Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-08-07
J0E'S ORPHAN.

1t was night for dreams-a rough, wild
storm without-and an open fire, table
covered with books, cushioned chair and
slippers within. At least joe Danforth
thought so.
What shall l dor he soiloquized
Here want to have quiet time dream
ing by my own fire. Cozy, isn't it?''
AS he said this and looked at the COM
Portable furnishings of his room, and then
at the CHEEKY fire, his ear caught the sound
of the wind roaring down the chimney
How the storm howlsr' he now de-
clared, stepping to the rich bed-curtains
that fell in warm, thick folds to the floor
He tried to look out
Bah, it is wintry! How the snow
gathers on the window-ledge! II looks like
bed OF lily blossoms" thought joe Then
he tried TO locate the different gas-lamps in
the neighborkood. Only feeble recogni-
ton did these sentinels wink back through
the storm at Joe.
=" don't want to go out, | am sure" Joe
thought. Must l? Let me read that note
again.
He went back to the lamp-lght, and
taking up note, read:
Dear joe: Can't you come down to the house
this EVENING" That individual will be here, the
orphan we told you about, and we sort OF want
you to know her. Are you aware, young man,
that this is the third time have planned little
company, including you and this other friend
Though she doesn't know it,? Charlie and
call our friend Joe's orphan = but if you don't
come tonight you shall lose all claim upon her,
and we viii be offended. We can't reserye or
phans so long a time and have it amount to
nothing. Now come Cousin joe do, or-or-you
Cousin FANNY.
Ps.-You understand me.
Yes, I understand you" soliloquized
Joe. You would like to get me into
scrape. Joe's orphan I'm not going. l
don't want to see her"
Here the old bachelor-he was not very
old, only thirty-settled back contentedly
in his chair to enjoy the sound OF the wind
blowing all sizes of trumpets down the
chimney.
"Why is it." Cousin Fanny said to her
husband, Charlie Waters, that very even
ing at the supper-table-" why is it Joe does
not care more for us females? He is
cynic, savage, a stone, and if he does not
accept my invitation. I will make him pay
for it.'
And why did not Joe Danforth show
more susceptibility? 1t is true he was fas
tidious in his tastes, but there was another
reason. About six years ago he was away
on a vacation in manufacturing district,
and spent several weeks near a river that
made most picturesque valleys as well as
turned very important mill-wheels. He
was leisurely walking along bushy coun-
try road when he saw young woman step
out of a little house that he had not discoy-
cred before, so leafy was the nest in which
il was hiding. On the arm OF this young
woman leaned an old man. She was of
medium hight her complexion fair and
her features regular. Her beauty was in
her eyes. Such eyes y Joe said to him
self at once. Certainly no young lady's
eyes had ever looked so far down into his
soul. There was a clearness to them,
bright, crystal purity, a penetratiyeness,
that made Joe say a second time, Such
eyes !" As TO color, whether blue, hazel,
brown, black, gray or even yellow, Joe
could give no account. Why is it that GER
tain looks from strangers are so magnetic
we remember them to our dying day-and
certainly will beyOnd-whereas other
glances make as little impression as the
raindrop gliding over marble tombstone?
Joe was in no condition to reason out the
problem. Those eyes went through him
like electricity. Shock One from the bat
terry!
Mercy !" screamed the young lady
lifting her head and looking in the direc-
ton of swift carriage-wheels that almost
noiselessly had turned an abrupt corner
fifteen feet away. Another minute, horse
and carriage would have come rushing
upon the old man. Joe saw it. One of
the charges brought against him by super
fetal acquaintance was that he was a
fellow of impulses a freak, 'whim"
might seize him, and off he would 60
f-an oil " ia lNn
right direction, and it was in reality only
his decision and self-forgetfulness that
made him peculiar. The next moment
Joe was springing for the old man. Selling
him quickly, he drew him away from his
dangerous position.
"Oh, thank you, sirr' said the young
lady, and then came Shock Number Two
from the battery of those eyes
This time Joe's soul was stirred to
its very depths. She turned away with her
father, when a scream was heard. Joe !
Joe !" This came from a second carriage
that was passing. Joe looked up. The
carriage had halted. If there isn't cousin
Fanny ~ he said.
She was reckoning to him. Inwardly
resolving that he would return and inquire
about the old man-and somebody else
lie accepted Fanny's invitation to ride a
Bit She pieced out this ride with another
bit, and when Joe did return to inquire
for the old man at the house nesting in
the woods, he was told that the young lady
and her companion were strangers, only
stopping there for brief rest, and where
they had gone no one could say.
"Provoking!n exclaimed Joe. He did not
give up the search, though. Returning to the
city, he said to himself, one day: There
was that old shoemaker in the village
whom | had occasion to see several times,
and il seems to me that one day saw that
young lady's father in his shop. Now the
shoemaker may know about him, and
will inquire.
He sent a letter of inquiry about the aged
father whose acquaintance Joe was so anx-
ious to coutinue. The shoemaker received
the letter by the evening mail, and took it
to his shop to read. His light was poor,
and so were his eyes. He reached the state
meut of Joe's wish, and he began to read
aloud, giving the letter his own pronuncia-
ton "'Want-to git-holt-of an ovid
man-who-'n The shoemaker halted.
Whats that? p he asked, looking at the
word livcd "Och why don't people write
as they mane7 an sure it's hired, if its liver
anything. All, Wis, an we'll begin again {:
An ovid man who hired about a little
house-that had a-gardin i see jist what
be names"
Then Joe mentioned the location of this
house with a garden, and the shoemaker
now shook his head triumphantly.
"Ah, Wis, he names Michael Vazey, who
did work a spell in that little spot among
the trase; an this nice young captain, who
must have a fine gardin, wants to hire
Michael. Yis, now | see it, an wonder
was so stupid as niver to see it before. Och,
! have it now, sure, intirely. will sind
Michael along to him, as there's nothin'
like goin' yersilf, and il may be that Mad
anne Vazey would ike to go, too. OF coorse
she would"
Who should arrive the next day but an
old gentleman accompanied by an old lady,
inauiring if Joe was the man who wanted
some one to take care OF his grounds, pre-
santinp at the same time q note from the