The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1870-04-28

sunburnt and his eyes were great blue
eyes, and his teeth shone so when he
laughed, (and that was often, that any
body would have liked him. And then
he was SO honest and clever, and so kind
and obliglng, that befure had seen him
many times came to like him right we'll
and one day happened to say to father
that thought Ben Sample was an excel
lent lad, and that | wished l could have
more of his company. never saw father
look stern all of sudden, as he did then
and ] never heard him speak SO stern,
either.
''Better leave him to his place, Bessy,"
he said, very quick and sharp like
Giles naught but a poor lumberman,
after ALL" and he's not likely to be aught
else. So don't be tender with him,
daughter bid you naught If you've
felt any too kind TO him you must check
it in time. Have little to say to him,
daughter; it's your fathers wish''
Poor Ben There had been no talk of
love between US before this morning, and
/ do not know that l had thought of him
at all as lover but by and by, after
few weeks more, when l had tried hard to
obey my fathers command and treat him
colJly, he fingered one day over the great
tin pail long enough TO press my hand,
and whisper bashfully-
"Dear Bessy!'
/ snatched my hand away and looked
hard at him, and told him that he must
never say or do that again. He left me,
l. L
mortal look /; and when he was gone, l
went out to the log seat by the river and
cried as though my heart would break.
didn't know my feelings till then, but if
Ben Sample could have seen me that half
hour
Ben did not come with the great pail
after that; another man took his place,
and things went on in the old lonely way
all the rest of that winter and through the
next spring. 1t was the first week of
March, | think, of that year, that father
brought young Mr.. Cardle TO the house
Young Mr.. Cardle was the only son of
old Jacob Cardle. the millionaire, who
lived in Philadelphia, and was contract
ing with father for all his logs for years
to come. The old man meant that young
Jacob should succeed him in business in
few months and he thought it would
be an excellent thing to send him up into
the logger's country for awhile, to get ac-
qnainted with the different kinds of lumber
and the process of cutting it and getting it
TO market. Father thought it would be
an excellent thing for himself to entertain
him at the house while lie remained and
50 for the next five weeks they were reg
ularIy at home morning and night, sleep
ing in the house and spending the day in
the woods OF on the river. But it wasn't
hard to see that young Mr.. Cardle grew
tired of this very soon; and presently he
began to come back to the house in the
middle of the day, and fish or shoot in the
neiehborhood until night.
You'll want to know what kind of man
he was. He was pale and slender; hand
some enough for those that like such beau
| ty as that in men and rather foppish,
| with his diamond ring and his silky nous
tache He was very polite, too, and he
would talk and chatter as city folks can !;
! but never thought there was much heart
or good feeling in any thing be said or did.
Yet he seemed to like me from the first,
and poor father whispered to me ten times,
if he did once:
''Play thy cards shrewdIy. Bessy, and
thou'lt catch him! He'll make thee a
lady, girl, and a rich one !"
And stranger things have happened,
know, than my marrying him would have
been; surely affairs were rapidly drifting
| l. - L ho1 oil JaJ
crushing the thought of Ben Sample out
of my heart, and playing the part that my
father wished me to play to young Mr..
Cardle, for never could have persuaded
myself to love him, when that fatal Tenth
of April came that brought my eighteenth
birthday and the Great Flood together.
The river had been rising slowly for a
| week before it, and there had been much
rain with US. We heard reports of tre-
mendous rains in the mountains two hum
dred miles north of US, which lasted for
days and days; and the river continued
to rise steadily and slowly, though up to
that day it was not over the stepping
stones across the neck.
On the morning of the tenth the rain
came down at first steadily, and Mr.. Car
die thought he would not leave the house.
Father went over to the camp just after
breakfast, saying that he would return as
usual toward night and SO we two spent
the day alone together. / tried to talk
with him and interest him, but he was
restive and uneasy, and half the time was
idly turning over leaves or drumming with
his fingers on the window panes.
1t was about the middle of the after
noon, when was wondering what should
do next, (and thinking little of poor Ber
Sample, believe. that Mr.. Cardle turned
short around to me and said, very abruptly
s'Im going back to the city Tomorrow
Bessy. ] want to know if can come
back here in three months-that'll be The