Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-04-15
parting shot at him as he SUNK oil to bis
claim. you can go up as head fool nowl'
CHATTER XVI
WARNING.

when first delivered A wound in n vital
part may cause at first but little pain. People
are often represented as overwhelmed imme-
diately by sudden news of any great misfor-
J tune.
SO far as l know by personal experience
in such matters, the Overwhelming y
crushing a~onizing process may hardly
commence with the reception of its news.
Its the prolonged Woodworking process
atterward that causes the misery Its the
perpetual going over and over, not the same
ground ON which your calamity is based, but
the calamity itself, viewed in all manner of
situations, with ever varying lights and
shades mental operation in character kalei-
dloscopic The pieces are the same, but they
are ever arranging themselves in different
forms. This may go on for days, weeks
months | believe that many a man or wo-
man has said to themselves, when their great
trouble first fell on them, well, can bear
| 1T, who found "A week afterward that it was
too grlevous to be borne with patience or
resignation. The only means of relief would
| lie Ill dismissing the matter entirely from
ones mind Unfortunately such matters
| with the great majority, viii not be dismissed
They are guests unwelcome armed and
offensive, who quarter themselves and come
to stay.
When are we to have the era of mental
| atheism, when minds will arrive at such
| strength and dexterity as TO be able to toss
off trouble from the brain as they would a
rubber ball from the hand and forget all
about it at pleasures
l did not go home Immediately after
Blanches departure from the store / spent
the afternoon wandering aimlessly over
| gulch, flat and neutrality-suspicious. SO that
| / x4ras .Nf oil
beings. took no thought of physical exer-
ton. l fled at any sound of labor-the
stroke of picks, the grating of shovels, the
rasping of pebbles in the rockers, and plunged
| from such indications of human presence
into the dense growth of chapparal
| had not then met my deepest misery.
had Indignation to sustain me. I was indig-
nant at Blanche, that she also should have
tried and condemned me without a hearing.
There is a certain huoyancy and stimulus in
| indignation 1t is several degrees above dis
couragement and despair
| But the mind doesn't seem capable of en-
| pertaining fully more than one emotion at
once. SO, when my indignation had worn
off its finest edge other emotions commenced
their play They seemed all DESTROYS of
| ''having whacn at me-
pass over wonder ut Blanches sudden an.
pearance; at curiosity to ascertain how she
| heard of me and the accusation against me.
and at the sudden recollection that the aunt
whom she had so frequently visited in New
| York was by name Pratt, and that probably
| Jedediah was her husband | came at last
| TO my love for the former Blanche Seton, of
Passport, at my grief for its loss, and at my
despair as this last propvas thus so suddenly
| taken from me Everything solid seemed to
have nm I oI1
and friendess amid suspicion growing
| prejudice, averted faces, whispered lies, and
back of all these stood the being on earth
most loved, transformed at once from an
angel of mercy into au IMPLYING and mis-
taken judge
These were my thoughts for days and
nights They were my company-a numer-
Gus and busy crowd. They were kept alive
by the frequent sight of Blanche about
Pratts cabin. Mine was but three hundred
yards distant She had a house put up for
her own accommodation. For assistants she
had every man on the Bar-save myself
The crowd was absolutely hungry to dc
something for Miss Seton The area or
which her cloth-covere1 house was erected
alongside of Pratt's, was leveled as if bv
magic. If Miss Seton wished bowlder
pitched out of the way they were ready and
liable to remove a hundred Volunteers
went up the mountain, cut young saplings
and built her a fence Pratts well was
cleaned and deepened
Fifty men with picks and shovels cleared the
trail leading from her residence to the store of
intercepting bushes AMI impeding powders.
one evening after knocking of work from
the claims, physical inference that in their
estimation, Miss Seton would probably want
often to go shopping or possibly drop
down of an evening and have chat with
the boys If Miss Seton had desired the
enormous bulk of Scrub mountain to be re-
moved, think the matter would have been
seriously considered, In all this Mr. Will
liam Setter was the lady's self-constituted
right hand man, and even while working on
his claim would be seized with spasm of anx-
iety and solicitude in her behalf. and rush up
to Pratts in chronic state of fuss-about-
and-do-litteness.
Why did / not seek an interview with
Blanche and endeavor TO justify myselfs
did make the attempt, or rather paved the
way for one. owed her three hundred dol
lars. | sent her the money with interss.
due, through Rankin, explaining to him the
circui stances under which the debt was con
tracted. This, of course let Rankin into
portion of my secret. Fortunately he was
man who could keep secrets. He realized
that there was money in this kind of banking
also, and that cash and confidence often go
together
His manner toward me in this business was
serious and considerable He seemed to re-
spect the burden he knew / was carrying.
and he was one of the few with n mind in
herenty judicial that demanded clear proof
before any conviction.
felt for while relieved after having in
trusted this commission to Rankin He said
to me nothing of the Pratt matter But as
thoughts can be felt, knew that he sympa-
thized to some extent with my lonesome and
miserable situation
Blanche sent back, through Rankin. only
formal receipt for the money To my re-
quest for an interview she made the follow
ing reply:
II would prefer not to see you under the
present circumstances
"BLANcHE SEFToN.n
So matters went on for eight or ten DAYS.
Broener continued absent Did | find any
consolation in the thought that he might be
miserable in not finding Blanche at Marys.
vile! But what Blanche? His or-mine I
was about TO say. The man had been so reti-
cent on the subject, and Blanche herself being
Theoretically sealed against me, | was still in
doubt whether the woman next door was the
one had seen in the play or not
! could not visit the store That was no
place for me. My work at the Bank was
quite done. | kept at work on the river
claim, making six or eight dollars per dav.
to which was perfectly Indifferent Worse,
my position while at work gave me frequent
glimpses of Blanche as she fitted in her neat
morning dress between her own house and
Pratt's. She was a rare spectacle to the
miners whose claims commanded a view of
the situation. | saw them at times peeping
at her from sundry vantage points, as she
tripped about, displaying at times a slippered
foot and, neat ankle, which caused many a
heavy sigh
Why not write her! Ibid write her-page
on page, telling the whole story, detailing all
the misery of my situation, upbraiding her
for her injustice and cruelty, and beseeching
her for a personal interview But there was
no local postofiice delivery ON Bull Bar
Rankin was the only one. to whom L could
intrust these letters. That would reveal me
to him too much the suppliant so would
keep the letters. | re-read them. l found.
then, one too harsh. | threw it in the fire
The next WINS too humble TOO s,,r,,t;.,+;.s.