News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-07-08
TIE STORY OF HERMIT JOE.
PennsyIvanIr 8 arner Lad Who was
Disappointed sOve-A sad sequel.

Pennsylvania :, armer Lad who was
Disappointed ssOve-A sad sequel.
There occasionally appears in Pitts
burgh, Pa, an old man with sad eyes
and long white hair and beard, whose
peculiar garb and aspect always attract
attention. In answer to a question by
q reporter, a gentleman said that the
old man was Hermit Joe.
II was up in the mountains hunting
last fall, " said the gentleman, "where
nc leads hermit life, and learned his
history. 1t is over thirty years since
the romance of his life began. His
father had small farm a little this side
OF the mountains, and Joe titled the
| soil until long after his majority. His
was the old story of falling in love with
young girl, whose father was what
would be called magnate in that sec
tion years ago. The girls friends would
not listen to her marrying Joe because
he was poor, and the engagement was
broken off.
Joe used to ponder over the fact
that the marriage was prevented solely
because he was poor. But for months
he plodded along doing the drudgery
of the farm work us though he had
abandoned all thoughts of wedding the
girl whom he loved
suddenly he mysteriously disap-
peared. No one knew whittier he had
gone for months after his disappearance.
One day a party of hunters, who had
known him, discovered him living in
hut up in the mountains, hundred
miles from his fathers farm. He was
morose and silent, refusing to say. why
he had chosen the life of recuse. and
merely telling his former friends that he
was satisfied to live in his hut and gain
meagre subsistence by hunting and
fishing. All efforts to induce him to
return and give up his strange mode of
existence was unavailing, and he seemed
gratlhed when his friends turned away
and left him at the door of his gloomy
hut, gazing dreamily down the noun
tain side. His friends returned home
and related their meeting with Joe.
His farcial mode of living was a subject
of gossip for couple of weeks, and
then he was again forgotten.
''But Joe's romance was only half
begun" continued the gentleman.
''Early one morning in the spring, two
years after he had left home, he sud
denly reappeared. He was different
man. He had sold a lot of skins he
had cured, was well dressed, and
seemed to fairly beam with happiness.
He had several heavy packages in
his pockets, which he guarded so zeal
ously that curiosity was aroused as to
what were their contents. He was so
impatient that he had not been here an
hour until he hurried off to the village,
near by. He entered the only jeweiry
store in the village and accosted the
proprietor with the announcement that
he had been working for the past two
years in gold mine he had discovered,
which he knew was the richest mme in
the w Jrld 1t was cavern, he said,
literally filed with bright yellow golden
nuggets. Where was it? He smiled,
and said it was in precipitous portion
of the mountains, where no other foot
than his had ever trod, and where no
one else could discover it. He would
be the richest man in the State--in the
world-he eXultantly said, and then
whispered to the jeweler that at last
he could wed the girl for whom he had
labored increasingly for two years stow
ing away gold nuggets.
cat last he produced his mysterious
little heavy packages, which he said
were samples of his vast wealth. The
little group that had gathered together
in the store drew close to Joe and gaZed,
awe-struck, upon the yellow bits of
mineral. The jeweler carefully picked
up several pieces, looked at them
couple of minutes, and then said:
Joe, my friend, you are mistaken.
This is not gold. These yellow Jumps
are iron pyrites. They are worthless
''For a full minute Joe uttered not a
word. He seemed bereft of speech.
Then he mechanically raised his hand
to his brow, as though to collect his
thoughts. Are you sure it is not gold2
tremulously asked. Yes, was the reply.
Slowly he left the store, and as quietly
passed through. the village. His father,Sf
furm was nUW T1aCh0o, OuJ ne sIUfrfrk
only to open the door of the homestead
and say goodbye. In another hour he
was on his way back to his retreat in
the mountains. His disappointment
had been so sudden and his grief so in
tense, that his mind seemed to weaken
under the great strain. He did not
even stop TO see the one he had loved
and worked so hard for, but seemed to
feel that all was lost to him forever.
She, it is said, was true to HIM, and
died a few years ago of broken heart.
Joe has ever since dwelt in his hut in
the mountains, which of late years has
become an object of curiosity to people
visiting that section of the country.
He has grown too old to exc out sub
sistence, but lives on small income his
father left him. His mind has become
so weakened that he now imagines the
cave near his hut contains a great mass
of wealth, and that the world has con-
spired to ignore him and his magina-
tive tons of gold nuggets"