Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1886-08-05

called. would not Be sonsiI|e5 mucl
of a paper. now. but a - u attrae
tion then. and | Eeard h rsrsasss
more than once that the e. blishfnen
of the office had inersazei he pric.
and sale of real estate il - village
Thirty years ago almos very maz
drank liquor as freely = 1Aser, and
it was then deemed bad manners q
ref;,se social glass with friends D,
| acquaintance. Young iaen were noi
included in the habit. aud Il there.
fore came about that While i was
always sohsss Welsls Ne alsass 1ISsS
or less under tiie-ihGsssse a lianor.
] had not been in the Office Sly months
when he began to neglect business in
bad way. AS the Mirror was a
small paper. there was but little
writing to do, and Welch soon con-
tented himself with filling up the
reading columns Of the Mirror with
selections from exchanges. Seeing
thet had taste for writing up local
happenings, he gave me one day in
the week for the purpose Of gather
ing up such items, and at the end OF
the year one coming into the office
would have imagined that | was sole
proprietor. There were days and
weeks in which Welsh did not come
near the office, leaving me the full
charge and responsibility of transact
ing all business. l probably did as
well as any young man thus situated
could; at least, Welsh was always
satisfied, and no charge of peculation
or dishonesty was ever made against
me. He spent much of his time at
the Black Bear Tavern, card-playing
and carousing, and when not thus en-.
gagged would go away on long hunt
ing excursions, or take a trip of a
week to some city.
One evening after | had been in
the Office fourteen months, ! returned
after supper to work off a job which
had come in during the afternoon. |
had nearly finished, when Welsh came
up the stairs, it being his first visit
for ten days. He had a wild and
haggared look about him, and i saw
that ne was recovering ffonsa caroess
and nearly exhausted. He asked a
few questions about the work IN hand.
remarked that l was getting along
finely, and then sat down to the edi-
torial table, laid his head down and
was soon fast asleep. did not dis.
turb him until the last moment, aud
then shook him by the shoulder. He
started up in a wild way, shouting
They are after me with their red
eyes, Don't you. see them =? See there?
See how they hiss, and twine, and
dart out their horrid tongues -
| had read of cases of mania potu, |
but had never seen one, aud to say |
that was frightened welld be saving
little enough. Welsh sprang up, |
clung convulsively to ~ arm, and |
his dreadful look gave me a shock |
that l did not get over tor days. Att
length, after | had told him that he
was in no danger, and that nothing |
was pursuing him, he grew calmer, |
and we soon walked down stairs to-
gether. He was very reticent, and |
merely asked me to saynothing about
what had occurred, dding that it
was all dream, and hat he had i'm
imagined he was surronded BY ser.
pents.
Soon after this, l terheard many
remarks not complimentary to Welsh,
and realized that tl towns s-people
wee thinking that b ran too high a
rUursr, and that " was gradually
losing both charaVe and friends.
l had nothing tdso but keep on in
tae old way. Ny Aotber was con-
versant with the w things were
going, but, so long as was promptly
paid and my own chActer was not
suffering, she conclude that We should
wait for a better time. AS ! remarked
at the outset, We wer not we'll off,
and it lie necessary toray here, that
the little hillside cotpe did not have
any furniture to spare =.
One evening a cole OF friends.
whom mother had knsn in the years
passed away, came to main all night.
Having no surplus Oflds, it became
necessary FOR me to Rss the night
away from home. Iticurred to me
that | would 20 to thifiioa and make
my bed on the lounge / accordingly
proceeded there abOd EIGHT o'clock
in the evening. II VI in the month
of July. and the weasf was extreme
ly oppressive. ! turn in about nine
o'clock. lying at fulllngth on the
lounSe with my cloths on.