Mexico weekly ledger., 1876-12-21
BLACK AND WHITE CHRISTMAS

bLACh AND WHILE CHnlC1 MAcs
CHAPTER I.-BLACK CHRISTMAS.
Ralph stepped off the train, and, turn
ing q deaf ear to the entreaties of rival
hackmen, walked briskly along the
plank pavement of his native village,
carrying his valise in his hand. 1t was
night-the night before Christmay day.
A snow-storm was bowling abroad,
singing the faces of pedestrians. Ralph
could scarcely discover one old land
mark through the whirl of wind. Peo-
Pile passed him muffled SO closely that
they looked like walking pillows.
He, hurried up the steps of the one
small hotel Chat vast caravansary of
his juvenile days., and walked, breath
less, into the new, crowded office. Its
pathetic to go back to places which you
have known and remembered all your
years, and find that they remember you
no more. Ralph was no nabob of a
traveller, who had achieved great
achievements and come back to shine
in the eyes of his early associates. He
bore the traces of hard work and COM
parative poverty. He was still quite a
young man, and had an energetic
breadth of shoulder and anindependent
carriage. But his face bore lines of dis
appointment; his cheeks were thinned
by fever; his whole person, as well as
his dress, testified that he was one of
those men who push to the frontier for
the success which Eastern towns deny
them, and who often get more scars
than rewards.
Ralph took off his slouching hat and
shook the snow from it, and hustled
about the fire to hide from himself his
chagrin at meeting no familiar face.
But villages change Sc quickly. Half
a dozen years will bury a generation of
old folks, and bring in a new popula-
ton of strangers; and he had heard
from the place only at rare intervals
during half a dozen years. The time
he had spent on the Rocky Mountains
and Western prairies, and counted long
only because it paid him SO little, had
been cycles of changes to these vii
layers. He wondered if May were al
tered muchP He always counted on
finding her the same young, pale-faced
girl, with unlimited trust in him and
the clinging ways he could never for
get.
1t seemed to him only yesterday when
she kissed him goodbye, with her arms
around his neck. Poor little girl, she
had had q tough life! Homeless and
almost friendless she had been pushed
about. Ralph had always loved her, and
they plighted their troth to each other
when they walked barefooted to the
same school. Ralph was nearly as
destitute as she, but he had a boys
scope and sturdy spirit. He meant to
get rich and marry her. 1t never oc-
Cured to him that he could marry any
girl but May. He went first with all
his young enthusiasm to fight in the
civil war, and May and he firmly be-
lieved he would come back a General.
They wrote comforting letters to each
other, while Ralph roughed campaign
after campaign, and May wore thin
calico dresses and sat up nights study
ing to be a teacher. They promised
themselves great Joy when Ralph came
safely through his wounds and the wal
with honorable Lieutenant straps upon
his shoulders, and May found a position
in the village schools. They would be
married at once and defy poverty.
But Ralph determined to go and look
for a wider arena. Perhaps battle
powder was not yet out of his blood.
He was a daring boy. They could wait
longer; so he went directly from the
army to the plains. May was very
willing to wait. But while he was dar-
ing his fortune thus, the years slipped
out of hand and gave him next to
nothing in their place. He mined un-
til he ~despaired, and then sold his
claims one week to a man who, the
next week, struck the long-felt-for vein!
He tried merchandise in the half heath
en- towns of the border; but drouth
killed the crops n year, and he gen.
erously gave up all his stock to suffer-
ers and became next to bankrupt with
them. Failures depressed him, but
he pushed feverishly after the
ever-retreating wealth. When it seemed
just before him he wrote jubilant letters
to May; but, when failure in M under
taking shamed him, he was silent. And
his silences were more frequent than his
jubilant letters. During a year and a
half there had been no communication
between them. He was making a
mighty effort to get rich. He bent all
his thoughts and all his labor to that
plan, and it amounted to nothing-just
as all his other attempts did. "Of
course" said Ralph, with some bitteI-
Then he sat down with his fore
head on his fists, and resolved not toe
going back to the old town anylong-