The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1890-12-19

uated from the university with high
honors, and soon after became engaged
to a beautiful girl. He had long been
destined to enter the miniStry-a work
for which his taste and abilities best
fitted him-and Immediately upon his
marriage he was to settle down in
charge of parish at some distance
from his home. There was but one
drawback TO happiness. His mother, al
though she consented to the betrothal,
did not seem to feel the pleasure in it
that he could have wished But he put
1T all down to her grief at the prospect
OF parting with him, and preparations
for the wedding went on in the mer-
ricst fashion.
"'But one morning there was an
alarm The mother was missing-had
disappeared in a very unaccountable
and mysterious manner. All the day
they searched for her, and just at night
my hero, passing through some woods in
secluded part of the grounds, found her
lying, face downward, in a shallow lit
tie pool of water there.
Drowned herself during temporary
alteration of the mind. was the verdict,
and then it was the young man learned
that insanity had been for generations
back a hereditary trait in his mothers
family. Then, also was he told the real
truth about his father; and he found
that that father was not dead, but was
incarcerated in a private hospital in
America-viOlently, hopelessly mad.
Well, you can understand how he
felt, or, rather, you can't comprehend
it The girl that he loved was true to
him, but how could he marry her,
knowing what he did? Even il the
lunacy slum bered in his veins it would
surely awaken to curse their children
So he left her, and, almost crazed with
sorrow himself, he sailed for America,
where he still remains 4 little while
ago he heard that his betrothed was
dead-killed by the double shock of
his disappearance and his mothers fear
ful and untimely end
"'Can you wonder continued Ram
say, in tone OF subdued passion, that
a species of bitterness often mingles,
half unconsciously, with his sorrow for
his parents? And is it strange that he
feels almost as il they had committed
crime in bringing him into existence,
knowing as they did, that he must,
perforce, be lowered with the fatal,
inevitable family curse?'
This tale mado a strong impression
in my mind" the young doctor re-
sumed. "At first l seriously questioned
if Ramsay wasn't himself the hero OF
it, and, though his apparent gayety led
me TO dismiss that thought still /
couldn't help feeling that the events
he'd narrated had in some way pro-
duced lasting effect in his life.
We'll, matters wore quite TRANQUILITY
on for 4 year or so, and Mr.. Ramsay
grew in the popular favor all the while.
Zone morning as l sat in the drug
store talking Ramsay happened in, and
purchased package Of rat poison He
mentioned, casually, that the mice
were bothering him, and stood mo-
ment gossiping with careless good
humor, and then went out
That night the deacon with whom he
was boarding came hurriedly TO my
Office to summon me. Rev. Mr.. Ramsay
was taken very suddenly i'll. 1 put on
my hat and coat and went to him at
once. and somehow before I'd reached
his bedside it flashed over me that he
had swallowed the poison i saw him
buy in the morning. The moment /
entered the room / knew that it was so.
''He fingered three days, suffering hor-
ribly, but not word would he say as to
the motive of his deed. Before he died
he showed me a photograph he wore
upon his bosoul-the picture of young
woman and child, each very beauti-
ful and very like the other. And he
asked that 1t be buried with him, and
so it was. The church gave him most
imposing funeral, and erected . fine
monument over his grave; and they
have never ceased, l believe, TO mourn
their mys sterious but dearly loved min
ister For a long while they sought to
find out the secret OF his life, but the
minutest inquiries failed to reveal a
single fact. With characteristic fore
thought he had destroyed his papers,
leaving nothing that would throw ligh
upon his former history.
Il often recall him, even now," added
the young doctor. ''and / can't help
wondering il he was not the hero OF the
strange tale he told me. And in that
case was he insane when he killed him
self, or did he do it because OF grief
for his betrothed? Who, then, was the
child whose portrait he wore upon his
breast?
Sometimes fancy that he had COM
mitted an offense which made him
fugitive from justice and led him at
last to take his own life in remorse-
The remem brance Of his open face and
kindly, sympathetic manner makes this
seem impossible, and yet, in this strange
world, where people are such curious,
mixtures of good and evil,
who can tel?''-Nelly Booth Simmons,
in Chicago Times.