The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-01-28


On day,a horseman, well mounted, arrive
in Fairhaven, in state of breathleSs anx
iety and haste. He called for a number G
the fishermen Of the village, and requeste
them to fly to the Fishers CairH, mil
beyond the village, to give them assistanc
in searching for the body Of Hector Ash
ley, who, he said, had fallen into the Sol
way, and was supposed TO have perisbed
Ton the fishermen seized their dead dTags
and ran with their greatest speed to tb,
place pointed out On arriving there, the
found a number Of persons collected anon.
whom was Robert Ashley, apparently Oc-
cupied in searching for the body Of tn,
drowned youth. TIE clothes Of the boz
! lay on the top of the cairn, from whence i
was supposed and reported that be had beer
bathing. at that part Of the Solway which
was full of dangerous eddies, and had per
isbed. TIE father stood ia state border
ing on despair, witnessing the unavailable
efforts, on the part of the people, to recover
his son Every exertion was used-the
dead drags applied in every directioL-and
the fatal announcement made, that the body
was irrecoverable The tide was receding,
and it was the opinion of the fishermen
that the body must have been carried, by
the eddies, into some Of the deep clefts Of
the rock, from which it was, in all likeli-
hood, impossible to extricate it, The peo-
pie gradually disappeared, with the excep-
zion cf one or two, who undertook 70 Hsit
the receding Of the tide and Robert Ash
ley, the disconsolate parent, was conveyed
home, in a state Of insensibility, to witness
the second grief Of mother wailing for the
loss Of her only child. As the carriage
which conveyed Ashley home passed through
the village, Mary Lee was sitting. in her
usual melancholy mood, at her father 8
door. On observing the crowd, she sud-
denly started up, and with a loud laugh,
pointed to Ashley, and retreated into the
house. The circumstance csught the atten-
ton Of the crowd, and formed a part Of the
melancholy theme which 'ate had supplied
to the evening gossips Of Fa;rhaven. Some
hours afterwards, il was reported that the
tide had receded TO its utmost extent, and
no trace could be found Of the lost beir Of
''The Castle"
Tie conduct of Mary Lee had given rise
to suspicious Of her being in some way con
nectsd with the death Of Hector Ashley /;
and an investigation was, by the orders of
the father, set about, with the view Of ascer-
taing what grounds there existed for these
suspicious. ] was, however, clearly sseer-
ta'ned that Mary Lee bad not heen out Of
her father house for hours preceding the
disappearance of the unfortunate boy, and
the inquiry was reIinquished. No hope
was now entertained that any less disastrous
fate bad befallen him than being drowned,
while in the act of bathing. a recreation be
had been in the habit Of indulgipg in un-
known to his mother, who had enjoined the
strctest prohibition against it.
The effect of this calamity, on the mind
of Mrs. Ashley, was such as to produce
strong Apprehension Of the most dangerous
consequences. No consolation could be
administered to her with the slightest chance
Of abating a grief which bad sunk too deep
for human aid to relieve. After some
months, it was discovered that a hereditary
tendency to consumption had received a
fatal increase Of strength, from the decayed
state Of her constitution and the disease
having progressed with that raPidity SO
often observed to be one Of its most appal-
ling symptoms, the bereaved mother brsathed
her last in the arms Of the fatc-stricken and
incOnsolable husband.
II was on a rainy day, 10 December, that
the remains of Mrs Ashley were I" be con
veyed TO her fl;her's vault, few miles
distant from .'Tne Castle 4 large caval-
cadc Of mcnrncrs attended thr funeral
was conducted with a state and POM osity
suited to the rank Of the deceased the
procession glided silently along by road
passur through toe dark forests II The
Castle. and by that spot where tbo unbaP'
py victim Of Ashley's pertidy resigned her
honor ana her peace forever The trystiBg
tree was still there with its branches bend
log under load of December SHOWS, which
the thaw had not yet been able to dissolve.
There Mary Lee took Ger station; and, as
the mournful procession passed, the woods
resounded with the same wild laugh that
had met the ear OF Ashley, on the dlsap-
pearaEce Of bis son.
Years rolled on, but the bereaved h1s-
band and father finds little assuasive power
in the effects Of time Robert Ashley ex-
perienced this melancholy truth, ,and sought
assistance from fountain, the perennial
consultations Of which flow over the heart
of the rich and the poor. The extraordi
nary manner in which the early victim O.
his heartless reduction had triumpLed oyel
his misfortunes, appeared to him as the 81
pernatural effect Of Divine retributOn. The
idea haunted him like the invertible com
p&nions of O1estes A deep melancholy
took possession of bis spirits, and made it
usual inroads upon a constitution which
early vices and unprecedented bereavement
had made susceptible of the desPoiIing raw
ages Of disease His mind became occupied
with presentiment that tie death of ever,
member Of his family would alone atone 70
the ruin he had brought on that individual
whose fate seemed to have constituted he
J an avenger Of wrongs, visited on the hea'
Of him who bad blasted the prospects Of on