Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-05-18
A FAMILY MYSTERY.
REVEALED BY A CHIMNEY.

REVEALED BY A CHIMNEY
HERE am, at my last gasp. I've stood
it thirty-five years without hinching; but
now my time is come. Pleasant sky, you
and must part. Bright sun, good by.
Remember Pm but humble Instrument,
and forgive me for smoking in your face.
Look, iron-hearted men, see how hero
diesi The blood is settling under my
fnger-nails Ito use figure of speech), yet
it's not l that will cry quarter.
Well, what would you do. Here I am
alone; shovel, tongs, cooking stove-all
gone that make life desirablei Yesterday
you climbed on top of the house, sirs, and
tore off the tin roof, rolling it up into par
GELS like so much jelly cake. looked on
and saw you, but the bitterness was past.
| The time could have wept was when the
family-my family-had notice to quit.
When they were gone-rocking chairs,
| work baskets, cough medicines, and all
what did care for the rest? l saw you
pull down the walls till the air was so
thick with plaster you could have cut it
| with a knife. | saw you rip up the cham
Der floor as if it had been a rag-carpet.
watched you pulling away the door steps
where she used to go and stand, looking up
and down the street. l saw wondering
children and old women, too, coming to
pick up shingles and clapboards for kind
| ling. Little by little, crash after crash,
down went the house, till there was moth
ing left standing but the other chimney
and me. And this morning he was taken;
now I'm sole survivor. All, but l could
| tale unfold, only nobody listens. Few in
deed understand the language of chimneys.
| (Talk about the language of flowersD
hear some foolish fellow saying l look
like monument. Well, so am monu-
ment, smiling at grief. My grief began
| to come, or l began to come to grief last
| winter, when l first heard the talk about
improving the street." knew zoe were
frame house-not beauty-one story,
with a basement kitchen, and most likely
our room would be better than our compa-
ny. tell you I hated to break upl The
family had serious talks about it over the
kitchen fire, close to my best ear.
Mother" said the old gentleman, rub
bing the patched knee of his gray trous-
| on the 1st of May; who'll laugh now?
| Where shall we go, and whatn become of
| us?"
Think of his appealing to her, sick
woman, that sat coughing in her chairl
But that's always the way-it was "mother
here" and another there"
"Never mind, Able," said she cheerily
"Nell will look us up another rent and
John will pay for it all the same"
John lives in Boston, and has wife
with "blue blood in her veins" I am
not quite sure what blue blood is, but its
something that keeps her arms length
from this family.
"Ah, well-a-dayl" sighed the old gen
tleman, "its trouble upon trouble. I've
been brOken-dOwn man ever since that
| mystery of Dicks"
They always called it "the mystery"
"There, there, father, don't give way
Look up to heaven and have faith Twill
all be cleared up yet"
But no, the old gentleman only looked
straight ahead for consolation, into the
bowl of his tobacco-pipe. Reckon Zoe
reason to know where he looked. Many's
the time thought I should choke!
There are three children, John, Nell
and Dick. Only one at home now. Nell,
bless her heart, / always did my best to
draw when she laid on the shavings. She'd
! sing even coal pit into good dhumor Her
father never could understand whv she
should have SO much better luck than he
had, making fire. q find I'm getting
wheezy. That's right, little boys, put on
more shingles; it warns my hearty
Now I'll plunge right into the heart of
it than any of the rest of the family.
A year ago, when Dick was attending
school, he came home one night with
diamond ring on his finger.
"How splendid Whose is it?" said
| Nell, flying round to make butter toast for
supper.
"That's telling" said Dick; "what if it's
my own?'
Humph! Then it's PASTE"
"Paste, indeed! It's solitaire worth
seven hundred dollars"
| Nell let the toast burn. She put the
ring on her finger. and twirled it round
and round. Knowing it was worth seven
hundred dollars, and "it's owner wouldn't
take thousand" it dazzled her eyes al
most out of her head.
After Dick had teased her long enough,
he told her it belonged to James Van
Duster, the wealthiest boy in school.
And he don't know I've got it," added
| Dick. al just slipped it off his finger
when was helping him with his Greek
Won't it be a jolly joke when he goes
round inquiring for it to morrow"
80, Dick, how dared your" said Nell !;
and then l smelt the toast burning, and
heard her scraping it with knife. The
rings too large; you mustn't keep it on
your finger, Dick; let me have it for safe
keeping"
You, Nell? Why, you'd serve it up in
tina toast-dip, just as you did with the salt
spoon last week."
But think, Dick, if anything should
happen to such splendid jewelr'
Well, there won't anything happen, so
don't fret. If was in the habit of los
ing Dick checked himself, and sus-
pect he blushed. Nell, with all her kind
ness of heart, couldn't help laughing, for
Dick was as harum- scarum as the breeziest
hurricane.
l felt low-spirited from that moment,
and was afraid 1 never should breathe
freely till the ring was fairly out of the
house. In the evening Dick came down
into the basement kitchen again to crack
some butternuts. He knelt by the brick
hearth and began to pound. could have
told him better than that; there was a
crack in the corner of the fireplace. ALI
of sudden off slipped the ring and danced
into it.
You could have knocked me over with
feather! But as true as 1 stand here,
that boy went whistling upstairs, and
never missed the ring till Nell asked what
he had done with it. You may depend
there were few remarks made then
Dick rushed up stairs and down, and the
whole family went to hunting. Next
morning carpenter was sent for to take
up the boards under the dining-roo table.
There was hole in the carpet there, and
Dick was almost sure he must have
dropped the ring when he stopped to pick
up his knife.
How longed to be heard! I talked as
| plainly as do now; but what's the use
when people will insist upon it that it's
"the wind signing down chimneys"
Nell suggested that the ring might be
"round the fireplace"
/" You're warm my DEAR" said I, joy
fully. But as fate would have it, they
only picked out the wrong brick, and
didn't strike deep enough, either Here
lies that solitaire, as solitary as Hamlet's
fathers ghost! Here it lies, at the
northeast corner, eight inches from the sur
: face.
"What of that?" said I, trying to be as
+ philosophical and cold -blooded as light