The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1873-10-01

ada, requesting hims 8if fnys 2 family by
that name lived there, TO send them the pa
per. And It was not many weeks before | re-
ceived d letter from the mother Of johnson
King saying taeys had got the paper announ-
cling the dea*i Of Stheidonly son. and thank
ing ,Enle, mi words that seemed to be full of
tears, for the interest had shown =, The let
ter was sbeadtffully written, evidently by a.
woman Of culture and refinement She told
me something of the grief their sons life had
been to them, and yet they had loved him de-
xotedly, and As TIVE sistersye.f nearly crush |
"a thasrthel bibs.j 1 ansS sied jt6s heAer,
and we kept up. the correspondence for sever
al months and never received better letters
in my life. of tr,itlAapd comfort They
made tip fSs or5f frs thsy csme into
l learned to Know herself, her husband and
hep daughters Through them, y One day l
received one, In which SHE asked me for my
photograph, telling melshefeltAasif sheknew
JUS alb my wife my two boys aAd myself, but
she wanted te see ny PROXY, if in no other
way, one who had been so much, to them.--
Now, am an elderly man, and not remark
ably good looking, though one of my young
lady friends Cor have always had a liking
foryoung LADIES' tells me my faceissbetter
thar allandsomel one 4thatgit is genial and
honest and always carries good sermon i'll it.
not believe,) it would not come out in the pic
ttlfe,, and didn't just like to have them see
my gray hairs, and find out what an old
man was. q But in my next letter I.sent one,
for who can help minding q woman? And
when tile next letter came, with it was aphoto-
Egrhpy and us it dropped out of the envelope
was surprised to see fresh, bright, pretty
face before me of a young lady. 1 had of
course . picture of Mrs. King in my own
miDd as a lady insmiddie Alife, withapufs of
gray hair. tucked under white cap, rather
large in figure, with a matronly air and
fort, ourselves with, of friends we have not
seen, and are often strangely deceived when
the actual is presented to us and do you
wonder that at first should be somewhat sur
prised to see this sweet young face before ING
but on reading the letter, l found Mrs. King
ildu SNhb hic I'LL duuShtSi 1euth pibtuiS, 40
she nor her husband had any of their own at
that time. OF course ! must needs answer
by little note OF thanks to Miss Ruth, for
this picture, and then came in return bright,
cherry letter, such asyoung ladies know well
how to write and afterthat the mothers cor
naturally dropped into the hands
of the daughter. ~ Il
One evening about this time our hearts were
all made glad by NetI's1 (my oldest boys re-
turn from Ann Arbor, for his summer vaca-
ton. And the week, passed by with rides and
visits, trips out into the country, etc for al
ways take my vacation with Ned, and when
my boys are at home with me, l forget my
gray hairs. and the years that have made my
stoop, add am boy again.
And do not believe my boys are afraid of
their father, though | know there are times
when chaps like to be left by themselves, and
| always feel an intuition, or is it the boy
fselinssleftbehind Il that tells ine When The
obi man is better off at home or in lispflice.-
One morning this dawned upon me as COM
pany of boys with Ned in the van, started off
for hunt, into the country. So | declined
their urgent invitation to join them, going to
my Office instead, and, sitting down at my
desk, took up a pile of unanswered letters
that had been accumulating during my vaca-
ton, and found among them aIlettef from
Ruth King. I was kept busy during the day
business letters, leaving Ruth's, be-
ing the pleasanter duty, till the rest were off
my mind. What with Interruptions L didn't /
get to it that day, and when Ned came into
the office next morning. | tossed it to him,
asking him to answer it for me. He took it
up and seeing a lady's handwriting, look
of dismay came over his face. | told him to
open and read it. My back was toward him,
but l kept lookout over my shoulder, to see
how he gotn yithits HisIfacell lighted up. As
he finished he laid it down, and could see moth
ing but despair. "Why, father, | never
wrote to girl in my life. How do you ex-
reet me to answer such aletter4as Chat? Il
got up and going to my desk, took out of one
of the pigeon-holes Ruth's picture, and laying
it before him, told him its history, and that
perhaps it might inspire him, anyway to do
the best he could. The letter had been neg
lected long time and could not answer it
that day, nor the next, and SO left him.
Had any designs on these young people
How can tell An old mans heart is past
finding out. But believe there is in every
loving heart a desire for the 'happinessef 9TH
ers, and if person can help it along, is he
to blame for doing it Well, Ned answered
the letter and very soon after went back to
college :. but have never been able to find
that photograph from that day Ito tliis.-
Whenever alluded to it in Ned's presence, a
sudden fit of abstraction comes over the boy,
which prevents his understanding ordinary
conversation, At the fallSacation company
of the students went to Niagara, and Ned
wrote, saying he would like to take trip
over into Canada, as it was quite the talk
nowadays, and ID might be a good plan at the
same time. As closed the letter which had