Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1878-02-07
A son, NOT A SLAVE.

A room i'm the mansion of Mr.. and
Mrs. Benjamin Bounce, which had for
years held the light and joy of the
household, was deserted, small satch-
ell filled with triiles stood in the front
hall, and Dan Bounce, the adopted son
of Mr.. and Mrs. Benjamin Bounce,
stood in the front door, resting his head
against the door post and gazing down
the road.
Nineteen years before, Mr.. and Mrs.
Bounce, being childless and forlorn,
adopted the child of respectable but
poor neighbor, and named him Daniel.
Every advantage of education and every
indulgence which they would have be-
slowed on one of their own offspring
was given to the adopted child; if they
failed to have exactly the same feelings
toward him that people naturally have
Tor their own, it never appeared in their
treatment of him-at least, in their
public treatment of him. We will ven-
ture to say that Dan himself, as he
stood looking down the road with any
thing but a completely kindly feeling
toward his foster parents. would have
told you that from the time as far back
as he could remember up lowell, a
quite recent date, lie received nothing
but kindness, generosity and indulgence
from those whom he had learned TO call
father and mother. lie had always
been allowed TO choose lis companions
and entertain them at home when he
pleased, and accept of their hospitality
in return.
But one day not very long before the
time when We see him in position
suggestive of an approaching farewell,
he came suddenly TO "a point in his road
of life where his mind and that of his
benefactors took diverse ways. lie had
been attending school in the city, not
far away, and during the first week of
his attendance found himself every day
taking the same route homeward with
pretty brunette of his school whom
lie repeatedly overlook, and with whom
it was very agreeable to him to walk
the little way which their routes lay to-
gether. He found it pleasant, and the
source of absorbing after thoughts, to
tarry at the gate in few moments
chat each day. Pretty soon he found
himself looking forward to with impa-
tience, experiencing with blissful and
yet painful confusion, and thinking of
with strange mixture OF pleasure and
uneasiness, these daily walks in the
highway and parting chats at the gate.
And know you will believe me when
l say it was not long before these meet
ings were anticipated 10y Dan by walk
in the dusk, a timid knock on the cot
tage door of Mr.. Dale, and call for
Miss Mary Dale, into whose bll;shing
presence he straigh way carried his yet
more scarlet face
But these things in due time came
TO the ears of Mr.. and Mrs. Bounce.
Well, what of that? What of thatl
Why the deserted room in the Bounce
mansion, the little satchel in the hall,
and young man sore grieved at heart
standing in the door alone, is of that.
Dan never made secret of his love
(any farther than is always necessary
TO the very life of the tender passion),
and he was as much surprised as you
are-more surprised than you, for Dan
was young-when his father and moth
er. who had been so indulgent in little
things, now in the case of this first great
thing that had ever happened to him,
entered their determined protest! Mary
Dale was a laborer's daughter; Daniel
Bounce was gentleman's son; the pas
sion, or fancy, or whatever it was, must
be put unler foot at once. Such was
the only reason given for the objection.
and let US pretend, for the present, that
we believe it was the real reason.
While this was all that Dan had to
meet, he took to argument. But pres
emily they reminded him of his pastand
what he owed them, and Dams mouth
was sealed. Though the meanness of
this thrust fired him with indignation,
and arguments in self-defence rushed to
his lipe, he was dumb. But he was not
idle, and straightway he soughthis duty,
and chose his course. He declined TO
give up his attachment to Mary Dale,
whereupon his lifelong benefactors
told him he must forfeit their.
Strange, he thought, that the first
great JOY that had come to him should
be the cause of his forfeiting all that he
had known before. Strange that The
only one desire that had ever taken
sole control of his breast should be the
only one which those whom he had
learned to love had ever balked.
Strange that his first visions of domes-
tic bliss in a little home of his own
making by and by, should be the reason
for his packing his satchel to leave for
ever the only home he had ever known.
Strange that the first difference he had
ever had with his benefact0rs should be
sufficient to set him, with little more of