, 1872-12-29

tended tho rigging himself; and then he took
Tem Te a Yo Laura na and the b te they mn had
bs'Seit the old army .9' boys, Vs. and Laura hunted
up one or two old school friends; and they saw
Booth in Iago, and screamed themselves hoarse
Opera and they rode in the park, they browsed
in the Astor, and went shopping at 6tewarts,
and Baw the people paint porcelain at Haugh-
wout's, and, by Mr. Aldens kindness,
went through the wonders >, 1t 3iaE ha5pefn t;n,i
they lived on board ship, they saw the hons Of
New York as children Of the public do,-for
whom that great city decks itself and prepares
its wonders, albeit their existence ls hardly
known to It's inhabitants.
Meanwhile, Jcm had chartered the "Laura"
for d voyage to San Francisco. And 30: before
long, her cargo began to come on board, and
she, and Tom, and the babies took mourn
ful farewell and came aSs back TO- to I1Ppda PPd
poor Tom thought it looked smaller than ever,
and that he should find it harder than ever to
settle down to being Of no use to anybody, and
to eat Moses Marvels bread without house, or
meanest-of his own. Poor Tom! and this was
the reward of being the first man in Maine to
enter for three yearsl
And then things went worse and worse. Moses
Marvel was as good and as taciturn as ever, But
Moses Marrels affairs did not run as smoothly
as he liked. Moses held on, upon one years
cutting OF lumber perfectly determined thatlum
her should rise because it ought to-, and Moses
p@id very high usury on the money he borrowed,
because he would hold on. Moses WAS set in his
way, lie other persons whom you and know
and to this lumber he held and held, till finally
the bank would not renew his notes. 40, and
they would not discount cent for him at BAN
gor and Moses came back from a long taciturn
|, t.nl nAor r@ol fr, ~ rnr
and with only the certainty that he did not
mean to have the Sheriff sell his lum-
ber, he must sell it for himself. Nay!
be must sell it before the fourth OF
must sell at the very bottom Of long falling
market! Poor Moses Marvel! That operation
served to show that he joined all the Cults want
of luck with the Marvel obstlnaoy. 1t WAS
wretched twelve-month the whole OF it, and 1T
| made that household and made Tom Cutts more
| miserable and more.
"Laura" and Jem. She made almost
.. clipper voyage to California. M she
ir
and knew that from England it would be easy to
get q voyage home. He sailed from California,
and then the letters stopped; No! Laura dear,
| no need OF reading word Of the ship-news IN
| the Semi Weekly Advertiser; the name Of your
namosake is not there. Eight, nine, ten months
| have gono by, and there is no part in Christen-
| dom which has seen Jen's face. or the Lau-
ra's" private signal. Do not strain your eyes on
| the SENT Weekly any more.
| No! dear Laura's eyes will be dimmed by 9TH
or cares than the ship news. Toms father, who
| had ahared Toms wretchedness, and would glad
| II have had them at his house, but Moses MAI
| wells was the larger and the less ,peopled OF the
two.-Tom's father was brought home speech1ess
one day, by the men who had found him whele
he had fallen on the road, his yoke OF oxen not
fur away, waiting for the voice which they we're
never to hear again. Whether he had fallen
| from the cart in some lurch it made, and broken
his spine, or whether all this distress had
| brought on all Of q sudden stroke Of paralysis,
so that he lost his consciousness before he FELL I
do not know. Nor do I see that it matters
much, though the chimney corners Of Trips
| hour. He lay there month after month, really
unconscious. He smiled gently when they
brought him food. He tried to say 's Thank
you, they thought, but he did not speak tc
Msrrel la vel c Of - her '' day, IN any different
way w from tnat in which he tried to speal
to any stranger OF them all. lV'
ing death he lay in, IS those tedious months
went by.
Yet my dear Laura was as cheerful, and hope
full, and buoyant as evor. Tom Cults himself
WAS ashamed to brood when he got 9 sight Of
her. Mother Cults herself would lie down ane
rest when Laura came down with the Two chn
dren, as ahe did every afternoon. Moses Mar
sel himself YVES less taciturn when Laura pu1
the children, one at one side, one al
tbs other, Of his chais, at the tea-tnble.
And in both Of those broken households,
from one end to the other, thew knew the magic
OF dear Laura's spells So that when thif
= Caristmas came, after poor h1r. Cults had beer
lying useless so long, when dear Laura badt
them all take hold and fit up for the little onas
and for the spauldng children, and tht
phips and Newnnarch children, the first Christ
mas tree that lad ever been seen in tho Cove
obeyed her loyalty, and without wondering
They obeved her with her own determination
that thew would have one merry Christmas more
It seems strange to say that this Was such
novelty for all the little ones OF the neighbor
hood. But SO it was, a novelty to all the homo
stayers, for all such festivities are Of recen
something for every child. They heaped ol
moro wood, and they kept merry Christina
despite the storm without This was Laura'
will, and Laura had her way.
Aud she had her reward. Job Stiles cam
round to the door when he had put up his horses
and called Tom out and gave, him a lette
which he had brousht from Ellsworth. An
Tom read the letter, and he called Laura to 1ca
kitchen table with him and read it, and said
"Thank God! this is Christmas present in
; decd. Gould anything in this world be better z
This is the letter:
JouS WnDIR TO Tom CUTS.
DEAR Tom: ! am just back fror
Washington. I have seen them all, an
havo done my best, and have failed: The
Say, and I believe, that tho Colecsorship WI
promised to Waters before the old mans death
that Waters had honest She has but on
leg, you know; and that it must goto him: Asfo
the Suryeyorship, the gift of that is with Plump
tre. And you know that might as well ask tt
Pope to give me anything, as him. And, # b
your wife'a father. So could do nothing there
, Let me say this, though it seems nothing: L
while We are waiting to look around, you ike t
take the Bell and Hammer Lighthouse, you ma
have the place tomorrow. OF course know
l is exile in WINTER but in summer
is lovely. You have you. house. y19 yo1g
lights), and thousand dollars. 1haye made the1
promise to give i to one It'll till dng they hear nat 1G m
, any such place, could not refuse it till I Il
| stage-driyer to take, aud you must send yor
answer BY special messenger, that may telt
: graph to Washington at once.
0 II am very sorry, dear Tom, to have failed yo
J, 30. But did my best, you know. Merry Chris
U mas to Laura and tho babies. Truly yours,
t f'JouS W1DAIR.
: "PoRr1AEp, Dec. ~, 1867"