The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-08
PR o LO G L e.
CHAPTER !.
sIn NICHOLAS cARsLANp.


land, II Thorrell Moor, aud the level rays
Of cn mson and yellow light were flooding
the wide spreading valley beneath. Upon
the rich meadows and brown cornhelds-
upon VII ite-washed farms and the strag~
Cling, picturesque village-on the innumer-
able trees witch dotted the vale, and on the
green lanes 81. ut intersected it, the falling
summer sun SD one warmly and pleasantly,
lending an add Nonal and fictitious beauty
to the scene.
The numberIess windows of Carsland
hall. which looked westward, were ablaze
in the sunsets radian ce like mirrors Of pol
ished gold. and all the rooms on that side
the hall we're flooded with the mellow
beams.
The home OF Sir Nicholas Carsland stood
,,,idw.v betweep the villages OF Thorrell
and Thorrell Moor. Behind the house the
view was bounded by the swelling uplsnds,
vhereon. in olden days, beacon fires had
fared out: in 'front.' the country was laid
bare to the gaze for over dozen miles.
standing on the roof of the hail one could,
apparently, have cast stone into tne VII
lsae of Thorrell; beyond the hamlet the
valley opened out and was dotted by fields
and farms for a mile or two. Then, farther
ON evidences of industrial enterprise showed
xhemseIves in the shape of lines OF railway
covered with coal wagons. colliery mead
gear and tall chimneys. Next came an
other village named Marsh Green, where
ths miners mainly resided, and away
beyond that again q populous town, noted
as being the center OF the Southwest Lanca-
shire coalfeld.
( Such was the landscape presented to the
eve from the upper windows OF Carslano
hall. and Sir Nicholas Carsland was view
ing the picture with melancnoly race;
Ne was seated at the deep-bayed winGoS CT
n-sSdf-sn the second tipoS which was called
z1ts study hls countendnce and bearing be,
traying a mind diseased.
The character Of the baronet may be
drawn in a very few words. He was a self
made man Of the type so common in Ian
casbife. He had started life at she bottom
OF the ladder, and in the course Of City years
had amassed a fortune.
At rs he had married an old lady for the
sake of the few thousands she possessed
That money had proved the cornerstone of
his success; with IL one pit had been sunk,
with the most gratifying results; other pits
had followed until half dozen collieries
dotted the fields between Thorrell village
and the mining hamlet of Marsh Green.
The elderly woman Nicholas Carsland had
married died before his star arose. She was
nearly twenty years her husbands senior,
and she ceased TO live when her first child
Five years later Nicholas Carsland had
married again. On the second occasion ie
was q union of hearts as well as Of hands.
The woman be had fallen in love with was
fine, handsome girl who earned her liveli-
hood on the pit top he owned.
For ten years, or Whereabouts, Carsland
and his wife lived happily together. They
loved each other. fortune was smiling upon
them, the one mine had already developed
into three hence the Carsland household
had nothing to disturb its serenity.
BY bis second wife Carsland had another
child, and this was al'o a boy, who, when
his mother shuffied off this mortal coil, was
a honny. lad Of 5.
When the only woman he ever loved
died Carsland was still in the prime OF life,
being scarcely over 40, but his thoughts
never again turned to matrimouy. BY this
time his success had filled his brain with
great ambitions.
From a pit lad, working for a shilling
day, he had risen to be a capitalist worth
at least e100, 900, and having done SO much
he was resolved to do much more.
He began to take an active interest in the
affairs of the adjacent town, Earlsford
He got himself elected as a member of
the town council, sat as councillor
for several years, and In due
course was chosen as mayor. Then a
general election took place, and he was
brought out as a candidate; he spent some
thousands of pounds on the contest, bribing
right and left, giving free ale and free
breakfasts to all and sundry who cared to
imhibe and eat at his expense, as was the
custom in those deys-and the free and in
dependent burgeIses of Earlsford voted for
bis opponent.
The defeat was bitter pill to swallow,
after all his former victories, but he gulped
IL down quickly and became mayor second
year, feasting the councillors and. aldermen
in q royal fashion. and earning the plaudits
OF all on account Of his generosity.
But Nicholas was plsyinga game, and he
won it. During his second year of office a
local iuhrmary was opened by the Prince of
Wales. For one day and night bis royal
highness stayed in the neighborhood as
Mayor Carslsuds guest, and was enter
tained on princely scale of msgnificence
at Car Stand hall.
His reward came and quickly. The party
for which he had fought losing battle had
possessed itself of the reins of office, and ere
long the ''pluckY and generous coal prince
OF 1horrell Moor" was gazetted Sir Nicholas
Carsland. Bart.
Sitting at the window OF the palatial
house of stone be reared for himself the
haronet looked back upon his busy past with
melancholy countenauce which was but
the reflex OF a discontinued mind.
His rise had been hardly won; the STUN
bling stones in his path had been big ana
numerous. ana as ne sat there he was ask
ing himself in all seriousness If those things
for which he had fought so desperately were
worth the stress and struggle he had under
gone
But for my SON"
Those words were articulatsd lowly,
almost unconsciously by the old man,
and his eyes were bent toward the
small gypsy table upon which an
open letter lay. He ad iusted his eyeglasses.
DEAR FATHZR-In spite of the silence,
and the contempt and pitilessness which
your silence imply-I make one more
appeal TO you. Give me one more chance
to redeem myself. For the love of God
and my poor dear dead mother, do have
been wild, extravaganza sinful--everything
that man ought not to debut my wild
oats are sown now and / mean to redeem
myself il possible.
- will do whatever you desire--will
adopt either medicine or law as a profession
III you do not wish me TO become either a
doctor or a lawyer send me abroad. Per-
haps that would be best. In the wids Of
Australia or America / could settle down,
and not only recover my good name but
win competency some day.
Heaven knows that / am ia earnest
now Will you give me Que more chanceY
Faithfully yours,
SYDNEY B. CARsLAND.n
As the old man perugsd HIS errinp SOM