The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-01-26

voice telling some one where to set the
umbrella.
"Oh, / hope he has brought Nevins! y
| exclaimed, running out.
But it was not Nevins, nor any one
knew only a red-haired, shrewd-look-
ing boy about fourteen years old, who,
Fred explained, had just been taken
into the office as an errand-boy, with a
chance to work his way up. And Fred
added, with a smile, that the little fell
low meant to be one of the firm yet.
/ don't think | ever saw a smarter
boy in my life-a perfect specimen OF
young America-wide awake, keen. not
bit afraid. If he had been six years
older, Fred said afterward, he should
not have thought of inviting so self
sufficient young man to our Thursday
evenings" But, as ii was, it was the
very courage of the boy that won on
his sympathy, thinking of all the prob
able disappointments, temptations and
pitfalls that lay before the unconscious
! little fellow. His name was Roger. l
left him in the sittingroom with Fanny,
and hurried to boil my coffee, which |
made none the less nice because we
had only this little waif to share it with
| us.
And didn't he enjoy his supper! |
have known hosts of boys in my day,
but none with a better appetite than
Roger He thought the chicken salad
&" bully" and regarded Fanny's tarts
with especial favor. He got acquainted
with the utmost rapidity, and was very
ready to tell all about himself, about his
widowed mother, how they had lived,
and about the bit of property that lay
in the bank waiting for him to be
twenty -one and 90 into business. He
spoke cheerily of his position as Grand
boy, saying:
If I'm going to climb the ladder, |
suppose the right place to begin is at
the bottom!''
1t rained harder than ever after tea;
but we adjourned to the parlor, as usual,
pleased with everything-played with
BERTHE, whom he called a cunning lit
tie shaver" looked through the stereo-
scope, examined the albums, and finally
sat down opposite Fanny He seemed
to take the greatest fancy to Fanny
from the very first, and his eyes were
wandering toward her continually. He
found she was from England and then
he piled her with questions about what
parts of it she had seen, in what county
she had lived, and how long since she
| had left there. She was more amused
at his curiosity than offended, and an.
swered him fully, as one would tell
stories of long ago to child.
Fred sat reading his newspaper and
presently called our attention to a curl
Gus accaunt, which he read aloud, of a
returned soldier looking in vain for his
only sister for years. She had heard he
was dead. had married and gone West.
/ The name of her husband he could not
/ learn, nor where she went; and so had
searched and inquired throughout the
country for three years, without finding
any clew, till one day he met her face
to face in little village post-ofiice in
some remote part of Michigan.
This led to a conversation on the ways
in which friends might be lost to each
other, and Roger Frightened up. He
evidently had a story to tell.
That is like what has happened to
my brother" he said. May | tell you
about it, sir2"
Fred laid down his paper indulgently
TO listen, took my knitting, and
Fanny, saddened maybe by the talk
about her English home, sat with
dreamy, sorrowful eyes. looking off into
vacancy.
So Roger began: "You ought to see
my brother Phil; he's splendid fellow.
He's only my half brother, but | love
him just as well. He don't look like
me; he has black, curly hair and is
real handsome. He's a smart business
fellow, too, and be is twenty-nine years
old; but he don't get married, because
he can't find the girl he's in love with,
though he has hunted high and low.
You see. the firm he worked for sent
him TO England three or four years ago
10 see TO some agency, and there, in
some little village. he fell in love on a
Sunday with girl that sung in the
choir. You ought TO hear him tell about
her voice, and how pretty she was. He
got acquainted. and aw her all he could,
and found she was just as nice as he
thought for and he thinks she was be-
ginning TO like him little any way.
he made up his mind to propose to her
the very next day, when a telegram
came and took him off as quick as a
wink to Liverpool; and from there he
had to 20 to Edinburgh and wait a
good while about something; and then
he was sent to Paris; and, one way and
another. it was two months before he
could get back to the village where the
girl lived. And then he found that the
old folks had taken sudden notion,
and sold out and gone to America, tax
ing his little English daisy, as he called
her, without leaving any word or clew
by which he could find them. He came
back 10 New York as quick as ever + e
could, and made all sorts of inquiries,
and advertised, but it wasn't any use.
And hed be just about heart-broken if
he didn't keep hoping to find her some
day. Every time he hears of such a
family he hunts them up. He's away
off in San Francisco now on business.
and | expect he'll search California
through before he leaves. thinking she
may possibly be there. Isn't too bad.
Mr. brown . 7 feel 50 sorry for him