The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-10-30
A STORY SUCCESSFULLY TOLD.

: wrote the following paragraph in one Of
her letters to her husband the other day ::
John must come down here at once,
whether you can spare him or not. Our
dear little Laura is greatly taken with a
tall, thin young man, with hooked
nose and thin lips, called Stuyvesant.
1t is whispered about the hotel that he
is a very good match, and has the verita-
BILE blue blood of the old Dutch governor
in his veins. l must say it has queer
way of showing itself, for the young man
is rs pale rs a spectre and dressed in tina:
white duck, with his sunken eyes and
bilious skin, is enough to frighten one.
i have grown to hate him, while Laura
is growing to do quite the contrary, I'm
afraid. All the evening he leans up
against the wall, never dancing, or open
ing his mouth save to give vent to some
hateful sarcastic criticism upon the scene
around him, and yet dear little Laura
eyes-as, indeed, all the other pretty
eyes about-are perpetually beseeching
him for attention. In the daytime he Is
always driving with long black horse, that
covers more ground with its legs when it
is going than any animal | ever saw.
When Laura goes out 70 drive behind 1t
and banishes out of sight with the bony
creature, | trembie to think how dread
1uA IL Dt II Jul NAcsil Siil MOtli
ever become part and parcel of this
wretched man and his wicked beast So
think John had better come down at
once; L just long to see his handsome
face and hear his honest voice, and |
think it is about time John should tell
his little story to Laura, and have things
settled comfortably"
Mr. Archibald Steele smiled when he
put the letter of his wife in his waistcoat
pocket, and picking up the morning
paper, scanned through his gold-rimmed
spectacles the news of the day. Finding
nothing therein to ruffie the exceedingly
satisfactory condition of his affairs, he
put it down, and smiled again as only
prosperous, contented, downtown mer-
chant can smile He was one of those
happy exceptions to the ordinary rule of
mortals, with whom everything went
well His whole appearance was an ex-
clamation point to that effect. If he
ventured n little hazardously in trade,
fortune trimmed her sails to favor him.
If he set his heart upon anything relat-
ing to domestic felicity, all the clements
of art and nature conspired to bring it
about. So when he stepped to the door
of his office and beckoned to a young
man with strip of commercial paper in
his hand and a pencil behind his ear,
with that general air of briskness and
shrudeness about him that betokened a
successful merchant in embryo, Mr.. Steele
smiled the third time, with the air of
one who was not at all afraid of any
bilious, blue-blooded abstacle that might
be thrown in the path of domestic hap
piness which he firmly believed had been
arranged by an omnipotent hand.
john" said Mr.. Steele, closing the
Of I,
upon his young clerk benevolently,
"Pve got an order here from Mrs.
Steele, which want attended to-"
Certainly, SIR" said John. Shall /
go up and get the articles myself"
Why, the fact is, John,' said the
merchant, enjoying the joke more and
more, its only one article-a rather
bulky one. 1t was bargained for long
ago. 1 think you will have to go with
it, John"
''Down to the sea-shorer' said John,
getting little hot and flustered. ''Is it
a very valuable parcel, SIR"
well, perhaps your natural modesty
may depreciate its worth, John. Mrs.
Steele and / think a good deal of it, and
Laura, too-Tm sure she does The COM
modify is yourself, John. Mrs. Steele
wants you to go down and take a little
lutIt
When the name of Laura was men,
toned, the young mans face grew more
hustered and hot than before.
"You are very kind, sir" he raid, "and
Mrs. Steele is always more like an angel
than a woman"
"Rather solid and plump for that, !" in
terposed Mr.. Steele, but likingthe phrase
nevertheless.
''But it is simple Madness" pursued
John, ''to dream of further happiness than
i enjoy now-your affection and that of
your wife, my position here: | don't dare,
/ can't hope for anything more. Oh, Mr..
Steele, | can't tell her my story, sir. She
would shrink from me with horror and
aversion, she is so young, so beautiful. |
Let me at least enjoy the present"
''And in the meantime some cadaver- |
Gus, bilious, blue-blOoded scoundrel will |
carry her off from us ALL"
Then Johns face grew pale and stern. |
off there is the slightest feeling upon her |
part for-for any one else, then, indeed, |
Mr.. Steele, my case is hopeless"
The commercial paper futtered from
his hand, the pencil fell from his car;
he leaned his head against the desk and |
trembled
'Why, who would suppose you could
be such cowari?'' said Mr. Steele, i'm
Petuously. "You shall go down with me
this very day."
All the way to the sea-shore, Johns
face wore the look of one who had re-
solved to storm deadly breach, but who
did not hope to survive the attempt
Even the ocean, when it confronted
them, wore threatening look. Upon
the horizon pile of clouds formed back
ground wan and gloomy, a great black
mist lay in the zenith, a dense red vapor
almost touched the water.
"a very nasty sea, ," said Mr.. Steele
John snuffed it in his eye diIating, his
broad shoulders expanding, his head high
in the sea-sccnted air.
A tramp on the hard wet sand, and like
a meteor a long black horse shot by, dis
in the mist, leaving for John
the memory of a charming head crowned
with blonde curling hair, two kind eyes
bent upon his own, a white waving hand
in salutation.
f.John," said Mr.. Steele, "did you see
the face of that man? count upon your
saving Laura. Did you see his thin, cruel
lips, his treacherous eyes|'
81 only saw Laura, sir" said John,
simply.
Later on, Mr. Archibald Steele and his
plump, pretty wife were alone together
III lhtif private pdrioI- IIcf ulIn plcu |
hand lay lovingly in his, her shapely head,
fresh from the coifeur, rested recklessly
on his SHOULDER
Suddenly the door opened, and there
was heard the rustic of silk drapery 4
>pelier little head, and fresher from
of the coiffeur, all crumpled up
dacious touch ola mortal ,pecped
loor Laura was pale; her lit
hands were clasped together;
al voice trembled.
nc water, child into the hun
waves that surged up to take
rom the fondest heart in the
and if it hadn't been for one
VI vagabond boys, who had
>sre for chance to escape
would have lost us
made an agonized