Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-03-09

without administering the mildest tonic
for this drain upon its resources. The
mowers and reapers and gatherers and
sewers, and all the other machines, were
1lumberless and inestimable; thousands
and thousands of acres, level, infinite
and unfenced, dazzled the imagination and
filed the admiring heart of Mrs. Bixby
"Not.a chick TO inherit it all, she said
TO herself, but his brother and the chill
dren.n
"Lost creaturem repeated her brother
in.law's brother, Lostl God forbid,
Marian ~ ~
"Well, can you find herr" said Mrs.
Bixby. She was polishing the silver
coffee urn, and almost made a dent in its
brilliant side in her irritation "Can
you ind her, Joshua Flandersg" m
No, no." he said, shaking his head
mOurnfully, 81 can't find her" .if'f
A'Can Ifind herr Can your brother
John find her? Can his wife, my sister,
find herr Can, the multitudes of people
and d-pspers you've written to find her?
No. Then she's lost, isn't sheY If a
thing can't be found, it's lost, amt it?"
Yes, yes" said Joshua, still shaking
his head dolefully; in one sense she's
lost creature, Maria"
"Shall 1 call her a lost coffee-urn,
Joshua, a lost boot jack, a lost spittoon?"
Mrs. Bixby's sharp, black eyes had fallen
upon these things one after the other.
" Shall j call her o lost cravatY" she con-
tinued. You'd better fix yours before
you go out, Joshua, FOR it's away around
under your left ear. And suppose we'd
bestaget 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
tanoe is thick and indistinct. Sankey's
s yoIcanahear 10 The end of creation; but
it's 2 dreadful strain to catch every word
of Moodys, if you happen to be late,
and can't get down in the body of the
building" fttm y'. go,
: MRS. Bixby's brother-in-law's brother
sighed once more, heavily and despair
ingly, and then went slowly upstairs to
q arrange his toilet for this trip to the Hip
'podrome. gu.7 a..-t at.I5a .4 W
~. 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
tile 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 Murphy's
deathj and although he wrote at once,
ana made every effort TO find his wild
owed sister, all was in vain. She was
gone, she was lost, as Mrs Bixby had
said-a little pebble in the big whrl-
pool, swept away. He looked out of his
window, and asjtwas up in the Mansard
roof, it commanded a view of myriads of
chimneys as far rs the eye could reach
He wondered, in a weak, vacillating way,
ifthe smoke from Kitty's frugal fire had
crept thinly up through any of these
chimneys, and he had actually put his
arms upon the windowsill and looked
mournfully forth, when tap upon the
door aroused him from his revery.
He opened it, and found upon the
threshold quantity of lace and silk and
velvet that almost extinguished the slight
form Of his niece, Marie Genevieve Flan-
ders.
! want to bid you once more good-by
dear Uncle Joshua" she said, in high
treble, and pouring forth her words
quickly and pantingly-"just once more,
dear Uncle JoshuaP' HHhA
Uncle Joshua stopped and kissed her
after his melancholy fashion, and, finding
thatcshe stillTemained 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,
All at once Joshua thought of some.
thing He put his hand in his vest
pocket and took from thence bright
new bit of currency. AS the crisp little
bill ratified in his fingers, the eyes of
young Miss Genevieve grew more and
more eager. Her little kid-gloved hand
extended itself, clasped the bit of cur
rency, and then she departed, casting no
glance behind.
Joshua Flanders gazed after the dainty
little body, and his countenance grew
more lugubrious than ever.
II wasn't nice thing for this poor
husbandman to think that his brother,
his sister.in law, and his sisJer-in-law's
sister, their children, their men servants
and maid-servants, and every one within
their gates. cared nothing for him, save
only and so far as he could minister to
their greediness for these bits of cur
rency that made plethoric the pockets of
his eapacious vest.
He wouldn't have cared so much if only
he could have found Kitty, his poor, |
long.lost sister--if he could only have !
relieved her misery, could have shielded |
her from poverty and want and wretch !
edness with these bits of currency which |
he was compelled to squander upon |
these other relatives of his, who nee ded |
not his help or generosity. AT this mo-
ment she might be starving, she and her |
children, for perhaps there was this ad-
dition TO her neutrality-suspicious. dy-
ing Of want only few blocks away.
And poor Joshua sat down on the bed;
and plunged his hands in his scaRt gray
hair and groaned in spirit, He could see
the wretched garret in which they lived, |
the dilapidated walls that sheltered these
loved ones, its broken and decayed ap.
Rolntments; he could see Kitty, once so
beautiful and rosy and blessed, now we'll
on In years, pale, cadayerous, horror
haunted, desperate woman.
lie got upon his feet and walked up
and down fH 40 lWNff h.fa
40 most merciful God,y' he cried,
. give me to find my poor sister, my
long-lost Kittyr
Aud Mrs. Bixby, who had gone up TO
see II he was ready, turned on her heel
and went down-stairs again.
N be was worth the mines Of Col