The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-04-03
HOW THE SCAR CAME.
fBeniamin Northrop. in New York Graphic.

Dinner had been finished about an 1 hour, and the gentlemen had just re- turned to the drawing-room, after hay l ing concluded their coffee and cigars The guests had tired of talking to them l selves as the most patient of guests oftentimes do, and it was too soon after eating to allow those who sang to do 1 themselves what they miscalled justice, and so the conversation began to flag. You want story of some sort do you?" inquired the hostess, Well" she continued, playfully if you will be very good and very quiet children will amuse you with story which has, how ever, one very serious drawback"
 Never mind that" exclaimed the guests, delighted at any prospect of amusement Give us the story
 "It has one serious objection" contin- ued the hostess, without noticing the interruption. " It is true. Let me see, time flies so quickly when one begins to age that almost forget when it hap pened. It must have been at least if teen years ago however. So you per ceive it is quite modern Twenty years ago, to begin at the beginning, there lived in one of those charming little hamlets of New England poor clergy man and his only daughter, who was then about sixteen years of age. Her father had few intimate friends, although there were many who knew and respected him highly outside of the small congre- gation whose wants he faithfully minis l tered to. There was wealthy mill owner about his own age, a widower and the mainstay of the church, and young man less than five and twenty, tall and handsome, whose position in the minis ters family can best be described by his title, Cousin Jack Jack was poor, though, and a civil engineer by profess sion. He lived i'll the family, and this young girl found in him brother play mate and lover. Civil engineering, how ever, was not remunerative in this little village, and so one day Cousin Jack kissed little Clara, wiped away the tears from her eyes-for she loved this great, manly engineer more, far more than he dreamed of and far more too than he loved her so unhappily does Cupid some times aim his arrows-and left for the west where he had secured position as engineer on a building railroad in the mining country. After he had gone the l house Was often lonely, and when two years later the mill owner proposed to marry Clara her father gladly consented, and they were wed in the little church by the hillside one sunny day and she ]. left the little cottage for more preten- ! tiohs house in the city Suddenly, month later. her father died in his pull pit died while praying for his congrega- ton, died like Christian warrior at his Inn ia1 in ho lla churchyard, and soon the town had for gotten him and his almost as if they had never lived.
 " In time there came into their house a little blue-eyed, golden-haired baby girl, and for a time the young mother was so happy that her home seemed al- most like heaven. But heaven is not for this world in my little story any more than it is in real life, and very soon she found this out One day her indulgent husband didn't come home to his dinner An hour passed and then another and still another until at last the anxious wife became alarmed At length the book-keeper from the mill was announced. When he entered the room she saw on his face the tidingS of evil
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 "' Be calm, madame, he said, although he was far from calm himself, be calm He is far better off where he is
 Then she tainted. When she awoke from her swoon they told her all The times were panicky and the mill had failed. The master, unable to bear the loss, had-well, won't say what he had done. but the young wife was now widow and almost penniless. It took several weeks to settle up the estate And when it was done she found of her fortune she had barely 5000. With SO small an amount of money she must of necessity work to support herself and her child, The scene of her happiness had become strangely distasteful to her, and so she concluded to leave the place and follow the example of Cousin Jack in seeking her fortune in the west
 "She selected for her home a little city in Colorado, on valley through which there ran d river ripping and tumbling over sands of yellow gold be- tween great cliffs of granite under whose rough, ragged sides lay hidden countless veins of the same precious metal. Here she went, and finding little house on a quiet street she bought it and settled down to her new life, hoping that before her money should become exhausted some means of earning livelihood might suggest itself. Rather an imprac- ticable way of doing, you probably think, but this young widow had little experi- ence. She knew nothing of money earning and had little ability to battle with the world. There was nothing masculine with our friend, not even a husband. One day she had caller He came while she was out, and when she returned he was sitting in the par Tor with little Clara on his knee. He was Cousin Jack, and he was still un- married He briefly told his story He had built the railroad surveyed other roads and at length became a miner with the rest of the men, and unlike many of