Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-07-12
MISSING.

There's no other way, Mary. shall
have to gop
Horace said the words as if pronounc-
.ng his own doom, and so she received
them. There was silence between the
two who SO loved each other; if the thing
were inevitable there was nothing to be
said. Henceforth only endurance was
possible.
Mary was the first to speak.
"Are you quite surer she said, not ex-
pecting, only hoping, that some way of
escape might open.
It was not that she was destitute of
patriotism-not that she was less ready
than other women to make sacrifices;
for she had seen him march away with
the Federal army to the war, smiling
farewell to hide an aching heart, in those
first days of the eountry's danger, when
all the bravest and the best rushed to its
defence.
But it was different now. He had done
his duty faithfully-fulflled his two
years service-known danger, wounds,
and hardships-and had returned, as
they both hoped, to the old, quiet home
life, to the fulfllment of deferred hopes,
to the enjoyment of the imperilled hap
piness. And yet he had Just told her
he should have to go again. 1t was hard
to belitHe-hard to bearl
And yet there seemed no other way.
The two years of his absence had been
two years of disaster to his parents. For
quarter of century they had lived
peacefully, with a moderate prosperity
that fully eontented their moderate de-
sires, upon the pretty homestead farm;
and now, close upon the sacrifice they
had made of their most precious treas
ure, their only child. followed blight and
insect, and storm and fire. The har-
vested crops, the fine cattle, and the
strong draught horses, perished in the
conhagration of their barns. Mildew,
for two successive years, made their
great wheat-feld desolation. The long
rains of early summer spoiled the rich,
low-lying meadows; and the fire spread
over the hillside, covered with rare tim,
bers, and swept away their fences. The
third year, when the season of harvest
approached, for many weeks the sky was
brass, and the earth dust beneath the
scorched and ruined crops. Steady,
quiet, home-loving, pious people were
they; and yet it seemed as if the wrath
of heaven had descended upon them.
And then money was needed to re-
build and re-stock, to purchase the nee
essaries of life, to provide for the coming
seed-time. and the farm was mortgaged
for the purpose of raising these needful
funds. And in this condition Horace
Harding found home matters at the ex-
piration of his term of service.
Old Simon Suggs advanced the money
and held the securities. He was hard,
grasping old man, a money-lender by
profession, grown rich upon unhoiy
gains and he would lend to Mr.. Hard
ing only on the security of his small but
fine farm. Only thus, and the money
must be had, and his terms were ac-
cepted,
Zone years harvest, at war prices, will
set us right" Mr.. Harding said; and so,
hlindly, It is true, but reluctantly, he gave
the miser hold upon those acres, trebly
worth the sum advanced, and built and
sowed in hope-which hope that third
summer-that summer of burning heat
and drought-blasted and left him bank
rupt in hope as in purse.
And now the time was come for pay
ment, and old Simon demanded the full
fillment of his bond.
We have called him old Simon, for that
was the name by which he was known
far and near, and he had the pinched
and aged appearance which a miserly
life so often produces but, in reality, he
was not old enough to escape the inn
pending draft.
Simon was great coward, and he
valued his precious person far too highly
to be willing to make it a mark for
bullets. As the time approached, his
fears so increased that he reluctantly
decided to procure a substitute. And
this was how Horace Harding got per-
sonally complicated in the affair.
Old Simon threatened to foreclose the
mortgage. He had bought up every
claim he could discover against Mr..
Harding. If he made use of the power
in his hands, certain ruin must follow to
the distressed family. 1t was not many
hundred dollars, but it represented
home, comfort, peace to the stricken
man. To lose these was more than he
could bear. He bent beneath the blow.
and could not rise. From hale, middle
aged man, he suddenly grew old and
his mind, yielding with his physical
strength, threatened a decay of his
powers, and perhaps a permanent i'm
becility. And old Simon, looking upon
the ruin he could work, saw in it his
opportunity. He had double motive
one now hidden in the background so
Securely y that its existence was never
suspected. But he felt that he could
abide his time.
hls tirst move was to propose to Hor-
ace to become his substitute. and tn offer
as a consideration the relinuuishment
of all the claims he held against the
elder Harding. And this it was that
Horace had accepted. That very dav
he had agreed to enter the army as a
substitute for Simon Suggs, and had re-
ceived mortgage, bills, and all, in return.
His father was q free man, but he was
bound.