Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1883-07-24
An Old Mans Story.
By ALBERT HASTINGS.

tdfK and Lowering, Dlack NoVeih-
YER ruled the season, and bowling
trough forest and glen, wild
'inds sang drear anthem to the
eparting year.
But my lodging was in country
IN. | entered. The room was
Unfinished and unfurnished.
pugh pine boards we're its floor
lg; its walls, implanted. pre-
.nted only pine boards nailed
etween logs of the same material,
Id the ceiling correspondent to
10 floor and wall. There was a
spinning wheel near the door
\ what q door it wasl wide, ricketty
Ind gaping, with many a seam.
IAN old tin candlestick stood
on bare pine table; hanks Of
yarn hung from nails innumerable
around the room.
The fire. place below was capa-
cious enough to roast an offering
to the gods, when such oblation,
in ancient times, called for ample
room and widespread flame. A
great fire was blazing on the
rough stone paved hearth. and
its genial heat was grateful as it
dispelled the chill dampness OF
a heavy air, and rejuvenated the
half frozen musketoes clinging to
walls, where rosin, exuded from
pine boards, had become indented
and stood out, hardened by the
atmosphere. like yellow gum on
sorchard trees.
Y / sat down by the blazing fire.
The host was a man more toll
worn than aged; his brow was
square, his nose far too small for
symmetry as compared with the
! rest of his features, his ears were
B hanging, and of a size donating
/. vulgarity. His. hair, intensely
Z black, chung round his brow like
!. sable moss on bare cypress tree;
A his mouth was wide; his under
jaw heavy and villainous; his neck
was. thick set, and of crab-like
hue. But the eye, after all the
grandest exponent in mans
countenance, was, in this case,
svil>omened, wild and wandering
His garb was coarse home spun,
home-dyed and ill fitting. But
what is raiment? The serpent
has its sealy coat the bedizened
s woman OF fashion, high or low,
has her rich dresses. But his
man was my evil genius. Ever
as the blinking blaze rose and
fell, by strange fluctuations he at
tracted me, long years before |
knew the reason why.
Our supper was announced. 1
Toasted with the we'll earned
appetite of q traveller who had
snuffed fresh air since days dawn,
and was opposed by no cares save
those of wandering fancy and in
applicable anticipation, vague but
troublous.
y 4 = y
Two years elapsed; my home
was in pleasant village, many
miles from the inn above des-
cribed.
But there was a stranger in our
midst. He came, none knew
whence. Mystery added to the
interest awakened by his isolation
It was said that the maideDs of
our village lent a ready ear to his
hattering speech, and these were,
by turns, the object of his devo-
ton. A spirit OF rivalry grew up
among them and this adventurer
was indisputably the cause. No
one could tell why. There we're
handsomer and younger men
among them, but woman's nature
is something beyond the ken OF
an old pilgrim like me, and / have
never been able to determine
wherefore the stranger SO much
attracted them.
Let me hasten to the close oil
my tale. -Four children had sue
cessfully bloomed and died
beneath my roof tree. Their sad
eyed mother had wept away her
youth in sorrow for them-her
youth, not her beauty, for that
was something which time could
not touch, and still looked out in
the mind-illumined eye, thequeen-
ly form and eloquently worded
speech.
i had an only brother. Our
paths in life had been wildly sun
dered. But he died young
having married eafly in life, the
woman OF his choice, regardless
Of consequences. She was early
widowed. and her heart broke
over the grave of him she loved.
One grave received them-Lionel