Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1882-12-23

4
| thinkin' of other folks's feelins and com
fort: always a waitin' on somebody. Ia
like to crawl into her house and kinder
rest up a spell for the next six weeks
\ sort OF chill shook him at the swift
thought OF his short respite. He was all
alone i'll the world He ran away from
home when he was ten years Old TO os-
cape the tyranny of his step-father, and
his mother, dying of consumption when
he left, only lived six weeks aft +. He
had been driven from pillar to post; mar
ried, and lost both wife and child in his
early youth, and then ''case-hardened,
as he phrased it, under the fire and blows
Of rough experience; and when money
| Ind lost its power over him as a charm TO
render life lovely, he began to make it
rapidly, and find a certain dull pleasure
in boarding it. Now, however, a mortal
| disease had fastened ON him beyond h,l-
man skill to avert, and what should he do
| with his possessions They could not
dispel this grave-chill creeping over him
as he sat alone far into the night. But,
| by violent effort, he succeeded in ban
ishing the terror of the outlook to his
! thoughts, and returned to think about
his money.
Il can't take ii, anyway. Granny
Brown used to say, 'Shrounds ha'n't pock
cts, aud it's 50. By George / know
what I'll do =
He brought his fist down on the table
beside him, and a tynical smile went over
his face for moment; then he got mp,
and took the anodyne which was Doctor
Hart's only prescription for him, and III
half an hour was asleep.
Next day he was closeted long with
lawyer, and in week time sent out five
letters, each after the same formula, to his
five cousins. the children of Reuel and
Samantha Blake, whose places and occu-
pations he had learned through the agency
of the lawyer. Reuel. the Oldest son,
lived in Michigan; Samantha in San
Francisco; james III Maine: Loren i'll
Florida; and Mehitable. called Hittv,
taught school in Connecticut In due
time this scattered tribe each received a
letter running thus:
''LAKEvIEw, ILL.,, Nov. s, IS
"DEAR Cousin: / suppose YOU may
have heard your mother speak of her
nefew Jack Turner, who run away from
Home when small. | am an oldish man
now, and have no folks of my Own nor
no home, and l amt going to live
long. | should feel real Obleeged for
any little help TO get Aloug if you might
he so disposed for to Give it, Direct ms
abuv if You send. [ have heard my
Honored mother say that 'Blud WAS
thicker than Water, and exp ct mabba
it's SO which is Why take Pen in Hand,
being old and sick and lonesome enuf,
and having heaps that my neares Rela-
tions will step Fomard to my helping:
anscr soon.
''Your afecktionate cousin,
"JoHN TURNER
In due time answers came. Reucl said
he had Just gone into new business
times were hard, and he had seven chill
dren was down with 'aguc," had bad
luck always, and no money to spare: he
wished we'll to his cousin. whom he had
heard tell of. :" but hadn't the means to
help him otherwise.
John Turner closed the letter with
hard smile.
amt got no less II six good and law
ful reasons for not h 'lpin' this lame dog
over a stile. He'll find the was six too
many :"
Semantha, Mrs Bliss. was an invalid
her nerves forbade any agitation on her
part. Her husband wrote the letter, and
said their social position and the exi-
gencies of his busincsslcft them no mar
gin for charities, even if he could feel
sure that the letter i'll question was from
the real John Hollis Turner, which he
could not candidly say he did.
\ red flush passed over the readers
face as he laid down this epistle.
"Damcd cool Well, it takes all sorts
o folks to make world, and these ant
my sort, that's certain.
! James was minister III one of the
largest cities i'll Maine. He wrote let
ter OF spiritual advice to his cousin,
urged him to prepare for DEATH and then
mentioned casually that he never gave
money except to organized charities
/ and he advised John to apply for admis-
sion into the State Hospital at Lake
i view
This letter was read through without
word but darker shadow than ever
/ lay on the strong, coarse face of the
reader-it seemed as if the sky above
/ him blackened with the reflection of
earths heartlessness.
Loren Blake never answered his cous-
I III > cl)lStlc, ii ut ever Sol IL uc Wis llN :
ing az idle life in the heart of Florida,
under the preteXt OF raising oranges,
being what his New England ancestry
would call "shif'less cretlr, without
means to be charitable even ii he had the
will.
Hitty, who earned her living 10y teach
ing the district school in West hartford
going home one cold November night
from the little, red school house on Brandy
Hill, stopped i'll at the store, and took
from the post -office-which occupied 4
corner among plows, calicoes, molasses,
turnips and garden tools-her letter from
john Turner. As she read it her lovely
eyes filled with tears. Poor old man, "
she whispered, and, thinking over old
times, all that her mother had told her
about cousin Jack came back wildly.
The gay, kind-hearted, mischievous, af-
fectionate boy, always ready to help and
wait on little aunty," had been prom
inent figure i'll the stories Samantha Blake
used to tell her baby girl, and Hitty's
tender heart ached to think of him rs an
old, suffering, poverty stricken and dying
man. She came to certain resolutions
that night before Mat Hallett made his
usual evening visit, which were laid be-
fore him for approval, as was his due !;
for Mat and Hitty were to be married ON
New Years Day, and in hartford Savings
Bank lay fifty hard earned dollars laid up