Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-03-06

q 49,
|VA\-AI to say so mucn
l-,ISf about my own al
~ ~ fairs that / may
we'll begin by spar.
ing few lines to those of another man,
man on whose grave the grass ha' peeh
growing for m nv a long year.
His nam. was Julian Lorraine. His home
from the day when first / knew him to the
day of his Death was Herstal Abbey, fine
old house in that part of wooded Somerset
shire where railways have not yet come.
Although Mr.. Lorraine was man OF
wealth. and moreover, by education and, l
believe. family fully entitled to take hig b
social position, Herstal Abbey was not his
ancestral home. He had acquired 1t by
simple right of purchase, having bought out
an oil, improvident, but popular county
familv-bought it out 50 completely
that if he did not literally step into its
shoes, he sal in its very chairs and used its
very tables.
Such a wholesale buying up of one of their
own class by an unknown man always
annoys, perhaps frightens. county people,
and Julian Loraines neighbors for some
time looked at him askance He took none
of those steps by which a new conner may
occasionally gain access to the magic county
circle. He brought no ntroductions. He
gave n large subscription to the hunt-in-
deed, there was not much hunting In that
part. He did not, in covert way. let his
willingness to give grand entertainment be
known. He simply completed the pur-
chase of Herstal Abbey and its contents;
took up his abode in the old house, aud
troubled nothing about his neighbors, which
no doubt annoyed them all the more.
Little Julian Lorraine cared for this The
truth is he was one of the most unsociable
men alive, and his cynicism, if distributed
through the county. would have made
Somersatshire a region in which life would
have been unbearable. He was-I pen the
words reluctantly utter disbeliever in
humanity Perhaps the life which he had
hitherto led brought him to this state Of
mind
For in a very short time his neighbors
found out that he was by no means the un-
known man they thought him People who
knew London life had much to say about
this Julian Lorraine. 1t was soon made
clear to the countryside that the new mans
social claims to the right hanl of fellow
ship were indisputable; but other things
were also made clear.
Lorraine had led terrible life-the very
LhSutSb VI lut last lub WOUlef was TlaC
he had survivel-even greater wonder that
he was still wealthy. AT one time 1T was
thought he had run through everything. for
he had disappeared, and no one sa W any thing
of him for years. But it turned out he had
only been leading a rowing life in far coun-
tres. Repeating. let us hope No; Julian
Lorraine was not nice man.
But, nice or not, no one had any longer
tbA ,ylSh tn kaan Mr.
length. Had he cared for it, he might have
enjoyed mixing with the pick of county
society. But he treated civility almost az
he treated GOODNESS, with complete indiffer-
ence; and it soon became under, TODD that
the owner of Herstal Abbey was a man who
no longer ctrel to mix with his kind
1t was. of course, comprehensive that
any on, should buy fine property and
settle down to the life of rec.use: the
more so "a the man was still in the prime
OF life, handsome and wealthy. But Julian
Lorraine wa an ncomprehensble man. I.
for one. have never been able to determine
his true character. Perhaps have Stunned
investigating it. Perhaps, had | tried
shoull rave oeen unable to gather trust
worthy information as to his true nature.
from the fact that tales afloat concerning
his early life would reach me last of all.
When he bought Herstal Abbey he was a
widower with one son, boy of Z Ibis
boy ire petted and neglected alternately.
There were days when the child was with
him from morn to eve; there we're weeks in
which he never saw him from Sunday
morning to Saturday night; there we're
months during which Mr.. Lorains went
wan1ering off. heaven knows whore, leay-
ing the child TO the care of servants
Whether at home or abroad, he kept ND
his establishment in a lavish, wasteful
manner tie threw his money about IN n
cynical way, as one who cared not how il
went. He expected his servants would rob
him-no doubt they did. This he considered
but human nature, and troubled nothing
about it but woe to the man or woman who
in the slightest degree neglected ANYTHING
which his comfort or wh,m demanded! His
dependents soon understood their masters
pecul.arites, and by the exercise of due
care managed to keep their places for years
and years, and no dou bit grew rich upon the
money he wastel.
As will soon be seen. have related all
or the greater part of the above from hear
say. The following incident in Mr.. Lor-
aines life | oan vouch for, as / heard it
from his own lips.
In the year 1858 he was returning from
Australia. He did not tell me what had
taken him there, but | suspect he went in
search of health. He was in sailing YES
sel-the Black Swan was her name There
were other passeugers-men, women and
children. One night there was a crash. a
horrible grinding sound, recoil. AMI the
llac!. Swan quietly settled down to the
bottom OF the ocs an. Whether the disaster
was due to a collision or to a sunken rock
was never known. All was over in five
minutes and Julian Lorraine found himself
swimming for life, yet withou1 a hope Of
saving 1t.
In swimming. as indeed in every manly
exercise Lorraine was all but unrivalei ::
but even his great strength was gone when
he felt hand on his collar and was pulled
all but insensible into a small boat. which
it appeared, was the only one that had bean
lowered or. at any rate, had succee led in
getting away from the wreck
The sea, fortunately, was comparatively
smooth or the tiny beat could not have
outlived the night. When the morning
broke, Julian Lorraine saw all that surviveu
of the ship and her freight
Himself, four sailors three women and
baby in arms!
The sailors were pulling, not from the
hope of reaching land but to keep the boat 3
head to the waves. The mother with her
child c,asped to her breast, and the two
other women, were croucbinv in fh, Sfoy-,