Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-01-18
Calls ano Skettbes.
IN rHE SHADOW or 4 CURSE.
Continued from Yesterday
BY AUsBuR TowNER.

CONTINUED from Yesterday
"She ate her breakfast one morning, as
usual, with the family, but where she
supped or where she laid her beautiful
head for the night, will never be known
until the dav when those things are re-
vealed by Him from whom no secrets are
hid. The congregation closed more low
inglv around the hcart-broken father their
beloved pastor. and poured out their SYM
patty in unstinted measure. His great
misfortune deepened and broadened his
nature. and his third year opened with the
promise of greater usefulness than he
had vet enjoyed. great as it had been.
II falter in telling what followed. it was
so terrible. The longer the pendulum.
the further the sweep it has either way.
The higher the pedestal on which man
stands. the further and the harder he must
fall to get down to the groveling mud of
the debased There was beautiful but
foolish and forgetting wife; pastor who
forsook the paths of his sacred calling
opportunity such as no other profession
gives discovery: two ruined families and
q moral death. This beloved clergyman
and teacher. who had held the souls of his
hearers i'm the hollow of his hand and
moved them rs so much water. died the
advance agent of tent-show. having been
hurt in a fight with one of the canvas men.
The wife was. for many years, one of the
matrons of a States Prison.
There came to Bellepont a family
consisting of an old gentleman, evidently
Of wealth, widower. With him was an
only son, married and having three grown
children-two daughters and a son There
were besides, a number of smaller chill
dren. Mr. Caxter liked the place, and ex-
pressed determination to make it his
home.
More rs means of occupying his
time than TO add to his store, he purchased
a business that would give light employ
ment to himself. his son and his grand
son. Looking about for house. he saw
this edifice He bought it. The owner
sold it for only slight advance on what
he paid, not one-thrd of its cost. He had
become unaccountably pinched in his
money matters, and was glad enough to
dispose of the property. 1t did him little
good, though, for he made a disastrous
failure within few months. and have
heard of him since as the driver ola street
car in New York.
"Mr. Caxter's family made this house
home of beauty and delight while they
lived in it.. They entertained constantly
and with great hospitality. Mrs. Caxter
and her two daughters seemed to have,
and desire, no other than society exist
ence. and of the liveliest kind. They had
beauty, wealth and culture. and they lived
here nearly four years, a round of testiv
ties if not of dissipation.
Zone morning the older Mr.. Caxter was
L L. n
vigorous old man, and had retired about
eleven O'Clock in the best of spirits. SEEM
ingly in the highest health. The physi-
clans could assign no cause for his sudden
taking off. AT the family request, the
authorities investigated the matter, but
could throw not the faintest glimmer of
light upon it, Not six months afterward
the younger man failed, and there was
nothing frem which the swarm of credit
ors could obtain dividend.
II do not like to speak in detail of the
breaking up and scattering of this estima-
bic family. and the constantly downward
career Of the two fascinating daughters
and the brilliant son. The cruel sea casts
up many wreck upon the beach. 1t
serves no good purpose to poke over the
debris and observe how rotten 1t is.
The house was empty for many months.
used to go past it, and it came to seem
TO me like mausoleum, the burial place
of many bright hopes and anticipation, or
more, perhaps, like lighthouse in the
midst Of dangerous rocks, with the light
extinguished, deceiving by its beauty and
its calmness, and leading the mariner to
certain destruction"
Into the city physician moved-Doc-
tor Orcd Wenckheim. He looked over
the house. He liked it. 1t was centrally
situated. and vet retired. 1t was just the
place for one of his profession.
ut was some time before he could dis
cover who owned it or that it was simply
held for the creditors by an agent in far
away city, who had tried to dispose of it
repeatedly. but in vain; had put it up for
auction but withdrew it. because he failed
to get bid that even approximated to its
real value. | happened to be passing Just
in the edge of the evening, when the doc
tor and some stranger appointed to show
him the premises stood upon the front
porch. Not being imaginative, you may
not be able to appreciate. as did the APP
pearance that the house had for me rs
they stood there. and glanced up at them.
The two great windows above seemed to
be eyes leering down upon them with sin
lister and eager looks; the front door a
wide-Open mouth, ready to swallow them
in, and these long columns the arms of
Briareus, stretching out to embrace and
crush them with malignant energy
The doctor took the house. II seemed
to him suspiciously pitiful sum that was
asked for such magnificent property,
but he made very thorough examination
of the situation, the neighborhood, and
the history of the house. He was satisfied
with the first. He pooh-poohed at what
ever apprehensions may have been excited
by the last
His wife was one of the most beautiful
women that had ever seen. Her features
were of the Jewish east. with the longing.
wistful gaze in the ewes that belongs TO
the women of no other race. They were
dark hazel in color, and her hair a dark.
glossy brown. Some women impress
you with dreamy, indescribable sense
that is hard to overcome. They make you
think of Eastern lands, with the sun in the
shadow of cloud or above the dense foli
age of trees, of rich perfume that steals
upon you imperceptibly, and enraptures
your senses; of creamy tinted shawis. the
tinkling guitar and the languor and idle