Mower County transcript., 1890-04-16

was not q man to depend upon q rich
father-in-law, were he ever 50 amiable.' y
mo, but still-but will tell YOU that
afterwards. I did not send back the
telegram John Akin wrote out, because
I am not brute, but sent one of my
own telling Polly that her father was
very angry, and that there was no hope
OF present forgiveness. know she
wrote several times, and her lotters
were tossed into the fire, unopened.
Then l lost sight of her for several
years. In that time it became sort OF
grim joke to me to draw up John Atkins
will two or three times year, and de.
stroy 1T, to make a new one. think
drew up at least dozen, not ono OF
which was ever signed. Sometimes he
left his property split up into portions
for fifty different charities; sometimes
he divided it amongst his relatives;
sometimes he left it in bulk to a library;
sometimes to hospital; but never one
dollar was left to Polly or her hus.
band"
''But why did he never sign them?"
''Superstitious. He believed that
signing will always preceded speedy
death. Why, there are wills in this
odioe my father drew up forty years
ago, and the testators-to-be are alive
yet. But l never told John Akin that.
l told him every yarn ever heard about
mon who dropped dead going home from
the lawyers after they had signed their
wills, all the cases of heart disease and
apopleXy that followed their testament
tary efforts. knew if he died without
will Polly must inherit his property,
and l wasn't going to stand in Polly's
light if l could help it!'
II see! Did he die then?"
1t was long after we had lost sight of
Polly that people began to shrug their
shoulders and talk in low tones about
John Akin. Nobody liked him. Such
airs of superiority are hard to
swallow in free country, and
there was not man in Eyreville quite
ready to eat humble pie to John
Akin. So when he began to show signs
of mental weakness there were plenty
to nod and wink and laugh behind his
back. The first inkling I had was in
the wild directions got about his busi-
ness affairs, and when one day had five
directly contradictory orders in one
note. went for DR.. Hay. After seeing
his patient he sent for New York ply
sician, and they both decided that he
was as mad as March hare We in
troduced keeper into the house as an
old friend come to make visit, and /
undertook to find Polly. Little 1 knew
the task it would be. Letters were re-
turned, visits to New York were un-
availing, and advertisements of the most
urgent kind were unheeded. l was
breaking down with the weight of re-
sponsibility, for Mr.. Akin was in full
bodily health, and cunning as fox. l
was in terror all the time lest he should
do some mischief, and yet had no au-
thority fox shutting him up in an asy-
lum."
II should have taken the authorit ty."
"And perhaps he would have recov-
cred in month and sued you for false
Imprisonment. You see he was not
raving lunatic, and there were times
when he was as sane as any body. Just
when was getting desperate received
letter from Philadelphia. 1t was writ
ten by the superintendent of an institu-
tion for the instruction of the blind, and
stated that having seen my advertiser
ment, he wrote to say that he had had a
man named William Marshall under his
care. and thought he might be found if
SO directed. He was quite sure this
William Marshall had son named John
Akin, and thought it might be the man
was seeking"
"Blind! Poor little Polly!'
II took the next train for railadel-
phia, and three days later found Will
Marshall, Polly and their three chill
dren. You might we'll say poor little
Polly then. Will had injured his eye
sight by writing late into the night,
earning a mere pittance as a clerk.
He had never had any business train
ing, and found it very hard to obtain
any employment l fear they came
very near the starvation of which
Polly's father spoke, and that it was a
want of proper nourishment that at last
broke Win down with typhoid fever,
from which he recovered blind. But
this was after years of struggle, and
when the youngest of the children was
nearly a year old. Brave little Polly
never lost her heart Will spoke of her
as he might have done of an angel as he
told me of her cheerfulness, her cour-
age, her hopeful spirit that never broke
under all the burdens laid upon it. She
had taken in sewing, had tended in a
store, had forty times turned every
penny earned before spending it. She
had never let an opportunity to work
pass by when her little hands could ac-
complish the task. When l at last
found her she had established school
for little children, and managed to
live on what she earned; but it was
we'll Will was blind. Could he
have seen the pale little Polly who
came in while he talked, with haggard
face, gray hair and hollow eyes, l
think his heart would have broken.
Only the CHEEKY ring of her voice was
left of the Polly of old, and that, am
sure, was cultivated to meet Willis ear.
Shabby in dress, WEAKNESS printed on
every line of her face, with three pale,
thin children as shabby as herself, Polly