The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-01-05
"Thank you, Cousin Poyntz," said Mr..

| be backward in mentioning il" l added.
"No. / won't, Cousin Poyntz," said
the good gentleman, with the utmost
gravity.
And l am bound to say that he kept
his word.
For three DAYS I endured the swarm
of visitors which literally infested my
home, and then / made up my mind
| that patience had ceased to be virtue.
"lll put stop to this thing" said l.
came home one night, tragical ex-
preston on my face.
"Katherine," l said to my wife, II am
ruined"
"What~ cried all the company at
once.
"Those shares in the Western Union,
you know" said 1, shifting my forehead.
eyes DEAR" gasped poor Kitty.
"rhey have gone down" said /. "Not
worth penny"
"Oh, Johnp
"I wish l had taken your advice, and
let 'em alone" said l. 'But, after all,
it doesn't so much matter as if l had no
friends"
l looked beamingly around at my
wife's relations. They returned the glance
by the blankest Of stafes.
'1f | borrow 5000 apiece from all
these dear kindred" said l, with obtru-
sive cheerfulness, "and request Uncle
Silas TO endorse my business notes"
II couldn't think of such thing"
hurriedly interrupted that gentleman.
II should be most happy to oblige, but
| am quite out Of funds at present" said
Cousin Joab.
"And l." said the Rev. Mr.. Speakwell,
pushing back his chair, must save what
little l possess Of the filthy lucre to pay
my passage and that Of my family back
to Minnesota"
Surely" cried I, "you would not go
away and leave me in such pecuniary
straits as these"
The Rev. Mr.. Speakwell significantly
buttoned up his pockets.
ut is every mans business to look
after himself, Cousin Poyntz," said he,
land | don't scruple to say that it is
downright dishonesty for business man
ike yourself to get into such financial
difficulties"
AND in fifteen minutes every cousin in
the lot had, upon one excuse or another,
vanished from the room, to pack and pre-
pare for immediate departure.
looked at my wife; my wife looked
at me. burst out laughing; Kitty be-
gan to cry.
"My DEAR" said l, "its an easier job
than thought it would be; didu't know
but what it would be necessary for me to
catch the smallpox before | could get
rid of your relations"
But we are very poor, John, and we
must give up this dear little cottage. Oh,
how cruel it is of Cousin Joab, and Mr..
SpeakweIl and Uncle Silas, and all of
them not to help you'll / know Mariana
Wilmerding has $1,000 that she wants to
put out on interest, for she told me only
yesterday, and"
eyes, exactly" said I. "But proba-
bly, she doesn't regard me as safe invest
ment."
"After all l have done for them," Sob
bed my wife.
Relations are only human, my DEAR"
said l.
The company took their leave with
out much ceremony of adieux, and that
afternoon my wife came to me with tears
in her eyes.
"John", said she, twill you tell me
how much money you have lost in that
horrid Western Union stock? Because l
would rather know the worse at once.''
"Lostw repeated I, looking up from
the newspaper which was reading in
Uncle Silas' favorite chair, now va
Gated for the first time in many days.
"Why, who said l had lost anything7"
"You did,"
"Excuse me, my dear; I said nothing
of the kind. | merely stated that the
Western Union shares were not worth a
penny. Neither were they to me, as l
had sold all / possessed a week ago."
"Johnp
eyes, my dear"
"How could you?'
Every easily" said I, with latent
smile. "My dear, / think if your rela-
tive had staid here another week l
should have committed suicide"
"And you told that horrid story just
to get rid of them? ,
II made that unimpeachable state
ment with that precise intention"
"They are rather trying" confessed
Kitty. "And think they might have
helped you a little when they thought
you were bankrupt" ~"
"They will not come visiting here
again," Y said, quietly.
And l was right. They did not. d
Affairs in Silesia are by no means i'm
proving. In wood near Rybnick,
where The famine is worst, the bodies of
eleven gypsies were found on the 9th of
last month. They lay round the remains
of camp fire, having been frozen to
death in their sleep or died OF hunger.
| According to the Silesian Gazette much