Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-10-27
AGresfa's Unfortunate Young
Man.
ny Mark TWAIN.

to ME by letter from young lady
who lives in the beautiful city of
San Jose, California; she is perfectly
unknown to me, and simply signs
herself "Aurelia Maria,' which may
possibly be fictitious name. Bat
no matter; the poor girl is almost
heart broken BY he n,.sfcrtunes she
has undergone, and so confuscav,
the conflicting counsels of misguided
friends and insidious enemies that
she does not know what course to
pursue i'm order to eXtricate herself
from the web of difficulties in which
she is almost hopelessly involved.
In this dilemma she turns to me for
help, and supplicates for my guidance
and instruction with moving elo-
quence that would touch the heart
of a statue. Hear her sad story:
She says that when she was l6
wears old she met and loved, with
all the devotion of passionate ma
ture, young man from New Jersey,
named Williamson Breckenridge
Caruthers, who was only 6 years her
senior. They were engaged with
the free consent of their friends and
relatives, and for time it seemed as
if their career was destined to be
characterized by an immunity from
sorrow beyond the usual lot of hui
manity. But at last the tide OF for
tune turned; young Caruthersbecame
infected with smallpox OF the most
viruleEt type; and when he recov-
cred from his illness, his face was
pitted like a wafile-mOuld and his
confines gone forever. Aurella
thought to break off the engagement
ut first, but pity for her unfortunate
lover caused her to postpone the
marriage day for season, and give
him another trial.
The very day before the wedding
was to have taken place, Brecken-
ridge, while absorbed in watching
the fight of balloon, walked into
we'll and fractured one of his legs;
and it had to be taken Off above the
knee. Again Aurelia was moved to
break the engagement, but again
love triumphed, 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 Fourth
of July cannon; Snd within three
months got the other pulled out by
carding machine. Aurelia's heart
was almost crushed by these latter
calamities. She could not but be
deeply grieved to see her lover pass
ing from her by piecemeal, feeling,
as she did, that he could not last for
ever under this disastrous process OF
reduction, yet knowing of no way to
stop it's dreadful career; and in her
dispair she almost regretted, like
brokers who hold on and lose, that
she had not taken him at first, before
he had suffered such an alarming
depreciation. Still, her bravery bore
her up, and she resolved to bear with
her friends unnatural disposition yet
little longer.
Again the wedding day approach
ed, and again disappointment over
Swallowed it; Caruthers fell i'll with
the erysipelas, and lost the use Of one
Of his eyes entirely. The friends
and relatives Of the bride, consider
ing that she had already put up with
more than could be reasonably ex-
pected of her, now came forward and
insisted that the match should be
broken up; but after wavering
awhile, Aurelia, with that noble and
generous spirit which did her credit,
said she had reflected calmly on the
matter, and could not discover that
Breckenridge was to blame.
So she extended the time once
more, and he broke his other leg. 1t
was sad day for the poor girl when
she saw the surgeons reverently
bearing away the sack, whose use
she had learned by previous expert
ence; and her heart told her the Bit
ter truth that some more Of her lover