Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-11-28
CHAPTER XVI.
WARNING.

ShAI ANI.
WARNING.
| do not think that crushing blows as
they term them, are felt in their fullest force
when first delivered 4 wound in vital
part may cause at first but little pain. People
are often represented as overwhelmed imme-
diately by sudden news Of any great misfor-
tune.
50 far as | know by personal experience
in such matters, the Overwhelming,
crushing" agonizinS process may hardly
commence with the reception of its news.
It's the prolonged Woodworking process
afterward that causes the misery Its the
perpetual going over and over, not the same
ground on which your calamity is based, but
tue calamity itself, viewed in all manner of
situations, with ever varying lights and
shades a mental operation in character kalei-
diOScopiC The pieces are the same, but they
are ever arranging themselves in different
forms This may go on for days, weeks,
months. believe thsf many man or wo-
man has said to themselves, when their great
trouble first fell on them. We'll, | can bear
it." who found a week afterward, that 1t was
too grievouS to lie borne with patience or
resignation The only means Of relief would
lie in dismiSSing the matter entirely from
ones mind Unfortunately such matters,
with the great ma jority, will not be dismissed.
They are guests unwelcome, armed and
offensive, who quarter themselves and come
TO stay
When are we Ia have the era of mental
atheism when minds will arrive at such
strength and deXterity as to he able to toss
off trouble from the brain as they would
rubber ball from the hand and forget all
about it at pleasure'
I did not go homo Immediately after
BlanchcS departure from the store. spent
the afternoon wandering aimlessly over
gulch, fiat and neutrality-suspicious., so that
was out Of sight and sound Of human
beings took no thought Of physical exer-
ton. | fed Mt any sound OF labor-the
stroke of picks, the grating of shovels, the
raSping of pebbles in the rockers, and plunged
from such indications of human presence
into the dense growth of chapparal.
had not then met my deepest misery. !
had Indignation TO sustain me. was indig-
naut at Blanche, that she also should have
tried and condemned me without a hearing.
There is certain buOyancy and stimulus in
Indignation 1t is several degrees above dis
couragement and despair.
But the mind doesn't seem capable of Ell
PERTAINING fully more than one emotion at
once. So. when my Indignation had worn
of its finest edge other emotions commenced
their play. They seemed all DESTROYS Of
having n whack" at me-
pass over wonder at BlancheS sudden ap-
pcarance; at curiosity to ascertain how she
heard Of me and the accusation against me,
and at the sudden recollection that the aunt
whom she had so frequently visited in Now
York was by name Pratt and that probably
Jedediah was her husband. ] came at last
Ia my love for the former Blanche Seton, Of
Passport, at my grief for its loss, and at my
deSnair as this last prop was thus 50 suddenly
taken from me. Everything solid seemed to
have tumhled from under me. | was alone
and friendleSs amid suspicion, growing
prejudice, averted faces, whispered lies, and
hack of all these stood the being on earth
most loved, transformed at once from an
sngel Of mercy into an IMPLYING AID His
taken Judge
These were my thoughts for days and
nights They were my company-a numer-
Gus and busy crowd They were kept alive
by the frequent sight of Blanche about
Pratt's cabin Mine was but three hundred
yards distant. She had house put up for
her own accommodation. For assistants she
had every man on the Bar-save myself
The crowd was absolutely hungry to do
something for Miss SeftOa The area on
which her cloth-covered house was erected,
alongside Of Pratts, was leveled as II by
magic. If Mis-. Seton wished bowlder
pitched out Of the way they were ready and
liable 10 remove a hundred. Volunteers
went up the mountain, cut young saplings
and built her a fence Pratt's we'll was
cleaned and deepenet
fifty mon Will r:-I s.lIi si.o IL oisS-' IL ta'S
trail leading from her residence To the store OF
intervening bushes AMI impeding powders,
one evening after knocking of work from
the claims, physical inference that in their
estimation, Miss Seton would probably want
often to go shopping or possibly drop
down Of an evening and have chat with
the boys II Miss Seton had desired the
enormous bulk Of Scrub mountain 10 be re-
moved, think the matter would have been
seriously considered In all this Mr. VII
liam Setter was the lady's self-constituted
right hand maa. AMI even while working on
his claim would BE- seized with spaSm OF anH-
iety and solcitude in her behalf and rush up
TO Pratts in a chronic state Of fusS-about-
and-dOlittleneSs.
Why did | not seek an interview with
Blanche and endeavor to justify myself l
did make the attempt, or rather paved the
way for one. / owed her three hundred dol
lars. | sent her the money with interest
due, through Rankin, explaining 30 him the
circumstances under which the debt was con-
tracted This, of course, let Rankin into
portion Of my secret Fortunately, he was
man who could keep secrets. He realized
that thers was money in this kind OF banking
also. and that cash and confidence often go
together.
His manner toward me In this business was
serious and cansiderste. He seemed to re-
sussct the burden he knew was carrying,
and he was one Of the few with q mind in
herently judicial that demanded clear proof
before any conviction
felt for a while relieved altar having in
trusted this commission to Rankin He said
to me nothing Of the Pratt matter. But as
thoughts can be felt, knew that be sympa-
thized to some extent with my Lonesome and
miserable situation
Blanche sent back, through Rankin, only
formal receipt for the money. To my re-
quest for an interview she made the follow
ing reply: