The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-02-03

Darien in week or two. Meanwhile l
sent the bulk Of the second check to
Annie, keeping only few pounds to last
me till the day of sailing. But before
that day came, thS Slow-lyin sugar-lands
in which 1 had been living cad done
their work. was PROSTATE with yellow
fever,
CHAPTER II. ..r
Hooked like ghost myself when one
day, long afterwards, reached my
father-in-law's at D.. Had been
real ghost, nobody could less have ex-
pected to see me. ! had written, Of
course, from Kingston as soon as ! was
strong enough to hold a pen; but my
letter had never been delivered-ths
Burden family had been scattered to the
winds. NY father-in-law died month
ago. One OF the sons however q
learned in tae village), had gone into an
auctioneers Office in the country town,
and got there, by walking--week as l
was, had not money enough to carry
mo otherwise. Tom Burden was young
Englishman Of the sort that makes a
point of never being surprised at any
thing, or being glad 70 see anybody. He
told me that one brother was here, an
other there, and both doing badly; that
the sisters were looking out for situa-
tions, and that Annie was-thank God
for thati---thnre with him 4.j
"And by the way" he added, as If IL
was an after thought, "she's got a baby
with ~. her. l suppose you'll stop and
Need I describe such meetingi For
full five minutes I was happier than !
had been even ON my wedding day. The
poor girl had shown her characteristic
obstinacy by insisting on it that must
be dead, while everybody else would
have it that l had deserted her to relieve
myself Of burden. To her, it waSu as if
her own true heart had called me from
the grave. And then she gave me our
child, whom she had thought an orphan.
We had happiness enough for that one
day.
But-for the future days? 1t was des-
perate to think of them; we'll nigh i'm
possible to face them. Ny health had
terribly given away--it would have been
certain death to return to Jamaica for at
least year, and then it would be use
less and out Of my power. Ihad thrown
away the only opening into practice into
which l had ever put my finger. Annie
had no salable accomplishments even if
l could have brought myself to let her
use them while was doing nothing; and
then she was young mother, whose
hands were overfull. Stolid Tom Burden
had been as good as gold to both mother
and child; but he had already done more
than it was fair he should do, even for q |
widowed sister. Well, must give up
all my professional hopes and get situ-
alton in some sort of Office, like Tom
plain reading, writing and arithmetic
are after all the only useful kinds Of
learning in time Of need.
Worry and anxiety preyed upon me
more and more, and as the days slipped
away and brought ma nothing; ind my
health kept growing worse instead Of
better. My failing strength led to a
state OF nervous prostration, in which
the superstitious fancies of my late pa
tient seemed much less absurd to me than
when l had been we'll and strong. It
was almost as if he had decoyed me to
his detestable sugar plantation, where all
all sorts Of wild notions and strange
practices fingered among the neighbor-
ing Maroons, in order that he might con-
vey to himself the additional years of |
health and life which had been given to
meas If there were only certain |
amount Of human vitality in the world,
so that what one man gains he must needs
take from another. OF course I knew
such fancy to be the merest nonsensi-
cal nerve-trick; but I seemed ut that
time to see and hear everything more
clearly than one possibly can in nor
NAL state of the brain, so that substances
often became shadowy, and shadows sub
stantial I could not help seeing that
my anxieties reflected themselves doubly |
in my poor wife, and that she was haunt
ed by some feeling about me which she |
dared not name to herself, but which / |
understood perfectly we'll. We had one
very substantial comfort, however-the |
boy throve exceedingly.
I knew all the time that my nervous
state was simply the result Of bodily |
weakness, and that it would pass if only |
1 could contrive to get strong. I need |
not recount the way, in which we man.
aged to live through those bitter weeks
the very few pounds I made by my pen;
the sale OF little personal treasures,
which we had Kept throughout our orig
inal poverty; the chance scraps of en-
ployment found in the town--and 80
on, and soon. 1t was all heartless and
hopeless, and every penny made seemed
to make getting the next harder instead
of easier. W
But one day, when / was at Annie's
writing desk (not yet doomed to be sold) |
looking for a pen wherewith to write
something or other for q local journal,
my eye fell on an opened letter directed
to ANDREW Wilson, Esq., MD, care Of
Mra Wilson u Ractnrv near |