The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-03-08
THERE'S MANY A MURPHY.

Wa E -
"The fact is, said Mrs. Bixby, "you
might as well look for needle in hay
stack as to try and find any lost creature
i'll this big blazing bumble-bee of city.
You may as well give it up at once. ."
And she looked over at her brother-in-
laws brother with an Impotence that she
tried in vain to suppressl Fort was not
polite to succumb to this feeling of ex-
asperation which her brother-in-l laws
brother had induced by this infatuation
of his about his youngest sister, who had
run away from home with a scoundrel
years and years @ago--long enough, as
Mrs. Bixby thought, to have dropped out
OF any reasonable family 8 remem brance.
1t was not polite, because this torment
ing and persistent man. who insisted
upon hunting where. there was no hope
of finding, was a bachelor of mature
years and ample fortune.
Joshua Flanders farm out on the Dor
der Mrs. Bixby had heard of as marvel
Of richness and prosperity the soil was
.jet-black for fathoms deep, and crop
after crop could be, taken therefrom with
out administering the mildest tonic for
this drain upon it's resources. The
mowers and reapers, and gatherers and
sewers, and all the other machines, were
numberless and inestimable; thousands
and thousands of acres, level, infinite,
and unfenced, dazzled the imagination
and filled the admiring heart Of Mrs.
Bixby. g.,
"Not chick to inheritit all, she said
to herself, "but his brother and the
children"
'FLost creature !" repeated her brother
in-law's brother. "Lost God forbid,
Maria p
"Well, can you find her ?' said Mrs.
Bixby. She was polishing the silver
cotfee-urn, and almost made dent in it's
brilliant side in her irritation "Can
you find her, Joshua Flanders ?''
Ono, no, he said, shaking his head
mournfully; ct can't find her.
''Can Z find her? Can your brother
John find her? Can his wife, my sister,
find her? Can the multitudes Of people
and papers you've written to find her?
No. Then she's lost, isn't she? IF a
thing can't be found, it's lost. amt it %
Yes, yes, said Joshua, still shaking
his head dolefllly; Sin one sense she's
lost; but I don't like to hear you call her
a lost creature, Maria"
FShall call her lost coffee-urn.
Joshua, alost boot-jack, a lost spittoon %
Mrs. Bixby's sharp black eyes had fallen
upon these things one after the other.
Shall / call her lost crayat?" she con-
tinuad. ''You'd better fix yours before
you 60 out, Joshua, for it's away around
under your left ear. And I suppose we d
best get ready, for we'll have to wait out
side till the doors are opened, SO as to
get good seat. James a little hard of
hearing, and Moody's voice in the dis
tance is thick and indistinct. SANKEY'S
you can hear to the end of creation: but
it's dreadful strain to catch every word
~ of Moodys, if you happen to be late and
cant get down i'll the body of the build
ing.
Mrs. Bixby's brother-in-laws brother
p sighed once more, heavily and despair
1ngiy, and then went slowly up stairs to
arrange his toilet for this trip to the Hip
podr0me.
.- This was his last day in the metropo-
lis, his very last; and the only news he
had gained in all these years of poor lit
tie Kitty had come from this big seeth-
ing city. 1t must have been fully ten
years since he saw that account of the
brawl in the paper telling of Murphys
death; and, although he wrote at, once.
and made every effort to find his now
widowed sister, all was in vain. She was
agone, she was lost, as Mrs. Bixby had
saba little pebble in the big whirlpool,
swept away. He looked out of his win
dow, and, as it was up in the Mansard-
sroof, it commanded a view Of myriads of
'chimneys as far as the eye could reach.
die wondered, in a weak, vacillating way.
Ut the smoke from Kitty's frugal fire had
crept thinly up through any of these
chimneys, and he had actually put his
arms upon the window-sill and looked
mournfully forth, when tap upon the
door aroused him from his reverie
he opened it, and found upon the
tthreshold quantity of lace and silk and
velvet that almost extinglished the
slight form of his niece, Marie Gene
We've Flanders
. want to bid you once more good
by, dear Uncle Joshua" she said, in a
high treble, and pouring forth her words
quickly and pantingly just once more,
dear Uncle Joshua!"
Uncle Joshua stopped and kissed her
after his melancholy fashion, and, finding
that she still remained in the doorway,
he kissed her again, this time putting
his horny hand upon her little velvet
clad shoulder, whereupon she shrank
back.
Don't rumple my collar, please" she
said, still remaining there, tossing her
long golden curls, and lifting her big
blue eyes greedily to the dim, sad ones
of the Western farmer.
At once Joshua thought of something.
LIZ he ho,al