Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-06-24
tobacco, which was her chief food and Ter
chief solace, and took no further heed Oh
mo
CHAPTER v.

The summer ana Tue autuho poSSSe -,
no sign or letter came from Ralph. Inc
people in the town ceased, after the man
nsr of mankind, 10 think of the boy. he
was gone and forgotten, yet there were TWO
or three of us who spoke and thought OF
him continually. First, there was the
fupleman, who found his life dull without
the bow TO talk with. He promised 10
make q collection of birds eggs IN the
spring as present for him when he should
return. Then there was the old woman
Sailor Nan, who kept his memory greer;
Lastly, there were my grandmother ana
myself. We knew not. however,
where he was or anything about
him, nor could we guess what he was do
ing or whittier he had gone.
Twice in the year, namely, at Christmas
or the New Year, and at midsummer, l
had letters from my parents, to VIII en-
duly replied. 1t was In May when kerpn
ran away, so that they had three letters
from NE that year. When my Christmas
letters arrived there was mention OF our
boy, but 80 strange tale that We could
not understand what to believe OF what
the thing might mean.
The letter told Us that Ralph reached
London safely in four or five weeks after
leaving US, having walked all the way,
save for such trifliag lifts and helps as
might be had for nothing on the road; he
found ont my fathers shop; he gave him
the letter; he slept in the house, and was
Hospitality entertained. In the morning
he was taken by my father to the E.st
India company's great house IN CornhliI,
and left there by him, to talk with gen.
tleman about the obtaining Of a post ID
their service; that, the conversation hnisn-
ed. being dismissed by the gentleman
with whom he had taken counsel, Ralph
left the office. Then he disappeared, ana
was seen NO more. Nor to the inquiries
made was there any answer given or any
news of him ascertained. $50 wicked IL
this unhsppy town." wrote my mother,
''that men are capable Of numbering even
an innocent lad from the country for the
zske of the silver buckles, or the very coat
upon his back. Yet there are other ways
in which he may have been drawn away.
He loved not the thought of city life; he
NAV have taken the recruiting sergeant's
shilling; or he may have been pressed for q
sailor and sent to sea; or, when heaven
forbid, he may have been decoyed into bad
company, and now be in the company oil
rogues. Whatever cause, be has dissp:
peared and made no sign. Yet he seemed
a good and honest lad"
So perplexed were we with the strange
and uninteliigble intelligence that, alter
turning it about in talk for week, 1t was
resolved that we would consult Mr.. Car
nsby in the matter. 1t would perhaps
have been better if we had kept the thing
to ourselves; for this gentleman, though
he kindly considered the case, could do
nothing to remove the dreadful doubt
under which we lay, except that he recon-
mended MS to patience and resignation,
virtues of which, heaven knows, we
women who stay at home must needs con-
tinually practice. We should, l say, have
dore better had we held our tongues, be-
cause Mr.. Carnaby told the barber, who
told the townsfolk one by one, and then 1t
was whispered about That Ralph had
Joined the gypsies, according to some; or
been pressed and cent TO sea, according 10
Others; or had enlisted, according to others;
with wild stories told in addition, born OF
imagination, idle or malignant, rs that he
hsd Joined company of common rogues
and robbers; or-but scorn to repeat
these things. Everybody, however, at
this iuncture, remembered the wicked
things said of the boy by his cousin. As
for Mathew himself, oveijoyed at the well
come news, which lie received open
mouthed, so to speak, he went about call
ing all his acquaintance to witness that
he had long since prophesied ruin and dis
aster to the boy, which, indeed, to the
fullest extent, lad so depraved as to whip
a. to horsewhip his own guardian, richly
deserved. As for coming back, he said
that was not likely, and indeed, impossi.
bic, because he was already knocked on the
head-Mathew was quite convinced Of
this-iu some midnight bIawl, or AZ least
fallen 80 low that he would never dare to
return among respectable people. These
things we could not bslieve, yet they sank
into our hearts ard made rs uneasy. For
wbers could the boy be, aud why did he
not send us one letter at least, to tell us
what Ia had done, and how he had Jared!
Child" said my grandmother, ut Is
certain that Mathew does not wish his
cousin to return. He bears malice in his
heart against the boy, and be remembers
that should he never get back the mill will
be his own" Already he began to give
himself the air of the master,and to talk OF
selling field here and field there, and OF
improving the property, as if all was his, "
HE will come back" said the fugle-
.onH luatu lpUa IN
not get killed. Maybe he hath enlisted
Then be may have gone a-sOldiering to
America, or somewhere in the world, and
no doubt will get promotion-ay, corporal
first, sergeant next, and perhaps be made
fugleman. Or maybe, as your lady mother
says, he hath been pressed, and Is now az
sea-: SO that he cannot write. But,
wherever he is, be sure he is doing well.
Wherefore, heart up"
Well, to shorten the story, we got no
news at all, and could never discover, for
MANY wears, what had become of the boy.
When four years had passed by without q
word or line from him, Mathew grew hor-
ribly afraid, because Ralph's One-aDd-
twentieth birthday drew near, and he
thought the time was come when the heir
would appear and claim his own. What
preparations he made to receive him l
know not. Perhaps blunderbuss and q
cup of poison. But the day passed, and
there was no sign Of Ralph. Then, indeed,
Mathew became quite certain that he
would no more be disturbed and that the
mill was his own.
As for myself, sat at home chiefly with
nv grandmother, who was now beginning
to grow old, yet brisk and notable still.
There was a great deal to be done, and the
days pass swiftly to industrious hands ;
vet not one so busy and not one so swift
but could find time to think and to pray
for Ralph.
Sill the fuglemsn kept up my heart
and Sailor Nan swore, as if she was still
captain OF the foretop, that he would come
home safe. l was young, happily, and
youth is the time for hope. Aud about
the sixth year had cause to think about
other things, because my own mistortunes
began.
/ had long observed in the letters of my
dear parents a certain difference, which
constantly caused doubt and questioning;
for my mother exhorted me continually in
every letter to the practice of frugality,
thrift, simple living aud the acquisition Of
Il ill