Daily Kennebec journal., 1879-01-17

Nor was this all. There were still
stranger things or appearances. Throng-
ing at the bottoms of the ladders, ard
crowding the workmen. were excited
groups of men, women and children
Wretched folk-mothers in rags, holding
babes, and fathers in tattered garments.
wringing their hands. They plucked at
the clothes, arms and tools of the work
men, as though to impede them in their
labors. But there was no effect from their
efforts. The bricklayers carpenters and
mortar-carriers continued without cessa-
ton.
They did not seem TO perceive that they
had other than their own companions;
then as though by one preconccrted move
ment. the throng raised their arms and
ewes toward heaven. some of the mothers
holding their puny babes rs high in the
air as they conld reach.
"The silence. with so much movement
and action, was appalling. and nothing
could be more expressive than the panto-
mime. Then the spectacle vanished.
when | recovered consciousness, |
looked up and saw the master-builder
standing over me with lantern.
"'Come, he said, this is no place at
this time of night for vou Your wife is
alarmed, and has sent out for me to seek
you
II arose from a pile of debris where
had fallen. and for many days went about
in dazed condition of mind.
"Such inexplicable fancics were entirely
swept from my mind and almost forgotten
one morning. when the news came that
Colonel Onseley had been killed. \ pas
senger train on the half completed rail
road had been struck by construction
train and he was among the one or two
that had lost their lives.
Ellis fortune melted away in debts. 1t
really had no other foundation than the
earnings of others. He had borrowed
from all sources, considering nothing too
insignificant for him. A multitude of poor
persons. whose savings. ranging from one
hundred dollars to five hundred, had been
intrusted to him, suffered fearfully. |.
myself. had advanced nearly the whole of
the little property that had brought to
this country but my drafts on him had
never been dshonored. and felt as much
confidence in him as did in the sky's
staying where it is above us
There was only one way for me to
save myself. Take the house. finish, and
in some manner. dispose of it. complet-
ed the edifice, raised money by mort
gage, and added to it the remainder of my
earnings"
The old man shuddered as he said this.
'Let me say here" he continued, slow
ly and solemnly, THAT Colonel Ouseley's
wife and family soon afterward sailed for
New Orleans, where her father lived. The
vessel in which they went was never heard
from.
81 struggled on with the house and fin
ished it. Let me tell my own part briefly
found that / could not hold the property
could not pay the interest on the large
mortgage. and purchasers for such place
were not numerous. 1t was sold under
mortgage, the man who held it buying it
for less thau third of its cost. | was
depressed and Respondent. | fell into
evil ways. l was wretch, he said fierce
ly, ,"I-I-I-lost my better nature in drink
and saw my family melt away from me
as though they were but snow-Emeline
the last to go. | did not know what had
done, or what had lost, until it was too
Late
TWAS some time before he went on again
sat perfectly silent, knowing it best to do
so and that the grief aroused by the rec
objection would the sooner thus cease.
The man who now owned the place
was a leading member of one of our
churches, and he offered the house tempo
rarily, at low rent. as a parsonage. 1t
was accepted. and the clergyman moved
in, the first occupant. He was remarka-
BILE man, was Erasmus Lavalette. Stately
and of immense power in the pulpit, he
held his hearers under spell as potent as
that Of any magician.
1.-The church increased and multiplied
with great rapidity. 1t was among the
latest organizations formed, but. under
this mans ministry, it became the first in
point of numbers and influence. He had
a lovely wife and one child a beautiful
daughter by name Adela, Just come into
womanhood. She comes like picture be-
fore my mind as | remember her. There
was grace in her step, heaven in her eye
and in every movement dignity and love.
'In the second year of her fathers min
istry here she unaccountably disappeared
where, God alone knows.
(COntinued tO-morrow