The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-03-18
MARY'S MISTAKE.

mo news Of him yet! Oh. Her
bert, are you really lost to me ?"
Thus often murmured Mary Wei
don. a beautiful girl of twenty. as
she vainly scanned the shipping
news" in the paper for tidings OF her
absent sailor lover.
j Three long years had now passed
since he let her--fOr nearly three
years she had heard nothing either
If him or his yesSel-the Hero, 4
surveying craft. Of which ne was the
captain.
He had told Mary before he sailed
that he thought the voyage would
not occupy more than Iwenty-tight
months; that at the end of that iinip
he would probably come home, and
that he slmuld thrn make hsfsilig
wife. But, as Vel, She had received
but one letter from him -four months
after he went away-whiIe now thir
~ two more had passed. without her
getting Il line.
Her father thought that the craft
must have been St, and So did many
other people F.; but Mary keDt hoping
on.
She had loved the young naval
captain deeply, and she could not
brit e herself to think he Was dead.
in spite of his silence and his long
absence. Both her parents, believing
that he had either died or that he
WAS false to her. endeavored to turn
her mind in another direction.
There was Il certain skipper named
John Thomas, a good-lnOking. wor
Thy young man, who numbered thir-
| ~ Years in pge, and $500 in savings.
Mr. Weldon now wanted his daugh
ter to encourage this perSpr but
although she liked and respected him
for his excellent disposition, she had
never thought of accepting him for II
husband.
One day it chanced that Thomas
hnught from II news stand copy of
"a South American paper, the latest
number, anu evidently the only one
which had re- ched Bristol.
From the right hand lower corner
of one of the pages Il piece of the pa
per had accidenily come off and was
missing.
Attracted toward that spot, tine
captains gaze was riveted on Il little
notice near This part of the journal
The healing of this paper having
heen partially torn off with the Miss
ing piece of the paper, it stood thus,
with the other lines undi@tured be-
meath:
"MAR
"On June 2Sih. Herbert Weyman,
late captain of the bring Hero, 10
Fanny Major. of Costa Rica."
For a moment the young mans
brain seemed to spin round Ikea top.
"Married So he is married !" he
murinured to himself. "Then, in
deed. all is over between him and
Mary Weldon. How SturviIy he has
treated her! have always heard
good reports of him. and would not
helieve this did | not SEE The mar.
riage notice mere before my very eyes
in this paper, published in Costa
Rica. wher t eweddiug took pIace!"
/ Again he 10 krd at the notice.
"Ay, | have made no mistake.
Here it is, plain enough. under that
heading of Married. or Marriages,
whichever it was before the letters
coming after m ar were torn off
And now what shall l do? don't
like to he the bearer of this terrible
news to poor Mary. Heaven help
her ~
Finally he concluded to take the
paper to her, mother; but not until
the next morning after she had re.
ceived it could Mrs. Weldon master
courage to show the notice to Mary.
The young girl bttame very pale
even her lips turned white. while
great blue rings appeared under her
beautiful eyes and for a moment she
staggered as II almut tO sW0On,
My dear child" cred her anx-
I"us' n"ilier, winning an arm about
her neck, "let your pride help you.
so false II person is not worth a
thought !"
mo, no; he rannnt have heen false,
mamma. There must be some mis-.
take"
"Would that II were 81. But these
lines tell the story" Again Mary
read these terrible wOrls.
"May not some foolish person have
put II in for a joke ?" she said.
"No; don't try to d ceiye yourself.
Mary. Marriage notices are never
put in for jokes-at least. not in that
way"
From this moment Mary began to
droop. She strove to call pride to