Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1891-07-31
Mossback Alarmed.

For some time | have been in q
state of terrible worry and anxiety.
IF D.. Koch or Pasteur had dis
covered & radical cure for chronic
suicide, l think l should discard
my troubles in a heap and not
take them up again till cool wealth
ar. 7 have not been able to avoid
some slavery fit only for niggers IN
harvest, for Mrs. Mossback has de-
clared she will heye bread, even
though the inhuman Multums
may have al opportunity to con-
g-egste and rejoice over the re-
mains Of her sun-stricken Solo
mon, ss pack of wolves might
celebrate the fall of a particular
valiant bell. wether. But this un-
usual physical strain is not all I
have undergone of late. "A dark
conspiracy or dire adversity-I
know not which to call it yet-has
thrcwn new danger across my
path. Perturbation is a feeble
word to express my condition. l
construe the innocent low Of kline
into the menacing note of blood
hounds by day, and last night |
heard the Judge sentence ne to
Imprisonment, in voice cultural
with echoes from the grave, and
awoke TO find it was only Mrs.
Mossback snoring, Byron says
50 Tleophilus tells "The
heart may break, yet brokenIy
live on" [ don't know about that,
but l can furnish any number of
testimonials to the fact, that
man may continue to exist when
even the ham and biscuits of the
Multums could not wean him from
his misery. Yet 1 would be will
ing to accept whatever degree of
relief those viands might afford.
1t would be comfort to be corpu-
lent, if not happy.
Some men are are such consum-
mate schemers as to weave their
fell intriques into the logic of
events in & manner which defies
detection. They can clothe con-
spiracy in the semblance of cas-
uaIty, and can cunn1ngly contrive
to make the incident lost to sight
IN thesequence. One or two of
the Multums are adopts in the art
of intrigue. My suspicious are
not loud enough for print yet, in
the form of accusations, but [ am
not asleep.
Lately the school house in my
district WAS burned, presumably
by an incendiary, and suspicion
is pointing its malicious finger at
me. | know it not only by the
coldness and altered de-
meanor of all my acquaintances,
but also by couple of communi-
cations pointedly stating the fact,
signed ga Friend" When 1 re-
ceiye anything from a person u.s.
ing this signature, | always set to
work to detect the new enemy in
disguise, for friendship scorns to
use a mask. But malice delights
in bitter truths. | feel that | am
under the curse of public suspi-
cion, which is hardly less prone to
exaggerate trifes than personal
jealousy. Shakespeare might have
called it the cross-eyed monster,
because it is SO hard to tell when
it is not looking at one. Circum-
stances, either adventitious or
contrived, have hedged me about
with danger. Innocence is good
thing IN such cases, but an alibi
would be much better. URfortu-
nately the latter seems beyond my
power to produce, in case it be
The night the house
was burned l happened to be COON
hunting, with no companion save
the dogs l haUa left since l went a
fishing. | saw nobody whose evi-
dence could support the story of
my innocence. Dissatisfaction
relative to the location of the;
house has long subslsted, and fac
lions have disturbed the tranquil
ity of the district. At the last |
annual meeting vote was taken
IN building a new house on a site
more central and otherwise favor
.ble. Living near the old house.
nevertheless | advocated newl
me, to the great surprise of my