The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1876-06-01

oNOli molO VI iOoo VI hh dhBiy anu u'o-
Contented expression on the counten-
ances of all of them, which, contrasting
so very strikingly as it did with their
former cheerful looks, was very conspiCu'
GUS, and attracted the notice Of the more
shrewd observers. Coming to church in
this manner, they of course entered theil
pew in a struggling way, one after the
other, at considerable intervals, and moi
together as formerly-another cirCum
stance, indicative of some change of feel
ing, which did not escape the notice o
the congregation; the report of their sud
den acquisition of wealth having rem
dered them objects of special attention
for a time. Neither did a total neglect o
those little acts Of courtesy to each othel
in church. of which we formerly spoke
elude the observation of those aroun(
them,
People were much surprised at this
unusual department on the part of thu
Hunters, and wondered if any disagree
ment had sprung up among them, and
SO, whether the legacy could have any
thing to do with it. They said it woult
be strange if good fortune could do tina
which bad fortune had been unable tC
do-namely, destroy the happiness of the
family; in this remark, alluding to pc
riod when the Hunters had been in grea
distress from want of employment anC
illness together-trials which seemed
only toincrease their attachment to each
other; while now it appeared to be pre-
Cisely the reverse. But had any change
really taken place in their feelings to-
wards each otherP BY rotrograding 9
little in their history we may ascertain
this.
On the third day after the receipt o.
the legacy, David Hunter called his
family around him, and told them that
he wished to inform them of certain ar.
rangements regarding the distribution Of
the legacy among them (including pro-
vision for himself and wife), on which he
had determined. He then proceeded to
name to his sons the respective sums
which he intended giving them to begin
business with, and to his daughters the
sum he intended giving them as dowry
in the event of their marriage. Having
concluded, David looked around for the
appreciation which he felt conscious he
deserved. But what was his surprise and
modification when he perceived in every
countenance the most unequivocal signs
disappointment and discomfort There
was not one of his children, sons or
daughters, pleased with the portions al
lotted them.
Poor David endeavored to meet their
views by altering, modifying, and even
by offering to increase the different sums
by reducing the moderate proportion he
intended retaining for himself; but to no
purpose. No arrangement or distribu-
ton he could propose or suggest would
satisfy the expectations or wishes of his
children. They did not, indeed, COM
plain openly, much less by either loud
or angry expressions; bht there was
gloom on every brow-sullenness and
discomfort on every countenanCe
From this moment there was no longer
any happiness in David Hunters family.
A feeling of jealousy and dislike was
now engendered, which could never
again be eradicated. Poor David saw
and bitterly felt the change, and wished
a thousand times that the legacy had
gone to the bottom of the sea instead of
coming to him, as he deemed it but a
poor substitute for the domestic felicity
he had lost. Here will be found suffi-
cient explanation of that difference of
department which had attracted the no.
tice of their neighbors.
David Hunter, seeing that there was
no hope of restoring harmony amongst
his children, who were now swapping
and snarling at each other, morning,
noon and night, determined, however
painful to his feelings it might be, to
break up his family, In pursuance of
this resolution, he recommended to each
Of his sons to betake himself to lodgings
Of his own, and to start in the world on
his own account. To enable them to do
so, he said he would instantly pay them
down the different sums he had deter
mined on giving them respectively. His
sons, though far from satisfied, sulkily
acquiesced in the proposed arrangement;
and, in few days after, left their fathers
house, but in such sullen mood, that they
would not tell him either where they
were going or what they intended doing.
They never held any correspondence
again. Each brother, thinking the Others
had got more than they ought to have
done, and of course he himselfless, never
went near each other but on the con-
trary, continued to the end of their lives
to entertain feeling Of the most bitter
hostility to one another Neither did
any of them ever again visit their father
whom they all agreed in accusing of un-
just dealing towards them.
Such was the consequence of the lega-
cy; and it may be taken as another evil
dence of the well-known truth-that an
accession of wealth is not necessarily, by
gnv means an accession of hanninnes