The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-10-25

his horse ana Win ulhu IlaStc Icll the premises
~ he inwardly vowed, forever. Yes, let wha,
might heiall, he would never again return to
VALLEY Home; not even to attend the funeral
of any member of the family. Hal they not
all deceived him, father sister and, above all
Agnes herself? They had held out to him all
the while the beacon light of hope only to
make II bridge of ms nose, to make II stool
pigeon" OF him. And he sank The roWels
| deep into the sides of the powerful black char.
ger he rode, and fairly flew over the dirt road
To the turnpike and then, As he turned his
horses head in the direction of Washington,
the maddcned brute made the fire fly with his
heels at every spring; and yet the speed was
hardly sufficient to please the maddened rider.
He ground his teeth, and hlssed out such
broken sentences as Such pertidy-abomin'
able trcachery 4 murraln take thee! \
curse rest upon the whole pack of them |
am the worst abused man that ever brcathed
until he found himself out of breath, and his
charger well blown Then slackening his
pace to a walk he exclaimed: Hold, Samson,
we will not kill ourselves for them-they are
not worthy of 1t. Are there not rs good fish
in the sea as ever swami We will never go
near them again, Samson. | will buy the
handsomest buggy in the town, and we will
take the plettiest girl in the town out riding,
and will ask her to marry mel Will com
! iy-don't she love me already All, Julia, |
have neglected thee sadly. But loved that
other thing; that falsc-hearted one that has
kept me dangling at her apron strings for the
last three years, Just to show her favored lover
that she had toe strings to her bow. But |
will show her that | have some pride lett.
Why, Julia is much the handsOmcr of the
two-why did not see it beforeg Agnes, in
Washington, only shned through hsr friend
Julia; Julia smoothed the way always. Why,
| look at that last examination at the seminary.
The reading of that valedictOry would have
been but an insi pid affair had not Julia, with
her swec: face and golden curls, adorned the
scene And at all the parties it was the same.
Why, what fool have been! Go on, Sam.
son let thy heels spurn the limestone, my no.
bic bay, and thou shalt have the lovellest mis-
tress in all the land-her with the golden
locks
And again he plunged madly on. However,
he bethought himself, "Julla Is not in Wash
ington-she is in Pittsburgh. Never mind,
Samson, | will follow her | will take her to
the theatre to the operate all their play
houses and art galleries. We will ride out to the
garrison, to East Liberty, and home again by
Oakland and 4th Street road. And when |
get her out in the sweet country, away from
the busy haunts of men, under the overhang-
|
over clear stream, will check thee, Samson !,
and while thou art taking thy breath and
champng thy bits, pretending not to listen,
will pour my story OF love into her ears and
then, listening dellghtedly, she Will fall sweet
| ly into my arlns."
In this way, giving vent to his excited feel
ings, he rode furiousy forward, arriving in
Washington about three o'clock in the morn
ing, when people were in their soundest sleep.
He dashed into the town, clattered down Main
street, and brought up at the old Mansion
House.
Entering the bar-room, he called Pete to see
to Samson, sought his bed, and after tossing
IN hour thereon fell into a troubled sleep. AT
six O'Clock he awoke with a bursting head
ache and q sense of some severe misfortune.
Dressing hastily he tooK a long walk south
and then east past the seminary. AS he thought
of the late scenes that had TRANSFERRED there, he
did not call Agnes "speckled-faced false wo-
man :" but he thought of her as noble, self.
sacrificing, beautiful woman. AS he reached
the open country, and his thoughts clearly
measured his great loss, his bosom heaved and
the great tears began softly to tlow and the
farther he walked the sadder he felt. AS he
met no one on the road, and all was SO still IN
the early morning, his thoughts took words
l"Ah, Agnes, | think you did not know how
son in this wide world that would not have
done to make you happy know could have
made you happy, too, had you never met my
rival. Confound the storm that brought him
there! Agnes brought HIM there herself Can
it be possible that there is a Providence in all
this? Ifso, why was not out of the way
Why was raised with Agnes to know her SC
perfectly? Yet had not been with her, sht
might have been lost IN the raging waters
had not been with her to aid her, she would
) not have been SO well prepared for school, and
reflected so much credit upon us all. Alas
, alas my fate is sad one"
And thus bewailing his fate he walked on
/ and on. At length reaching % stone bridge
over creek, he sat himself down, and with his
feet dangling over the sides, gazed down thirty
feet into the quiet stream AS it flowed gently
along, wholly unmindful of his great grief
AS he sat thus he unused to himself: GLOW
wish | were merged into that graceful stream
to take my way sweetly along with no trou
bling passions to disturb my rest. Oh, how
sweet it would be to plunge down into that
clear water, aud counting its pebbly depth, lie
there while the dashing storms of this uncer
tain life flowed on in their mad career"
i He pictured the amazcmcnt of the country
people in finding welldrcssed wcl-favored
young man drowned and lying in the shade OF
that graceful willow. He pictured the grief
of his chums and friends generally in the town,
where he was well known, and of Mr.. and
Mrs Thorn, and julia and Miss Nocer, when
they beheld his remains as he lay in his coffin.
At length Mr.. Cary and his daughters would
arrive The old gentleman would look mex
pressiby sad, Eliza would weep, and Agnes
yes she would break down at last and eXcaim,
ALAS! this is all my work. Oh, James, open
those sad eyes once more-arousc thyse'i, sit
Iup-and we will do what we can to mend the
past"
At length he aroused himself and spoke
aloud: Here, this is all nonsense! | am
weak, nervous and hungry. will go to that
brick tavern by the way, have good break
fast, and will feel better, know. Upon the
whole, don't believe it would pay to kill my
self ar drown myself or ANYTHING like that