Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1875-02-24
WOODSTOCK, W., WEDNESDAY, FEB a. 1875

: deed How his other grief san
, into insignifcance in comparison witt
J this new one. Guiltless and pure il
his past actions in his intercourse will
his fellow men, he now had stained
his hands with capital crime =
Such were his reflections as he hur
ried to his home arriving there he
threw himself into Il chair by tho
secretary, took up a pen and proceed.
ed to write a brief statement of what
he had done, and explaining the
cause of the awful deed, and saying
tsotpJ, o'~ rL>e->'l5 --4r"1," ~ oaay+ 70
declaring it his purpose to take his
life with his own hand if liable to be
caught, rather than suffer the disgrace
of a public execution, He had Just
finished writing when he heard foot
steps as Of persons approaching the
house. He made an effort to arise,
with the intention escaping through
a rear door, but, as by some strange
power he seemed riveted to lis chair.
The consequences Of the awful crime
with which his bands and heart were
stained, like mighty incubus seemed
to weigh him down. The door swung
open. His wife entered, accompanied
by a gentleman. The husband looked
up. "What, still alice ~ he exclaimed,
as terrible load seemed suddenly re,
moved from his mind. Great God
be praised !" "Why. what in good.
ness name ails you, Burton ?" eX-
claimed Florence as she noticed the
terrible agony which was depicted on
his countenance. ''You in truth much
more closely resemble dying man
than a living being. had hoped to
surprise you with glad tidings, my
dear husband, but | fear you are too
feeble to bear it now Speak, and
tell me what has befallcn you
''Oh it is nothing, a mere tritle.--
In fact, | believe have just been
aroused from a hideous nightmare. "
"Well, if that be all you will soon
be strong again so you will allow
me to present to you my dear brother,
John, Of whom have so often spoken
to YOU, and whom we have mourned
for as dead, these years the report
having reached us that he was one OF
the victims Of the i'lfated 'Orion, which
was wrecked on mid ocean four years
ago. lie will tell you how he escaped
and reached England, from whence he
has repeatedly sent letters to me, but
which letters it seems we've miscarried.
for certainly they have not reached us.
Having landed at New York four
weeks ago, he Immediately sent me a
letter which | did receive, and in
which he informed me OF his safe AZ
rival, and purpose to visit us rs soon
as he could make it convenient to do
so. l have written him repeatedly
since, and received letters in reply,
wherein we mutually planned to con-
ceal all from you, thinking that the
surprise would be so much more et-
fectual in this way
The Doctors cOuntenance under
went various changes Of color as he
listened to the above recital and as
he arose to grasp his brothers hand,
he remarked that it "was a ee'y
agreeable surprise to himself, i'll more
respects than might occur to them"
And now, kind reader, we may as
well draw our little story to a close,
leaving the moral for you to interpret.
Before doing so, however, we will
mention that, taking ludlcr-
Gus vlew-in the light of his present
knowledge-of the whole matter, az
related to his recent exploits, the u {
ter, now thoroughly recovered from
his "nightmare," proceeded also to
surprise his wife and brother, by re
citing to them the details OF those ex-
ploits and when he had arrived at
that portion of his narrative where he
had "blazed away" at his (then TN.
known) brother he the Doctor) in
turn was again surprised to learn from
them that they mad not even heard the
report of his gun and he might have
been still more surprised had he been
apprised OF the reason echy they had
not heard it, and the reason why he
did not 'tetch' the fellow when he
had taken so good aim, the truth Of
which was that in his intense excite
ment and great mental distraction he
had overlooked the important fact
that his gu, had not been loaded for
more than a gear, and IN the condition
of his ''navous system" he had very