Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1869-12-09

rival of machinist, an old friend of
mine. who was coming from san Fran
cisco.
On Sunday evening, two days be-
fore the day set for my marriage with
Minnie. had occasion to 90 down To
the mill. After looking Ia the saws.
To see if they were properly wedged
and filed. | descended 10 the boiler
room. We had two large steam boil.
crs set side hy side. As usual. in both
their ends were the man-holes. These
are -semi-circnlar openings through
which. when necessary. the fireman
creeps. to clean the inside of the boil
er. One OF these holes was open. and
some boys, children OF the fireman.
were playing with a short iron bar
near by.
do not know what made me stop
and watch them pushing the bar
through the aperture, while they lis
tened 10 the sound Of the waters as its
wavelets moved past the bar. and
dashed against the inside of the boiler.
stop that play. boys" said |. land
tell James to close up the boiler"
They had not seen me before. and
when they heard my voice they let the
iron bar fall and scampered away. The
bar dropped with loud splash upon
the water
Never mind" thought |. 1.-THE fire
man can get II out again when they
clean the boiler next sunday" WAS
about 10 leave the boilcr room when
/ james entered.
5000 evening, sir" began he. in n
cheerful tone /; ! guess the new engineer
will arrive tomorrow night, ami am
/ glad of IL. Please step into NV room
and read this letter. which I've rcceiy-
ed this afternoon. From it vuu cal
see why I'm glad to get away from
I here y
, lIe gave me letter. II wa, too
dark TO read outside. and entered lis
room. sat down and read the letter.
which was from James mother. urging
I him to come hrInc instantly
You thought | was mad al you be-
| cause you made love To Minnie. But
| YOU were mistaken. OLD hoy. for look at
thu, letter. saii he handing IN. another.
| IL was a letter apparently from young
girl. although the handwriting looked
rather masculine 1t MAS dated from
the same New England village IN which
James, mother was living. and its
contents breathed Intense love for him
|, was Airupi Annie :"
Yes. replied ne. IN answer To my
questioning look. In marry Annie as
soon as set foot iRmy,naiiss siilaxe
Wont you wait until the bans are
publi-hed| z asked 1. with y si.u-a. ~
Not a minute. Iii 20 straight to
her house. take her to the next parson
who. for money and good words. will
soon tie The knot Now" continued
he. after "a pause. during which he took
bottle and t"o tin cups from shelf
above his head NOW lets drink To
/ the health of our intendcl brides /"
And he filled the cups
Hold on. James First, let me know
what is in the cups = said |.
Your intended fathcr-ih-law gave
me bottle ot Angelica wine He
said tat il Wa, the best that lie had IN
| the cellar" answered James.
| liked sweet wine. and took the
cup.
Here is to the health and prosperity
of Annie ! exclaimed |. enptylng the
cup.
Here's 10 Miss Minnie. who. am
sure, will be the best AMI trucst OF
| wives : was the toast of James, ashc.
too, emptied his cup.
Nov, here is a real Havana :" said
/ he, taking some cigars from his pocket.
and handed me one which / lighted
! Then settling back into the cha
] listened 10 detailed account his
previous life. The narrative eemed
,ery unIntercsting - me, and was
wishing inwar'ily that it would soon
end for had 10 20 10 S--that
very night on business connected with
the mill.
Gradually the light became dim. anil
the voice OF james sounded hollow. |
| tried to tell him 10 trim the lamp amt
speak little louder, but my lips only
moved. and not "A sound came from ny
throat The tobacco smoke j. choking
me. thought l. casting my eve toward
Inv right hand, which wa, slowly Slip
ping from the edge of the table upon
which was living the half consumed
cigar. Strange that | felt no pain as
the Land struck the sharp corner Of the
chair. tried to rise, ssst nv enieayors
were vain. Some heavy weight seemed
to press OH my shoulders. u weight that
| could not shake oil. lifted nv
| ewes toward James. who was sitting
opposite TO me. Nv God Was it
halucination of nv whirling brain, or
was it reality:
| saw. rs if through haze. the eyes
| of James. glaring at me like those of u
wild cat about To spring upon its prey.
Every line of his features proclaimed
hate-undying hate. He rose and came
close to where | sat.
His voice sounded TO me like the
man Of thunder. As he said:
Aha i've got you now, my fine
fellow this time am sure that YOU can
never, never marry Minnie. Ten min
utes more and you are dead. Oh us
no use,' cried he, in voice that pierre
ed my ears, as he saw how tried to
shake oil the coils that seemed to bind
| me to the chair, mo use whatever, old
boy. II l would let you 60 now you
would hang me. True enough, gypsy
once said that would break my neck,
but not upon the gallows, no no!
Some weeks ago TRIED to kill you, but
it was already too dark to take good
aim, and you escaped"