The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1875-08-05
THE SETTLERS TRAGEDY.


BY THE AUTHOR or "GIEX'8 BABY"
ayes that's a quccr-Iookin' place
now, amt it? Ita the best piece o
land you've seen anywhere in tins day.
drive, and that's n good dcal to say
aud Likewise, it was once the p%retiicsI
fam along this road, Why, sir, ] mino
tho time when that porch Was all Il glory
with rOecg, like n 'Ouse in n hopcra
bOuiIe for all the world. An right hin
tho front there, where You see all then
docks m mullen n CROWN, that wal
chO,k full o beds Of Lunmun pride, an
chinGy a%Bters, an sweet mignonnette
You could smell the place u mile Of o.
II warm summers night. All she wat
II fine girl, sho was, that lived up there
an II terrible story that 'ouse tells. II
mint just pleasant to be on the next Io'
TO it,"
Mr., WeIlbcloyed, for ] had stumbled
in my Canada ramble on n person o.
that name, thus spoke Of n log house
audlOt which had attracted my curiosity.
On one Of the beet stretches Of arabic
land, lying we'll up tho gentle swell Of
the valley, with n good exposure, bachcd
by fine woodland, wag-a singular sight
in that raw, yet thriving settlement "A
"cOncGssiOD," which seemed to have
been swept by some spirit Of ruin and
decay. The %lOg-houso stood, but it's
roof was rotling it's slight porch Ind
been shattered or displaced by snow
its windows remained unbrokon, but one
could geo from the dragging paper
blinds which bad once made them gay
with color, that there was no housewife
within TO mend or change things; and
all over the eight or ten acres Of land
which had been cleared about the hOuso,
there grew M high rs the unrcmOvcd
Htumps II wealth Of weed, such M ia
only the crop OF absolute dcsertion and
death. by this place, ON one side, nay
friend WellbelOyed, Mt whose house |
bad drawn up for a midday meal, titled
II thriving fam the evidence waR visi.
bic III the roll Of ripGning wheat dotted
with the disks Of the blRckcncd Btumps,
and III tho cattle TINT IOitGrod from the
SUMS heat under the circle Of young
naples hG had left in 4 corner Of ono Of
his fields, whore II spring wolIcd up
from among some bouIdcrH, and by tho
grunt OF well-fed pigs which wandered
down tho road and cooled their heated
sides in the marshy bottom, where |
found tho road like II floating stage Of
logs. Moreover, there was Mrs. Well.
beloved, a little woary-Iookiug, per.
hapS, for number nino in the cradle
WA tho most botherBomc child, TINT
1t was, God bless it,, Bho had ever
know - and two or three fine strnpping
boys that camo homo 10 tho noOntidc
meal from some hooing work at tho back
Of the concession with m appetite for
tho pork md corn that mnde me cnviOus.
WeilbclOvcd was II LOndOner, and
had been in Canada exactly aix years.
lIo was Gust turned forty" having
married mt twenty, and now possessed n
graduating scale Of voracious infantry,
which must in the metropolis have
severely worn his energies and Mrs.
WcllbelOved'B patience, but which, out
hero, was his most promising source of
wealth. The elder boy, nearly 10, had
added a hundred acres to the original
go 'ernment concession, and as tho
boy grew up more would follow.
Already Mr.. Wellbeloved's house and
barns began to take on IN mir, If not of
wealth or oven comfort, of suficicncy
which, a. ono looked in his bron2cd
lace and clear eyes, and listened to his
CHEEKY voice, gave promise that tho
time might como when the patriarch
should bless his sons and daughters,
and Bons-in-law and daughters-in law,
looking out upon n scene of civilized
beauty and fertility, and dividing among
them no mean inheritance.
"Me, Sir No, tnankeo. I'd not
own II rod o that soil for it's PAWN in
gold. No, no There's blood on that
land ; let some stranger come an wipe
it hout."
He wiped tho beads from his forehead
0lo day was hot and began:
Tho man that took hup that conces.
sion was II gentleman, l~eastways, sir,
you know, n gentleman by birth. Is
father was n Lunnun lawyer, you, vo :
card OF i'm, old Bytheway that used to :
ave the big cases Mt the hold Bailey. I
Iho hold man, he made money, an '
it, and this ere boy, % made {
none, an spent what q father mado. II {
were sent TO HetoD, then to Hoxford,
m afterwards Q went where % weren't
nt-leastwnys, not by direction-to +
Ihe devil. The young CONAN that lived
m ! IN that house were acquainted
with me, Lucy Burridge, that were 'er
real name, though she were called 'Im
'lnda Burrinda, the holcgant dansows'
she we're in tho corpus dc bailey at
he varieties theayter in the Strand, l
iessay you know hit . Yes /?
Well, sir, / were sccne.shifter in that
.hoayter for seven years, an five years
that at Drury Lane. / could tell
you some queer stories | II you want to
know somethin' Of life, you get up in
wings, night after night, an watch
Tho stage, you'll SEQ sOmethin' Of the
bad han tho good o. 'uman natnr'.
Why, sir, I've seen cruelty an wicked
ness, nm jealousy, an revenge, an kind
ness, an forgiveness, an charity, PLAYED
lar more real behind tho canvas scenes /
were shiftin' than it were on the stage
before it. One night / see II Young
Biri, which her name was Sairey Podge, ,
rom n diity little street in the borough. (
was but a pretty ono to look at, an
danced like n Blypb, an she 'ad a par. ,
heller rival, II 'alf. Italian girl, as bad n .
li'tg shrew for temper as hevcr Won
Baw. Wen, one night, hin the Christ. 4
mus paltomlmc-twero last Christmas,
year-lhis girl, La Rosa, sho broke
low and the people hisscd her, Well,
! WINS mp IN The wings an / SEQ it, an q
ran behind n Of tho scenes whcro !
oalrey was wai'in' TO jump out ike n
AZ sho was, an I say TO my mate, :
il lok out for fqnalls there, Lorry- O
hem twoIl fight for I've seen girls
light behind the scenes before now. q
Wen, sir, the Hitaliap almost bounced r
h others arms, Sairey drew back 0