The Republican journal., 1875-06-24
From the Atlantic Monthly for June
Benjamin jacques.

LIS lulii Vl'l lloI lllciti! 81
very much i'll dollars and cents, perhaps
less than his previous failures in the same
barren field, but somehow this last failure
seemed to mean a great deal to him per
sonaily His open, honest face revealed
keen suffering.
jacques had been very temperate and
Industrious, He would have gained sue.
cess, if there had been half a chance
But mining in the Adirondack Mountains
was hard' So long as u man was Young
and new at the business. he could endure
the disappontments after fashion; but
when he was turned Of forty years Of age,
and had learned that mining in the Adj
rondacks was contending against great
commercial odds if not natural laws, he
was apt to think that he needed a change
Ones best strength for " fighting the
rocks was likely to be impaired hefore
middle life, Jacques, however, was still
strong. 1t was the check upon earnest
purposes and honest hopes that wrung his
heart He had tried so many times, he
said, and so fair, and every time failure
On this last occasion Jacquess brown
locks We're turning to silver, as the assets
of his venture We're made over to g the
company,n leaving him without a dollar
and he explained to his friends, in hi.
simple, direct way, with tears in his
frank, gray eyes, that he was tired.
more than twelve years ago he said.
"l brought a little money and hopeful
heart to these mountains, and YOU all
know whether | have worked faithful. |
own ! am down now, and my heart is
sore, 1t amt no use, boys.n he added.
1T is Il hard country. Them few black
holes over there in the hill is all | have to
show for my work And them amt mine
any longer" he added, struggling with Il
sob He said to a friend, privately and
with tears, Its all right, George, to talk
of settling down, but when Il man has had
his hopes and sees it's too late, and he has
nothing to offer. what can he say?'
Three days after the failure, Ben jacques
Started away from the mining settlement
alone for i walk among the mountains.
lie was irving to get q mental view of
what else there might be in the world be-
side iron ore, speculation, and heart-ache
1t was Il July morning, all brightness and
cheered by the birds, he walked along u
little road up by Il cabin where his newly
married friend. Nellie, and her husband
lived The little home was a sweet pic
ture Beyond it We're the woods and the
dark mountains. 70 the tOilcr whose eX-
istence had been tor so many ycars a strug-
Gle to wrench Il fortune from these rocky
hills. they seemed implacable and pitiless.
What was the serenity OF their heights but
contempt tor his feeble struggle?
lie passed on from the settlement into
I thn woods Ihal.a wa an nlI N, i,ip.r r,al
that lie knew Of. Ii led many miles into
the wilderness. Ii had been cut out"
and speedily abandoned in mining spec
ulaton years ago. He followed this track
five miles, to Cherry Lake The lake was
very solitary. \ dark, rugged hill clothed
with black spruce rose beyond it. Where
Jacques was, there was u plain, covered
with maple and beech trees He noticed
how fine the prospect was. and how won
lertuIly the blue W ters sparkIed in the
July noon Then he sat down upon the
shore, smoked his pipe, and thought it all
over again. When he returned to the set
Element that evening, he remarked that
he had considered the matter fully, and
was sure that he had done with mining
forever
A week later the news was circulated
that Ben jacques had put up log cabin
away off in the woods at Cherry Lake
and was going to turn hermit. There
We're diverse comments upon this intelli-
gence Some reckoned that he had found
4 new mine out there, others We're 'ateard"
that Ben had Il soft spot in his head. His
own statement of the case to Nellie was
plain lie said he was tired He declared
also, that it was pleasant at the lake, and
that he loved to dream there in the silence
50 remember u world outside of these
mountains, Nellie" said jacques, ." that
YOU have not seem When Nellie said
anxiously that she feared he was giving
way to some secret SORROW he did not
reply.
Jacques's cabin at the lake was Il pleas
ant place. During the autumn he cleared
a little ground, that he might have Il gar
den in the spring, and he improved the
old road so that II team could be driven
over it. A few weeks labor at - The
Works" supplied him with means to pro-
a little furniture and n few books We're
taken to the cabin, and the toler settled
down to rest.
jacques was a sensitive man. The iso-
lation of his hermit-lfe soon had its nat
ural effect upon him That unseen world
that surrounds the living both when they
wake and when they sleep, seemed to him
to come nearer and nearer. The strange
spirits that WOO and win the solitary found
him in the wilderness. 1t was observed
that he was becoming quiet and shy, and
that the little he saw OF society when he
visited the settlement oppressed him.
The seasons came and went with much
feverlsh anxiety, and many batlcd enter
prlses at the mining settlement Amid
the worry and the failures. Ben Jacques,
the hermit, was little cared for, and rarely
remembered.
very rapidly upon the woods. Jacqucs's
cabin was still miles away in the forest
His acre Of garden was a rose in the vast
wilderness. In spring the flowers bloomed
around his doorway, and the bees from his
hives hummed around the tiny clearing
Remote rs it was, the robins and the blue
birds found this lonely home. 1t was one
OF the picnic journeys in summer. for the
young folks to travel the long, untrequent
road through the woods, and visit Jacques,
the hermit. These visits were received as
great honor by the venerable man, and
he always gave the visitors honey and
flowers. But only Nellie and her husband
and children knew cold Mr.. jacques as
something more than a strange man, or q
curiosity. Twice, at least, every summer,
a horse and rude wagon were driven by
Nellle's husband OF by her own hands over
the rough road to Mr.. Jacques's. Almost
every month in the year Jacques came to
see Nellie and her family. 1t was the tie
that bound him to the outward world.
Nellie used to say to her husband that
although she could not imagine what it
was. she was sure there was some sad
secret in Mr.. Jacques's life. Her eyes
grew dim with tears, rs she saw that her
own little Mary, so timid and shy toward
all others, yet found friend in this lonely
and aged man. She wondered at the
pretty blush that came to his withered
cheeks as the quiet child welcomed and
kissed him.
But no one knew the life or the thoughts
OF Benjamin Jacques. The dreary years,
the brightness of summer and the winters
dreadful cold. found him as ever. dwelling