Daily Republican., 1886-06-04

"Stesmboat's whistle passing throuIh
the canal" he repeated. "What In be
name Of wonder are steamboats, VIII.
ties and canals?"
"Don't you know" / said, "tlAt
within one mile OF this place there isa
canal, and that vessels are propelled
through 1t by steam?"
"How in the world should / knob
any thing about such things" he r,
piled, when / have been In this watr
for probably more than one hundral
years, and you are the first person d.
earth with whom / have talked in All
that time"
"Indeed," said 7, land Ia this tie
first time in all these years that ybu
have been called up"
mot by g long sight," he replied i Il
have been called up over and oier
again, but yen are the first man ofhll
my callers, VINO ever exchanged wdds
with me. All the others, as soon a ]
appeared, ran as IL demons were alter
them. Am so frightful looking? he
|chucklingly asked.
"Not by any msane," replied, "md
l am really glad to see and talk with
you. May tell you come of the won
derful improvement made on the ear,h
since you left it?"
Certainly, II you will be 80 kind ),
was the response.
then briefly related how we use,
steam as propelling power, both OF
land and in water; how immeps
Imanufactories were run by it, and tina
one small engine would do the work O
many men and horses. / spoke of tn
telegraph, how we could talk with eacl
other when thousands of miles apart
aud OF many other strange and won
derful discoveries, to all OF which the oil,
man gave close attention, although an.
parently little bit staggered on tn
telegraph story. When had con
cludeu my hasty summary, the old maj
said:
stranger, as you have been so kind
and guess have told me the truth, al
though 1t don't look hardly natural, /
you will be kinder still and tell M
truly what was said about my mysteri
ouB DISAPPEARANCE, and conceal nothing
no matter how much against me it m q,
be, l will in return tell you the tru
story of my being in this water"
THAT is something should certainl,
enjoy hearing" l replied, shut, yo
know, your disappearance occurre
| many years before l was born, and G
course could personally know nothin
OF what was said Of it then"
STILL" he rejoined, lyon show b
coming here to call me up that 20
must have heard something about m
elise you certainly would not hav
come"
"True." said, "and 1 will tell 20
fNEnf
thought of your sudden and mysteriou
disappearance. IL was, simply, tina
Iyou had imbibed too much app
Jack on the night in question and ha
fallen into this creek and been drown
ed. You, suppose, know your Ia
was found on the bank the next morr
ling?"
A smile, half sneer, passed over tn
old mans face.
"How silly people are" he said, can
how little they know about me, If tn Q
thought could get drunk on what Iii
tie drank that night. Why, stranger
the truth is, l only drank ten time
that night, and several times the elias
was not quite full. In those day
| Apple Jack had NO more effect on IN
than 80 much water, and could easil
drink twenty glasses full If / liked
The idea of ten glasses, and some c
them not quite full, making me drunk
don't care a snap about their saying
was drunk, but don't want it believe
that ten glasses-and some of them nc
quite full-of Apple jack would max
me feel that wav. No, sir, 1 was to
tough for that. Now, stranger, 1 vii
tell you the true history, and you wi
then know how my reputation has bee
lslandered.
"You see, the night in question ther
was q dance at Mr.. Atoms"
SAT Mr.. Alton's," l interrupted
"why, / am visiting a Mr.. Alton, an
came from his house to see you"