The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-07-12

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WHATS THATf'' ASKED AN OLD WOMAN.
That was question had it in mind
to ask Brigham half a dozen times. But
then it is an awkward thing to do, par
ticularly when you have no occasion to
NEEDLE. 1t was a matter for Brigham
to settle with his conscience and Miss
Percival's father. And, too, perhaps Miss
Percival was very well able to take care
of her own affairs, and needed no help
from enc who would only court the nc
cusation that he was prompted by jeal-
ousy or spleen If he did interfere. 1t was
really nothing to me if man Of indef-
mite and presumably doubtful anteced-
ents paid marked attention to young
lady Of exceptional beauty and un-
doubted social prominence.
Still, FL confess that the thing preyed
on my mind, and as got to know
Brigham better my solioitude intensified,
for came to like him the more. He
was frank and generous and chivalrous.
His morals were above reproach. No
appeal was made to him by the needy or
the suffering that was not granted,
though often it left his purse empty or
took him on many a weary tramp into
the quarters where the destitute huddled.
remember that one night while sat
by the window heard him come up the
street, and just in front of the house
some one accosted him. 1t was man
who was begging for assistance ''for q
sick wife and young I'M"
Where are they that You should leave
them at this hour Of the night" / heard
Brigham ask.
"They uns Is up in the boat nigh the
mouth of Wolf river responded the
mendicant I'VE uns jest pulled in
there through the chute nigh about sun
down, an / cum up town lookin' fer
soutin' TO do, but couldn't find nothin'.
an didn't hev the heart to go back to
they uns with nothin', fer there bein'
airy thing to eat in the boat"
II have half notion to go up with
you and see" heard Brigham say, ''for
if what you say is true help must be
needed pretty badly, and if it isn't true
it would be worth the trouble going up
there to thrash you for the lie"
Don't take my word fur it, mister,
but give me some meal and taters an
meat TO tote, and cum long an see that I
don't tell You no lie"
"T1l do it," responded Brigham.
"Well, then, I'll go along" said,
leaning out of the window. "You would
be fool to go up in that thieves den
alone at this hour. How do you know
this man is not trying to decoy your
81 read it in his honest countenance,
responded my roommate with a laugh as
he struck match and held it up in the
dirty vacant face of the typical Johnny
boat tenant of the Mississippi-one Of
those uneasy Migrants who are always
restlessly moving up and down the great
stream, tramps upon the highway of a
nations internal commerce.
And nothing could persuade Brigham
not to make the trip He was set upon
verifying the fellows story, he said, for
if woman and child were sick and
without food in Christian Land it was
high time some one went to their rescue.
Il may be that way myself some day, .
he said, ..and should like to know /
had not been wholly callous to such APP
peals in my days of good fortune"
So having offered to accompany him,
and really fearing for his safety in a
region where murder was done almost
nightly, and where the assassin could find
ready means to hide his crime and es-
cape, perforce had to do what | had
said | would, and with good deal of
grumbling went with him and verified
what the river rat had said.
But if ! hayedigressed from the thread
of my narrative it has only been to give
| You an insight into this mans character,
so that you may know something of the
conflicting emotions | felt when the
wholly contradictory facts of his career
were presented to me. For here was one
who was prompted apparently by the
lindliest sentiments, who was brave and
| generous and tender and trustful. If at
times he was respondent and seemed
melancholy it would have escaped obser-
walton, or at least not occasioned solicit
tude on my part, were it not for the
enigmatical past of which he seemed
! jealous AS time went on grew
strangely fond of him and he of me. AS
look back upon those old days can
see how he chung to me as though he
| found a certain support in my stronger
nature, as though ne hoped that l might
somehow stand between him and his
| fate.
One sunny afternoon in the late
autumn we were strolling along the bluffs
below the town, looking ont over the
river and talking of the naval fight when
the fleets met and decided the fate of the
beleaguered city.
Brigham was carrying his hat in his
hand, and as the wind tossed back his
hair | noticed above his ear and well
back from his forehead what looked like
deep scar.
Whats that" asked, San old wound
"a relic Of boyhood raid on some limo
cent neighbors orchard, or memento Of
a more perilous expedition
He put up his hand and ran his fingers
along the white scar, and then said with
puzzled expression:
I'D give a good deal to know how that
came there, but / don't 1t makes me
dizzy when touch it, but it gives me nc
pain"
~ 4. L.