Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1880-12-27
The Orphans Secret.

'MIuuflu Welis tnduk you, SIT, dn
swered the boy in tone and manner
that instantly arrested his customers
attention, and led him to add:
"Have you parents living?"
"No, sir; both dead"
"Been dead long T.
"Not very long" answered the lad.
The work had now been finished, and
the little bootblack, having received his
dime and thanked his customer in !.
very respectful manner, was about nov
ing away when he was detained by the
remark:
"Hold on moment, my boy"
That finely formed head and face,
with the open and honest countenance
over which shade of dependency had
fallen, had revealed more than the little
fellows few brief answers had told.
"You are not more, suppose, than
about ten years DID," said the gentle
man, whose interest in the lad had been
suddenly awakened.
'.That is all. sir-ten years and two
months" answered the boy, glancing
into his customers face with beseech-
ing look. Then dropping his eyes to
the ground he stood hesitating yet evi-
IDENTIFY desiring to 60
The mind sometimes glances over and
through more in moment than can be
put into words in an hour.
Mr.. Vreeland, then spending a few
days in the city while disposing of
drove of cattle, had family of his own
at home on his large cattle-ranche, but
he could easily make room for this little
fellow. and prepare him for more prof.
table business than the employment he
was then in, and to which he had evil
IDENTIFY been drawn by adverse circum-
stances and not by his own inclination.
81 am sorry, by boy, if my questions
have troubled you," said Mr.. Vreeland,
"but | have been thinking that might
perhaps find home for you if you have
none ?"
"ln the city ?" asked the boy quickly.
NO; In the country long distance
away. Suppose you call and see me
this evening at the Western Hotel.
Would you like to do so ?"
eff you won't ask me who am or
anything about my father I'll come"
said the boy, looking up suddenly with
a hopeful expression.
81 will not insist upon your telling
me anything more about yourself or
your family than you are willing to have
me know" said Mr.. Vreeland kindly.
"I'll come, then" repeated the boy /;
and he was promptly there at the hour
his customer had named. and had evi-
IDENTIFY been doing what he could to give
himself presentable appearance.
At the end of an hour his whole story
had been told, not because he had been
urged to tell 1t, but because he felt the
want of the sympathy, confidence, and
protection he was obtaining in that
way. He had relatives near and re-
mote, a good many of them; but since
the death of his father, some months be-
fore, which had been preceded. by the
insanity of his mother and soon follow
ed by her death, no one of these rela-
tives had been willing to give him a
home. He had lived with three or four
other families, at each place short
time, but as 500 as they learned whose
child he was they had in every instance
sent him away.
"You may call here again at the
same hour tomorrow evening"" said Mr..
Vreeland, after busying himself with
his own thoughts for few minutes, and
then added, "Here, my boy. is a dollar
to pay you for any custom you may lose
while calling on me-
81 don't want to be paid, sir, fol
calling Cd you" said the lad with dis
turbcd look.
'.But it will please me better to have
you take the money said Mr.. Vree-
land placing it in his hand.
Soon after the boy had left. Mr.
Vreeland, while conversing with gen.
tleman, easily learned the verdict thai
public sentiment had rendered in regard
to the father of that child-a man whose
temper, not having been restrained by
himself or any one else, had led to the
commission of crime that had result.
ed in the loss of three lives at least
that of his victim, his crazed and heart.
broken wife. and his own life, which
last, however, was not much loss to the
public.
He left one child-a little boy,
said the gentleman, ''who ought to be
sent where his relation to that man will
never be known. He is fine looking
boy. and was we'll taken care of by hi:
mother. HIS father was also very proud
of him. but there is no chance for HIN
here
THAT boy" said Mr.. vreeland, as
he thought the matter over alone in his
room. sis very likely to have DISPOSE