The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1877-03-29


near herc-we used 20 ~ Ia school to,
gethyr- and she got me 81 place in d
store But | couldn't pav my beAr,l and
Nllhc's and Clothr us huth uut of that
and finally concluded 90 leave the boy
with Ellen, and got place at service,
And now don't know whether Nlli
is living ur dead, hut | can't help think
inE that II he was living he would has,
written a. mo and sent me some money,
for he always loved me.
Ii struck Mary audience that lac had
very strange way ot showing hls love,
hut then they were old maids, and cuald
net expect Il understand such matters.
Mary presently Vreducrt photo
graph. which WAS lu>t the opposite of
what We expected; for her Sweet William
was time, manly-luokiug Young fellow,
and We felt drawn 10 hun at once. kug
then We felt drawn % the postmm tao,
ami 1t WAS absolutely essential 20 the,
ht,eg's happiness that number one
should have departed fruM this tcrrgs-
trial scene. Uuus there was sufficient
evidence of this, however, there Was rea-
son Il fear an Enoth Aulru 3sUouemsgts
aud We assured MARY that it WAS posi-
lively wrong for her 10 give Mr.. Blu
meuthal any encouragement.
lt was probably owing To this disiu-
tereSteI advice that we were huuurrd hy
a regular call from uur hitherto tacluu
friend We were nearly as much sur
prisei to hear hmm speak as though we
had Known him 10 be- dumb: and when
he woPouuded the somewhat startling
question ~ | did not think the man
who had married Mary ought to be dead
by this one time. { d!d appear las
thought the person IN question had 81
due regipi for the fitness uf thiugs-he
would be; but the point nt issue WAS
not 50 much whether he ought to br ass
whether Le was.
Mr.. Blumeuthal, however, simply in
tended 10 express his firmly grounded
opinion that William Murphy WAS dead.
and that his widow would show her
good sense by abandoning her present
position uf maid-ot-all-work. aul bocum-
lug Mrs. Blumyuthal without delay. II
seemed impossible "a convince HIM that
California WAS not ont If the world, and
that travellers did occasionally return
from that bourne His uwn views ut the
region was evidently embodied in the be-
LEI that people who went there because
they could not live here. ended by giyiu.
up the attempt at living altogether. He
was certainly very mulch IN loyr: aud il
wonld be an excellent match for Mary.
even Il he hal not the tgulatiun amount
q limbs and belongings.
Bruuhslda WAS quite carried away hy
the pustman' 5 eloqueuce and good looks.
Il believe he Is right, said she. when he
bad gone; lit is not at all probable that
Murphy Is living, or he wouli certainly
have written "a his wife Adding. with
her usual happy disregard of lorir.
" And why should two lives hr spoiled
with this uncertainty about a man who.
after all, isn't worth ii 2"
/ began to entertain private opinion
that Herr Biumeuthl kept back our let
ters from mail to mail for the pleasure III
bringing them siuglv. and having q mo-
meut's cnufab with Mary several times
in the course oi the day: for she hal de-
chued receiving visits from him untl
she could be assured that her husband
was really dead. Poor girl, she was
certainly very much tp ba pitiei; and Il
seemed quite inrNcushle in William
Murphy 70 give her so little satisfaction
either in living or dying.
But one morning something happened
Mary received n letter from her mother
in-law. that came through her friend
Ellen, IN which she was sterulv SUM
mouei 10 attend her husbands funeral.
He had died II fever IN q hospital. aui
the remains. bv his own dying request.
had been sent ON from san Francisco tl
be laid IN the family burying ground.
The poor little widow WIS nearly be-
side herself N this news; aud il was RS
much as We coulj do tn get her and the
boy of properly She promised faith
fully % return 20 us-uothiuy. she de-
cl1rel. would induce her g. remain with
old Mrs. Murphy; but Il WAS with heavy
hearts that We saw her depart.
/ am sorry 20 SAY that our Teutamic
postman. instead of sharing his manor
ata's sorrow. was evidently in state Df
confused hlss-not much TO be wonder
ed at, perhaps. IN the existing stateof
Things bu. somewhat announcement in
ITS results, as We We're constantly favored
with letters never intended for MS. while
our rgAtiul correspondence wandered
elsewhere. We took genuine interest.
however, in this strange love affair. even
while selfishlv c5ngrgtulnting ourselves
that the inevitable catastrophe Of losing
Mary would not occur for some months
yet
Alas II was nearer than we dreamed.
On the third day, instead Of Mary, as We
had expected, there came a letter and
the letter began with the astounding an
nouncement that our cidcy4ut hand
maiden WAS SO happy that she scarcely
knew how to write 10 Us
People have different ideas Of hapui
ness bat il really seemed TO us that d
slight degree Of uuhappiuezs would have
been more becoming in Mrs Murphy
just then.
We wen. on with the letter in n sort
of blank amazcmcut, and read that. on
the writer's arrival at the Murphy man
sion, the first person she encountered .
was the deceased himself. As NAV be
cOnlectured, he had never been dead at
all, although he had been very iii with
fever III a hospital. and fancyiug himself
dying, he had made the request to have
his remains sent on to his parents The
occupant of the next cot had died, and
tie two became somewhat mixed up in
the minds Of the ofIicials-heuce the mis-
take, which, although incouvenient. was
cheerfully borne With for the sake Of
seeing the lost son walk in alive and well.
Clothed in his right mind, too for he
had long ago deplored his evil ways, and
his industry and Fell-dcnial had accumu-
lated nice little sum for the purchase Of
coy home nest Thither wife and child
were to be taken at once ; and Mary wrote
loyfnlly that she never knew how much
she loved VIII until she saw him stand .
ing before her at his fathers door, when
she had supposed him to be dead.
Not word Of poor Carl Blumenthal,
except to say that viii was so good, he
did not blame her or Mr. B. in the least,
and would certainly shake hands with
the latter should he chance to meet him
only, he was very glad that he got
home when he did.
We rejoiced, Of course, in Mary's Joy
but, if the truth must be told, we were
very sorry for ourselves and as to poor
MIR. Blumenthal, he was scarcely TO be
thought of at all-his future stretched
before us such gray, dismal blank.
We broke our dreadful news to him i'll
fragments, giving him morsel at time
as we thought him able TO swallow it.
After long period of silence, the de-
serted German shook his head sorrow
fully, and said "That one little
II