Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-12-09

of me, as l looked at her almos
entranced, and spoke something i
low tone to her companion
What it was l never knew, Du
they both looked at me an instant
and then the air rang with thei
laughter, and | heard him sa,
something about presumption an(
impudence, and / guessed what
was. 1t was hard to be thus tortur
ed simply for no other reason thar
because / had heart and could no
control its impulses, and when
look back on that time it seems t,
me like some terrible dream.
Misfortunes, they say, neve
come singly, and they always came
too, when we least expected them
My mother suddenly sickened anC
died, and ] was thus left alone {
wretched outcast on the earth. Al
| stood over her grave it seemed tC
me that l had buried every hope.
determined to leave the spot where
| had seen so much misery. / car.
ed very little where Invent. Any.
where far away from there. Gen
Linton paid me what little he owed
me, and / struck out for the far
west. Railroads and steamboats,
were not half as numerous then as
they are now, and even if they had
been, | was too poor to avail my
self of their advantages. walked,
there, many weary mile, until
after several days of travel I found
myself at the outskirts of a growing
city. Here L stopped because
thought / had gone far enough, and
for the best of all reasons, Because
my money had given out. | had to
do something. A large mansion
with beautiful grounds stood before
me. applied to the owner for
labor. He said he was very much
in need of gardener, but did not
like to employ me without refer
ences.
After hesitating for awhile, how
ever, he concluded to engage me
for month, and if he liked me he
would then engage me permanent
ly, he said. / found out in short
time that he was lawyer of eXten-
sive practice, immensely wealthy,
and lived at his ease. I followed
out the rule l had adopted through
life, to be honest and industrious
under all circumstances, and at the
end of the month my employer,
whose name was Parker, sent for
me, he said, to pay me my months
wages. He then surprised me by
asking me if could read and write.
told him could, thanks to inde-
fatigable energy and perseverance
at the little cabin ON Gen. Linton's
farm, during the long winter even
ings when the labors of the day
were over, [ had acquired the rudi-
ments of first-rate English educa-
tion. My employer then told me
that during the past month he had
observed me closely, and that he
believed me to be an honest man.
81 will tell you something more"
said he, "that have discovered
You are young man of extraordi-
nary intelligence. Gardning is not
your proper avOcation. / am doing
an extensive practice of the law,
and l need some one to stay in my
Office. / know of no one who is
better suited than you. With your
application and industry, within
one year from now you may bo ad-
mitted to the bar. You must con-
sent to become my student"
l didn't know exactly how it
was, but suddenly Judge Parker
and the table seemed to become in
verted, and the room went whirl-
ing around and around, and then
all seemed flying off through the
OF A t,n
next thing / knew | was sObbing
with my head upon the table. He
didn't say anything until l had re-
gained my cOmposure, and then
told him all. What a hard time l
had had through life, and how this
had been the only light that had
ever shown on my dark pathway.
Tears sprang into the old mans
eyes as I told him, but he said /
must never despair, and he was
certain l would come out victori-
Gus. ffa r--. t-
L went into Judge PArker's Office,
and I studied hard, and at the end
of the year. as he predicted, l OBJ
tanned my license-to practice law.
He then asked me what | intended
doing. told him that 1 intended
to go off to some rising place and
grow with it, "and if ever do any |
thing" said I, remember that you
are the man who made me-"
He said that should do no such |
thing. He was getting old, he said,
and was unable to attend properly |
to great deal of his business, and |
he wanted me to stay and assist |
him. "You must be my partner"
said he, "with share of the prof
it's"
Again the room seemed turning
around and around, but this time /
to retain my feelings and
only said:
"May heaven thank you, for l
can't" Hra
Well, it wasn't long before the
people seemed to take an interest
in me and they elected me to the
state legislature, and then, after
awhile, to congress, and / always
in the same honest, indus
trious course until they had made
me their governor.
had heard but very little in all
that time from Linton Hall. l
had heard that Gen. Linton had
died and that Arthur st. John and
Helen had married, and that the old
place had been sold, and that was
all.
AS for my part I was still a
bachelor. Many a time amid the
thunders of applause that had sur
rounded me, fair hands had thrown
me beautiful flowers, and ruby lips
had smiled, and bright eyes had
glistened when / was near but l
thought of cold, cruel, naughty
Ellen Linton, and had judged them
all alike and had turned away.
One winter evening. shortly after
I had been elected governor, when
the wind was bowling outside and
was enjoying the comforts of my
room within and wondering if any
houseless wretch was out in that
storm, to my great establishment
the servant ushered in a lady. 1t
was something unusual (; but spoke
to her as politely as / could, and
offered her seat, when the light
fell upon her features, and, not
the sunken eye and
hollow cheeks, to my consterna-
ton recognized the face of Helen
To my relief, however, I found
that she had failed to recognize
me. No, she would as soon have