Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-04-01
MADGE LAMBERT.
BY JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
CHAPTER III.

hanHlOu OelOuScu W ~ pSVA aheA-
lean citizens which is perhaps more
common than is generally supposed on
this side of tine Atlantic-the romantic
American, There is more latent ro-
nance hidden away in the bosom OF
many a respectable citizen Of the
United State then would ever be sus-
pec.ed by the casual observer. But
there are others in whom the romantic
element has 80 completely overcrowed
what are generally considered to be the
national characteristics, that they might
just as well not be American for any
good they get by belonging to q new
world that has shaken off the supersti-
tons of the cid. To this class Ham
ilton belonged. Undoubtedly his early
training had much to do with the at
titude he insisted on maintaining to-
wards the world in later life.
He was the son of a Boston merchant
who carried on his business in partner
ship with his only brother. Both mar
ried early. George HsmiltOn's wife bore
him one son, while Reuben was child
less. Admiration for q national hero
led George TO name his boy Alexander,
and there can be no doubt that the trih-
ing fact did much to foster the romantic
disposition of the child. When he
grew to boyhood he delighted to fancy
that as he was the namesake so he was
in some way the descendant of the GAL
liant and high-souled gentleman who fell
beneath the dark anger and the relent-
less hand of Aaron Burr. George Ham,
iltOn's wife died very soon after the
birth other child, and her loss sadden-
ed the remaining years of her husbands
life. But little Alexander did not
want wOman's care, for Reuben's wife
Priscilla found consolation for her own
childless state by playing the part Of
mother to her mOtherless nephew.
When the civil war broke out and the
fortune of the North showed glOOmily,
George and Reuben agreed that one Of
them should strike blow for the I'M
ion.
LET me 60" George urged. There
is Priscilla to be thought of, and God
has taken thought for Mary already.
There is nought to keep me back"
There is the child, brother" ans
wered Reuben.
tYou will have care of him." George
had replied, but Reuben was not to be
persuaded, and il seems as If both
would go TO war, when George pro-
posed that they should draw lots.
With his firm business hand he wrote
his and his brothers. names on slips
of paper and babe Priscilla draw out
one from between the leaves Ofthe Bible.
But Priscilla refused, unwilling to be
an instrument in the decision Of fate.
George drew himself, and drew
his own name. at is as i wished" he
said, when he was bidding goodbye to
his brother; you'll look after the boy,
Reufen?" and Reuben had answered
thrust me-" George fell early in the
war, fighting before Vieksburg, aud
his child lived with Reuben and PriS-
ella, and loved them ~ father and
mother. His was a strange, lonely
childhood, happy and quiet. They liy-
ed in great rambling old house not
far from Boston. 1t had been q stately
dwelling in the days when Republican
Hancock took the place of Royalist
Howe; and its pannelled corridors, its
wide staircase with qGaintly-earved
balustrade, and. its old fashioned wainS-
coated rooms, were source of endless
delight to the boy, who peopled its SOM
bre corners with his own fantastic fan
cies. There was garden too, not so
spreading and ample as it had been in
the time when Governor Shute was
lOrdiDg it at the Province House and
trying TO laugh at the popular voice, but
large enough still, though shut in now
by other houses, to seem the yeriest
happy valley to the boy. For It was
well grown with grass and shaded by
'masy trees, within whose branches
birds did not disdain to MARBLE, and If
you climbed the tall elm tree at the
END you could see the Charles river
lefty, through the marshes and salt
meadows and among the willows in
1.-The distant fields.
Priscilla taught him all she knew,
which was y good deal in its way, for
she was q well educated woman Of an
old-fashioned Massachusetts, kind, and
she told the boy stories, and read to
him and taught him his letters till he
could read to her. She had q great love
for romantic fiction, and she and her
boy, rs she always called him, would
spend happy hours together in the
pleasant old garden, odorous with How-
ers and herbs, when she had accom-
plished her household tasks, and the
boy had mastered his lessons, in read
ing to each other the sweet gentle
stories which Priscilla loved. When
the boy was alone he played out end
less dramas Of which he was always the
hero. AS Hector he fought the willy
Greeks among the sweet smelling cur
rant and gOOseberry bushes at the end
of the garden. AS OdysseHs he tossed
upon the angry waters of green grass
IN the great garden chair, which did
him service as q Phenecian galley.
Among the boughs of spreading cop
per beech he would climb to real the
story of the companions Of Arthur and
the quest for the Holy Grisl.
Nor was his inner life alone roman.
tic. The very color of the great world
beyond the red walls Of this enchanted
garden was deep with the hues OF ro-
nance. His childhood was passed be-
meath the shadow Of the great war In
which his father had fallen and as the
fortunes of the national struggle We're
told to him by Reuben or Priscilla. his
childish fancy invested the Northern
leaders with all the splendor OF chtyal-
nv. Grant and Sherman, Phil. Saeri-
dan and Phil Kearney, fought in his