Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1889-12-26

sryerr He began mature life aatbnat
captain and finished III training rs -hsrif Of
an diana county. 4 born ruler, at - years
az. r. knew absolutely nothing Of any
rnrthas. save stern command and force ready
fpr instant anpI,Ation Io this he aided
hahit uf PERPETUAL faalt finding
Hehad b--a Z ting over the noary harangue,
vita which s1tna ia I-~1ple have insultet
voun. 0t.., sa,e the days q Homer, about
the ..-,l b,ys aai :ha industrious young men
n his ear!v lie and the degenerate sons Of
tbes. iays. when Aloe7ts satirlcal humor
ruSa
You're mighty li;tie account now" said
the "a her. 'Wnat'u you he a; my ager'
Il -,!prp,-. ,aii Albert. unconsciously
initiating III fathers sneer. III 90 Ike other
Oh tu..il--it and tell lies about the big things
did when vas a boy
IL twas 1ae IL tao-s ,u,;Ilts which some men
consider .'tpe first h.o~, and the second fell
pr0rnttIv RA..Iu. his bTaai. right hand,
and foarln. with rage. the father brought Is
i3wu Tia, across the sons mouth. The o.ood
He, from Albert nose a. he staggered back
He rallied. Eazel an instant On the father,
tb.u -uined away ii clInched teeth and
set purpose.
He sou.h, his confdant. Sam McCorAle,
the drunken shoemaker boy near BY. VINO
was of the same age as Albert, but knew
utty times a. much OF the tricks and devices
Of the oppressed. At 10 years sam was an
exr..rr IN evasive tricks. az Is he was simply
prodigy.
Tnese TWO had met and conferred often
the sad. cynical skepuc, whose father was
among the wel-to-do farmers Of the commu-
nitv. ana the finished trlckster whose father
was the Outcast. they often laid out wonder
f,l plans ot life in distant regions but soon
a fa;r vorne, face rose before Albert Merritts
ares and be could not make up his mind TO
go II was the face Of Helen Blake, only
faw Years before his schoolmate But now
Albert was resolved II Helen thought OF
him a, often as he did OF her, she would waie
for him TO return. and If she were worth the
winning She wau respect him more for
laeving the d. IS Of his present life.
Thus he reason.
Late that night two with small bun
dies might have been seeA. Uut took care not
10 be on the river road, and it was soon
Known 10 all the community that they had
left the place
or farewells the boys had said none
Albert had indeed written brief note to
his mother. in which he had bidden her
good-b fun Of clumsily worded tenderness,
aud another to Helen, which he had fprinauy
b.gun Miss Helen Blake" and In which ne
rad as formally expressed the hops tnat,
though al s,nt perhaps for years, be would
not be forgotten Theoe epistles he took with
him in his fight and day or two later On
trusted them TO Sam McCorkle to post, bus
that ind: vidual, fearful that the route OF do
parture -Tould be guessed by the postmarK,
calmly destroyed them, although he solemn
ly declared to Albert that he had deposited
them in the postoffice Of considerable town
through which they journeyed. And so the
two bows were quite cut of from the old
world Of semi-servitude
That a father should be sorry for the flight
of a son is but natural; that he Should, wnile
a spark OF pride or anger remains tell any
one of his sorrow would be contrary to all
recorded precedents in such cases William
Merritt, was not the man to violate prece-
dents OF discipline He held himself stlffiy,
waved away the subject complacently, and
said when he spoke at all: oh he'll soon ges
sick OF his fiirt-he1l be glad enough TO come
hack But late summer yielded TO autumn,
and autumu gave place to winter, and sad
Christmas day had come, for Albert Merrits
had made no sign
When Helen Blake was told that Albert
Merritt was runaway boy" she merely
said, .'Ah. indeed" and bent very low over
her work; but she knew why he had gone
knew it, indeed, about as well as he did
Ere long she and Mrs. Merritt seemed to
have good deal to say to each other. They
seldom if ever mentioned Albert, but 1t al
ways seemed that the mother was much
cheered after q visit from Helen. In her own
desponding heart the mother said: He will
never come back, he is too much like big
father" favorite deIusion with mothers,
by the way. And 50, on this sad Christmas
day, the two sorrowful women exchanged
deep sympathies without exchanging word
on the subject nearest their hearts, and tho
mother felt that night as If volumes had
been spoken on the subject, when in fact it
bad not been mentioned. And thereafter