The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-03-31

come back unless he came sober man.
and with money to support me and our
! boy His father had been harder with
him than ever, and he said he was sick
of it all, and as he was of no use to US
he would not stay to be disgrace. /
have never heard from him since.
"Will's mother came to me and said
that she would look upon the boy shers
now, and we must go home with her at
once. But put her off, to gain a
little time; for / was young, you see, and
ignorant, and | was afraid that she had
the power to make US go; and when she
left me just packed my clothes and
Willies and went off to the depot and
came to L.. l had this friend living
near here-we used to go to school to-
gether-and she got me place in
store. But couldn't pay my board and
Willies and clothe us both out of that;
and finally concluded to leave the boy
with Ellen and get place at service.
And now don't know whether Will
is living or dead; but l can't help think
ing that if he was living he would have
written to me and sent me some money,
for he always loved me-"
1t struck Mary's audience that he had
a very strange way of showing his love;
but then they were old maids, and could
not expect to understand such matters
Mary presently produced photograph
which was just the opposite of what we
expected, for her Sweet William was
fine, manipulating young fellow, and ne
felt drawn to him at once. But, then,
we felt drawn to the postman, too; and
1t was absolutely essential to the latter's
happiness that number one should have
departed from this terrestrial scene. I'm
til there was sufficient evidence of this,
however, there was reason to fear an
EnOch-Arden denouement; and we as
sured Mary that it was positively wrong
for her to give Mr.. Blumenthal any en-
Couragement.
1t was probably owing to this disinter-
ested advice that we were honored by
regular call from our hitherto taciturn
friend. We were nearly as much sur
prised to hear him speak as though we
had known him to be dumb; and when
he propounded the somewhat startling
question: If l did not think the man
what had married Mary ought to be dead
by this time" it did appear as though
if the person in question had due re-
gard for the fitness of things-he would
be; but the point at issue was not so
much whether he oughtto be as whether
he was.
Mr. Blumenthal, however, simply in
tended to express his firmly. grounded
opinion that William Murphy aoas dead,
and that his widow would show her good
sense by abandoning her present posi-
ton of maid -all-work and becoming
Mrs. Blumenthal without delay. 1t
seemed impossible to convince him that
California was not out of the world, and
that travellers did occasionally return
from that bourne. His own views of the
region were evidently embodied in the
belief that people who went there be-
cause they could not live here ended by
giving up the attempt at living alto
gether. He was certainly very much in
love; and it would be an excellent match
for Mary, even if he had not the regula-
ton amount of limbs and belongings.
Brunhilda wGs quite carried away by
the postman's eloquence and good looks.
q" / believe he is right" she said. when
he was gone; cit is not at all probable
that Murphy IS living, or he would GER
tainly have written to his wife" Adding,
with her usual happy disregard of logic:
"And why should two lives be spoiled
with this uncertainty about man who,
after all, isn't worth mueh?" ...
l began to entertain private suspi-
cion that Herr Blumenthal kept back our
letters from mail to mail for the pleasure
of bring them singly and having con-
fab with Mary several times in the course
of the day; for she had declined receiv-
ing visits from him until she could be as
sured that her husband was really dead
Poor girl! she was certainly very much
to be pitied; and it seemed quite mex
cusable in William Murphy to give her
so little satisfaction either in living or
dying.
But one morning something happened.
Mary received letter from her mother
in-law, that came through her friend
Ellen, in which she was sternly sum-
moned to attend her husbands funeral.
He had died by fever in hospital, and
the remains, by his own dying request,
had been sent on from San Francisco to
be laid in the family burying- ground.
The poor little widow was nearly be-
side herself with the news; and it was
as much as we could do to get her and
the boy off properly. She promised
faithfully to return to us-nothing, she
declared, would induce her to remain
with old Mrs. Murphy; but it was with
heavy hearts that we saw her depart.
am sorry to say that our Teutonic
postman, instead of sharing his IMAM
orata's sorrow, was evidently in state
of confused bliss not much to be Won
dered at, perhaps, in the existing state
of things, but somewhat inconvenient in
its results-as we were constantly favored
with letters never intended for US, while
our rightful correspondence wandered
elsewhere. We took a genuine interest,
however, in this strange love affair, even
while selfshly congratulating ourselves
that the inevitable catastrophe of losing
Mary would not occur for some months
yet. .......
| Alas! it was nearer than we dreamed.
On the third day, instead of Mary, as we
had expected, there came letter, and
the letter began with the astounding an