
ty days without grace, and If he doe
not break his neck in the meRntime
ID marry him, and take the chances. 1
~ does not seem to me that there is mucl
risk, any way, AureliR, because II b.
sticks to his propensity for damaging
himself every time he sees good Op
3 portunity, his experiment Is bound T.
finish him, and then you are all right
you know, married or single.
Mt If married, the wooden legs, and sucl
other valuabIes as he may possess, re
vert to the widow, and you see you sus
tain no actual loss save the oherishe
. fragments of a noble but most uufortu
nate husband, who honestly strove {
do right, but whose extraordinary in
= stincts were against him. Try it Maria
I have thought the matter over careful
ly and we'll, and it is the only chance
see for you. It would have been haI
n py conceit on the part of Caruthers !
9s he had started with his neck and bro
ken that first; but since he has seen
~, to choose different policy, and strin
of himself out as far as possible, 1 do nC
md think we Ought to upbraid htm for 1t
In he enjoyed i6. We must do the best "
pt- can under the circumstances, and tT
not 70 feel exasperated RG him.