Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1873-10-29

suspicious were correct.
O=o evening. just as Mr.. Thompson
aud bis family were sitting down in their
humble cabin to a supper OF eorh.bread
aud vepison, tall young man. mounted
on wiry pony, rode up. He was scarce.
ly nineteen years of age, aud wore the in.
eriisbls lesgisgs and long frock of the
Western hunters, friugcd with buckskia.
His face was brown as a nut, and. whea
he raised the broad brim Of his SLOUGH hat =,
his couuienance betrayed ubmistaka6le
signs Of dissira,ioa.
MT. Thompson politely invited the
stranger to disnount and partakc of their
frugal meal, and, springiDg from his horse,
he made haste to enter; but whes he saw
Mary he drew back, bushed, and would
have mounted again, had not Mr.. Thomp.
son insisted upon his stopping losg enough
to cat something. 1t was not long before
MIR. Thompson discovered from the convcr.
sation that his guest was none other than
the famous young desperate of the Blue,
aud the discovery was attended with cou-
siderable anxiety and alarm. The quick
eye of the hunter detected in an instant
the alarm his presence had created, and +,
rising from the table before he had fn.
ishod his supper, he said, with lisnifed
air:
81 am indeed the Wild TrsPper of the
Blue, and, like every one else, yeu think
me bad but | am not so bad as they say.
Oh !" he added, after moments pause.
"lf some one in tho world would only>be-
lieve me COED, | might become like other
men"
TheR, fixing his piercing eyes on Mary,
he gazcd at her full minute, and, turn
ing on his heel, he left the cabin without
saying smother word. The family, through
the open doorway saw him swing his little
body across his pony, aud gallop swiftly
away over the prairie towards his cabin.
From this visit Mr.. Thompson augurcd
bad luck but, as day after day ami week
after week passed and they saw no mare
Of him, they began to think they had done
the young man an injustice. True, they
had often heard Of him in the village,
where he continued his drinking and fight
ing out, athsunh tho nearest way would
have led him by Mr.. Thompson's house,
both in going and coming, he always
crossed the prairie some nlles above, and
never came near the place.
Mr.. Thompson, had once been kind
husband, an iadulgeut father, and man
of good habits, disappointed by repeated
failures in business and yexcd by poverty.
had, Of late years, taken to drink, and now
was little batter tEan common drunkard.
His wife and daughter had persuaded him
to move from Iowa, hoping, when his old
associations we're broken up, he would do
better in Nebraska aud make their new
home a happy one. For time their most
sanguinc wishes seemed about to he rea-
lized. The farm they bad taken up was
good one, the crops were abundant, and
all seemed to promise happy future.
Mr.. Thompson had left off drinking en-
tirely, and was again the kind and affec-
tionate husband and father Of fsImcr years.
The happiness of this little family was un-
bounded, when, in an evil hour, cloud
darkened the bright sunshine Of their rude
cottage, and finally burst in destroying
storm. A man named Cook opened
travellers ranch, or hotel, near Mr.. Thomp-
sons and between this man and the farm
er there soon subsisted the waimest friend
ship. Night after night Mr.. Thompson
would 60 to Cooks. and SIT in the society
of bad men until the small hours of the
morning, The wife and daughter, alarmed
for his safety, r2doubled their efforts to
make his home attractive, and resorted to
every wsmanly device to keep him with
them; but, despite their exertions, he
spent more than half his time at Cooks.
For long time he resisted every temp
tation to drink but at length the evil Of
keeping bad company became apparr ent,
and one night Mr.. Thompson came home
to his family reeling drunk. His down
ward course was now rapid !; he was drunk
every day; and to the vice of drinking he
soon added that of gambling. The land
on which he lived was homestead, and
the title could not be perfected for five
years, SO he could not gamble it away;
but, one by enc, the horses, cattle, and
farming Implements were put up and lost,
until at last all that was left were two
horses, wagon and harness.
Among the persons who visited Cooks
was person called Long Ned, a flashily
dressed individual, an ex-stage driver, a