Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-06-26
OTHER PEOPLES BUSINESS.

| There IS scarcely anything more un-
fortunate for man than the absence of
loving women around his childhood and
! youth. Mark. Ripon had never known
such women, and offer this fact as some
palliation for his want of faith in them.
He was ignorant of his parentage; he
| had been found one summer morning on
the steps Of the Foundation School in
! Baxtersgate, Ripon; and as it was on the
festival of St. Mark, he had received the
name of the saint and the name of his
native city, and been adopted by the in
institution. 80 - -
Wholesome food, stout clothing, and a
decent trade has been given him by the
Foundation, and in many respects he
was felt to have done it honor, for after
| fifty years of creditable citizenship, he
Was one of the cathedral yestry, sat in the
Common Council Of the ancient city
! which had adopted him, and was said to
be worth at least $50, 900. =
But there is success which the world
sees little of-that.. otf the heart-and in
this respect Mark Ripon was, the veriest
pauper. Of the nurses and matrons who
had been around his earliest years he had
moi, one tender memory; none of them
had fed the hunger of his heart. He had
no home, no mother, and no. sister. The
school had been simply place in which
to eat and to sleep and to learn. II
Unfortunately, when the lad tell in
love, it was with a pretty ffirt infinitely
more heartless than himself. But Marks
love had been cruelly deceived and
Knocked, and he had come out Of his
chagrin and sorrow with confirmed be-
lief in the general and natural unfaithful.
ness of women. Popular maxims and
jests confirmed him every. day in his
idea, AND like most Englishmen, having
once avowed this as his opinion, every
reiteration of his: own idea was fresh
confirmation of it. n;
- But he had many friends. among, his
own sex. Men generally spoke IF him ais
a crusty old bachelor, but otherwise a
well-to-do, ,shrewd, and honorable fell
low: ii Chief among these friends was
young George Downes, the child of the
only companion his boyhood had ever
known, and his own godson. IF Mark
fRipon loved any human being, I it was
George Downes, though as the latter grew,
up to manhood, he gave him a great
deal of anxiety. For George preferred
| the society Of women, and wonld not
credit Mark s positive assurances of their
! universal falseness and unworthiness. -
One moonlight night, as Mark was
coming fomEa vestry meeting, he met
! George ii the'cathedral close, and on his
arm was very beautiful girl. The old
man looked angrily and doubtfully at tie
/ pretty face lifted to his favofite's. The
bright moonbeams touched her long fair
curls, and made the white veil around
them like q glory: Mark remembered
just such = lovely, innocent face lifted to
bis, and he had no doubt whatever, that
this girl would Sc just as false to George
as pretty Fanny Maltby had been to
him.. ,.;siassr r1 sass3zsE ss..ffsss.T las
| George, however, would not Be per
suaded to doubt her. Then Mark of.
Eferedl to pay his5expenses if he would 20
abroad and Irvel for two years; but
George said Ahe had just got place in
Butter6eld's Bank and preferred a 1one.,'
The young man, in Marks eyes, was
bent on ruining himsslf, and in few
% sAS5 S&ts$4 s54%I 38 - SfS AI & u.