The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1883-01-13
QUEER FOLKS.


When Ralph Chadsey proposed to
Helen Grantham and was refused he was
q very angry man. He knew that he was
homely, ignorant and awkward, that his
tastes were not refined, and that his
home circle was not one in which lady
could be happy; he also knew that Miss
Grantham was very pretty, accomplished
and the inmate of home which every
one delighted to visit. But he was
equally certain that he was the sole
owner of q small factory that yielded
him several thousand dollars per year,
and he had been taught to believe that
no faults of birth, education or manners
would prevent man of means marry
ing into any family that had little or no
money.
Miss Grantham's refusal therefore
amazed him, and as, thanks to genera
tions of mean ancestors, he recognized
no rights but his own, and had never ex-
perienced the faintest throb of chival-
rous feeling, he soon came to hate Miss
Grantham as much as he had loved her,
and when the young woman soon after
ward accepted and married Frank
Hatcher, the rejected lover swore he
would have revenge on both Helen and
her husband
In any one but brute the desire for
revenge would soon have been gratifed
by the experience of Mr.. and Mrs.
Hatcher, for Frank, although one of the
charming fellows whom all women adore,
had In business but little stability and
shreWdness. He made debts for his en-
rloyers, spent his salary before he
earned it, add ran so heavily into debt
that his brightness and his wife's bloom
rapidly disappeared. Several acts of
carelessness caused him to lose his situ-
alton, and he reached degree of des-
peration that would have made almost
any vindictive enemy pity him. just
then the civil war broke out and Frank
was lucky enough TO obtain q commits
sion, the income of which brought com
fort to his wife and baby. But even in
the army his carelessness got him into
many misfortnnes, the last of which was
that ne lost his life by not exhibiting
proper vigilance at an outpost.
On hearing of Hatcher's death all his
creditors forgave him and rendered their
sympathies to his wife; but Chadsey, in
stead of burving his hate in the dead sol
dier's grave, felt more vindictive than
ever. It seemed to him that his oppor-
tunity had escaped him, so he added in
tensity to his hatred and heaped all
upon the dead mans memory. Helen
bravely endeavored TO earn living for
herself and child, and Chadsey took
room from which he could see her every
cold, wet morning, as she hurried to the
store in which she stood all day as a
saleswoman. Now, he fully believed she
regretted having rejected him; now he
could not doubt she would gladly accept
him were he to propose. The thought
gave him the most blissful sensation OF
his life, and he swore to himself that he
would rather die thousand deaths than
let her see penny of his money.
And he found, to his great delight, a
new object to hate; it was the son of
Helen and Frank Hatcher. The baby
whom Hatcher had left when he went to
the war grew rapidly, and was as mis-
chievous as boys in general. He had
his fair proportion of .quarrels with
other boys In the village, and ChadseY
sometimes was delighted beyond mea-
sure by the spectacle of little Frank be-
ing severely pounded by larger boy.
Chadsey was also pleased on recognizing
on the boy, from time to time, clothing
that undoubtedly had been made from
garments that Frank Hatcher, Senior,
had worn years before.
Occasionally Chadsey would hear that
some one had proposed to the pretty
widow, but without success, and more
than once, when wondering aloud why
'sthe pink and white fool, " as he always
called her, declined suitors with money.
was answered with:
Perhaps she's waiting for you, Chad
sey.'
This remark was always accompanied
by coarse laugh, but the object of it
did not vince, for he took in earnest
what was meant for fun. Waiting for
hirnl Was that the reason she always
passed his lodgings on her way to her
workaa WAS it TO affect him to tender
ness that she wore expressions sweet,
pathetic, romantic, or melancholy, all of
which Chadsey believed was merely
ssput on" for use out of doors? Well,
she might wait; he could stand it as
long as she, and he would rejoice to see
her grow gray with laughing.
Meanwhile little Frank grew in char