Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1884-05-21
THE MISSING DEED.

"Any news from the case this morn.
ing, Mr.. Hutchinson?'
This question was asked by Mr.
John Holbrook, senior member of the
law firm of IIolbrook e. Hutchinson,
one certain morning, in the latter part
of September, as he entered the Of.
dce.
His partner, Tom Hutchinson, with.
out looking up from the papers he was
reading. answered in the negative.
"Well," continued the senior mem.
Der of the firm, 1--WE must exhaust
every effort to find the missing deed.
There is letter in the mornings mail
from Mr.. Arnold, authorizing us to
increase the reward to five thousand
dollars"
That ought to fetch it, if it is in eX-
istence," said Tom Hutchinson.
And he threw down his papers, and
he wheeled his Office chair to face Mr..
Charles Wilson, aged twenty-five
with legal aspirations, who was read
ing" in the Office of this celebrated
firm.
"Wilson,' he said, "write out anoth-
er advertisement. in the Arnold case
and take it around to the Ledger"
"Yes sir" answered the young
man.
And he took a sheet of paper and
began to write.
After awhile. he read the following,
and the firm agreed that it was the
proper thing:
nNFORMATIoN WANTED.-Information want
ed Of certain parchment deed. given by Andrew
Sharp to Archii aid Arnold, conveying to the said
Arnold certain parcel of land, containing about
one hundred and thirty'tlve thousand acres, more
or less, situated in the state of Iowa, said deed
having been given at Burlington. Iowa. in the wear
1915. This deed was lost or stolen some fifteen
years ago, and any one furnishing information
ward five thousand dollars by applying TO HoL-
nRook q HuTCnINsoN, Attorneys at Law, Phil
cdelphia, Pa
you'd better take it around at
once" said the head of the firm.
And the young man left the office
to perform the errand.
Messrs. Holbrook and Hutchinson
student was a poor young man--very
poor but he had a stout heart and
great ambition, and although he found
it serious matter to make ends meet,
lie was studying very hard to perfect
himself for the bar, after which auspi-
cious event, he felt that all would be
plain sailing.
He had rosy day-dreams, sometimes,
Of a future, after fame and wealth
should have fallen to his share, and
the central figure of these dreams was
pretty Madge Bevan, who was nearly
as poor as himself, and whom he had
loved ever since he was a boy at
school,
"If | could find the missing deed" he
thought, as he hurried to the newspa-
per Office, "all would be we'll Five
thousand dollars would give :ae good
start in life, and could make dear
Madge happy, and lift the burden of
the support of her mother from her
frail shoulders. | shall be admitted to
tho bar next term, and it will be pretty
uphill work at first, unless 1 have a
reserve capital. By-the-way," he NUT
tered, aloud, II promised Madge to
take tea with them this evening"
Charlie Wilson had expended great
deal of thought on the most important
factor in the great land case Of Arnold
cs Sharp, the missing deed to the i'm
mense tract of Western land, and fer
the past month he had spent his idle
visiting junk-stores. in the
hope of somewhere running across |
the parchment.
In the course of hi5search he had