The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-09-21
! PERPETUAL MOTION STORY.

plainly WOrdcu obituary notice, pub
liShcd lately in the local newspapers, is
all the intimation that has as yet reached
til" people of Brooklyn of very pathetic
cl'j~olr which has just taken place in
their midst. The deceased party was a
gentleman who had considerably out.ived
the allotted term, and whose direct de-
scendants to-day may be counted by the
dozen; yet SO carefully have his family
guarded the strange particulars of his
death, that but for the somewhat meager
account which is now offered to our read
crS, it is not at all likely that even so
much as hint of their painful secret
would ever have found its way to the pub
lie. Out of consideration for the sclf-re-
preach which is the bitterest ingredient in
their cup of sorrow, we forbear to give
any clue to the identity of the family
further than may be contained in the bare
facts of the story, and since nobody can
directly connect them with these facts but
the deceased gentleman's physician, the
New York machinists, hereinafter re-
tcrrcd to, and ourselves, such clue as may
thus be furnished will serve rather to mis-
lead the morbidly curious than to guide
them even short way toward discov-
cry.
The subject of this narration, the late
Mr.. Van Pclt, for long conducted very
lucrative business in New York. Rather
more than five and twenty years ago, how
ever, having seen his sons fairly started
on the road he himself had so prosper
ously Travelled, and his daughters without
an exception suitably married, Mr.. Van
Pelt resigned his interest in the concern Of
which he had long been the head, and
Withdrew from business to enjoy that
leisure and retirement which almost half
a century of steady application had earned
for him. He signaliZed his step by max
ing muniticent donations to every one of
his children partitioning by far the larger
mOiety of his estate among them. Indeed
there is reason to believe that he sacrificed
nearly ven-cighths of his fortune in Or
der to surround his children with the lux
uries of life. He himself, having settled
his eldest daughter and her husband in
one of the most desirable residences in
Brooklyn, went to pass the rest of his
days under their roof, and under their
roof he continued to remain until the end
For some months after the date of his
retirement, Mr.. Van Pelt found his chief
enjoyment in carpenter work. He had
wrought so long with his brain in direct
ing his business, that it did not seem un-
natural he should seek relaxation in man.
ual labor. Moreover, it soon became ap-
parent that he had very remarkable
turn for mechanics, and his daughters
house furnished many an example of his
hardness and ingenuity. BY and by he
began to turn his attention to mechanics,
studying that science in books, and soon
collecting a large number of trcatises on
the laws of States and Dynamics, and
their application to the needs of man from
the earliest times. If his health was at
this time not impaired by his close appli-
cation, it was entirely owing to the fact
that most of his time was occupied in the
wholesome work of constructing machines
for the purpose Of demonstration and ex-
pertinent. He had a workshop erected in
the rear of his house on the most COM
plete scale, and here he would remain
from daylight till dark, needless of the
calls of hunger, and oblivlous to every-
thing but the problem before him. When
his daughter affectionately insisted on his
coming in to lunch, Mr.. Van Pelt could
not be persuaded to leave behind the book.
the drawing or the model he had been
studying, but would take it with him even
to the table, and would there pore over it
while he mechanically ate. The sudden
change in the man was very remarkable
He became possessed of one idea, and
could not be got to talk on any subject but
his favorite pursuit, and his many friends
failing to interest him in anything but
wheels and levers, weight and equillb.
rum, force and motion, at last began, one
by one, to give up visiting him altogether.
Meanwhile, Mr. Van Pelt's family saw
all this with growing solicitude. The
longest day did not now suffice their faith.
er for the study of the problems that en-.
crossed him, and with more anxiety than
they cared to reveal, they found that he
often sat far into the night, calculating.
planning and constructing. His children
began to take counsel among themselves
and appointed certain Sunday for rea.
soning with the father, and kindly bring.
ing to bear on him all the force of their
combined entreaties.
The party which assembled round the
dinner table on the appointed Sunday was
an unusually large one. 1t looked like a
Thanksgiving or Christmas family gath
ering. and neither son nor daughter of
MI. Van Pelt was absent from the board.
The old gentleman was in excellent spirits
at seeing them all together, and cheerily
fedsthe conversation to the one theme oc-
cuDVinU This fho,,0hfe u,s&se&c,l~ 80.