Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1884-02-21
LIFE TRAGEDIES
Gsen ak the Foreign Window OF ths
General IsostoGace,
Tad Scenes That Are Daily Witnessed
-.-WaitinE In Vain for q Long
Expected lali---The paR-
Drama Of Daily Life,
New York World)

"t'nrhaIS you don't know it, but the place
10 see the tragedies Of real life like pano-
rama is right in here. said a postofllce habitus
before the general postotiice building OIL Park
roo
"How could one SEQ tragedies In the post
officer
"T'll show you," he said, ~Come In here"
"Damp stone corridors, very dirty and
chilly; jostling people. rude and anxious;
great dingy glass partitions with square
title hole in the hotton, behind which were
seen at intervals tho clerks faoaA Nothing
very tragic about this"
"Not Wait bit These are the foreign
delivery windows people come here to got
foreign letters"
HYesl Il that tragicr
eWait. They ate coming all the tima It
Is an unon.,ing procession Of tirei feet Watch
EN-
We did. There was woman loading q
little girl She was dressed in rusty black.
ehe had pretty, sod face with few prems-
tire wrinkles on it She looked modest,
nervous, anxious. Presently she got q chance
and went up and put her head down to the
little hole. "Anything for Mrs. John -"
That's all we could hear.
"Nothins," said the voice Of tho clerk after
q moments delay.
The woman stepped back as IL the clerks
voice had hurt her. She looked down mo
mont and then feeling herself jostled by some
other anxious applicant shrunk all together
and went away-like a ghost,
"Do you see anything in thatf asked my
companion.
"Not much"
aWcu, she has been coming for month,
the day after every steamer. She expects a
letter from her husband and she will never
get it."
"WhyT
because when no went away he never In
tended to write. He went away with another
woman. The wife hasn't discovered the de-
ception yet You Sea he left her with kiss,
promised to write t,y the first steamer, and
she has been counting the hours ever since.
call this tragedy. Whenever heart Is
torn TO pieces slowly by villainy there ID
tragedy.
"rhe clerk at that window got, to know
some Of the sal white faces that come reg,l-
larly. There is an old woman who souio-
times-ah! there she Is now, standing over
there waiting for her chance. Look at her"
We both stared at h,r in silence moment.
She must have been So But she was still
hearty save for the traces of sorrow and toll
ON her brown old face. There was watery
expression to hor eyes as il she was used to
crying. She was poorly clad. A faded shawl
was wrapped about her shoulders, and on
one Of the fingers Of her bronzel hand shone
an OH wedding ring, worn very thin.
1She comes once u week and asks for a let
tor from Frank" said my companion, "but
she never gets it
1Wh0s FrankT'
well, who caa he bel Franks her boy
All you've got to do is TO look at her to know
the whole story. It's the Oldest one on record.
She bore him. she nuisel him; she wept and
prayed over him; Sho poured into him all
the affection of which mother is capable;
she worked until her fingers bed for him.
Don't you see oil that's The first thing he
did when he was able to get out into the
world was to get into disgrace. Then the
whole worll turmoil against him. That H.
the whole world with one exception. This
poor old woman stood by him. She was get
ting along in life but she doubled her work;
she toiled night and day; she boarded her
pennies; she denied herself the necessa-
ries OF life, but she got money enough to
SIT him at liberty and let him commence over
again. He ought to have been the comfort
and prop Of her old age. He wasn't. But
she never upbrai,led him All she hungercl
for was his love. All she asked of him was TO
do right. But he never would do right. FL
nally be went away, taking her last dollar.
iIc had to go. He fed, in fact. But he toll
her he was going to reform in a new lan|,
aud be a man and come back some day and
take care of her And she saw him otf, hung
ON his neck, could not tear her ol arms away,
You know because she hadn't any body in tho
world but Frank"
"Well, he viii come back some timer
"No; his bones aro lying white in tho bot
tom Of the gulf Of Mexico. That's where
Frank is. and the old woman comes regular
to look for her letter that will never come.
You'll SEQ good deal Of the emotional side
of life at that wicket, if you know how to
interpret it,"
"What arc those hard-featured Germansi"
1They are expecting remittanccs from
their friends In Germany. They are strangers
in strange land and hard up. Do you Sc
tho fellow with tho heavy watch chain and
black nustacha.S
AYES. Who's her
"lle's a bunco s.eeror. Hos waiting to
catch the name of some applicant, and then
hell astonish him afterwards by claiming to
be tn acquaintance. If he can catch glimpse
Of tho letter and tho post-mark he'll claim to
hnve como from that town"
SBut there must be some comedies as we'll
as tragedies enacted hereF
"Yes l remember ons. There was fell
low who led wild life In town several
months AMI got into pretty bad set, who
cleaned him out. He was up to his eyes in
gambling debts, hal pawnod his clothes and
was altogether in tho worst possible way.
9TH. last pioce Of diocy was to claim to
be baronets son, and tell Lis creditors that
he expected remittance from home Then
they made guy of him, and one day party
Of them came here to see him get his remit
tance He looked like tramp They stood
round when he asked II there was a letter
for--. The clork promptly said yes, and
a packet was given hin He opened it AMI
i, bore a crest. In 1t was q notification Of his
fathers death and the solicitors information
that he Ghe SOM was heir. You never saw
a sicler party Of jokers in your life and a
more astonished tramp.
"One Of the clerks told me that there was
woman came regularly to the window for q
year asking for letter She never missed 4
day. He gut to expect her and he saw her
growing thinner and winter all the time and
heard her cough in the corridor before he
saw her He said he could see her dying by
inches in kind of prolonged anxiety to get
that letter. He formed a sort of silent az
quantance with her, got to know her secret
by looking through tho wicket at her wan.
fading face, and used TO be awake nj, MS
thinking about her. One day ste did not
come, and he krew what had happened. He
waited auh waited and watched. But the
face never appeared again. lie told me after
wards that he spent moro time and money