Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-04-07


favor with the feminine side Of the
household, and was as handy In the |
kitchen as he was in the stable |
Mother declared that he could make
butter better than any hired girl she
ever had, and to show her apprecia-
tion of his talents allowed him TO do
all the churning. There was never q
dull knife or broken door-latch in the
house from the time he made his APP
pearance.
But he was held in high esteem by
the other members of tho family. He
was idolized by my brother and my
self. He told us the drollest stories,
taught us the finest games and made
us any quantity of bowguns, sleds
and fishing rods and was never tired
of trying TO please and amuse us.
Once, when we were seated at dinner.
/ remember saying to him: IL believe
you could mako money if you wanted
| to, William"
He gave q peculiar little laugh and
replied: .'Ah, mon petit; if | could it
should be all for YOU" And believed
him.
He slept in the tool house, a little
said he preferred it because he could
hear the cattle champing in their
stalls at night. He always made his
own bed and / do not think that dur
ing the whole time that he lived with
us anyone entered his room. / re-
member that often on nights when |
could not sleep, having seen his light
shine out from behind the blanket he
| always hung up as curtain until far
in the morning. Once / asked him
what lie was doing at such an hour.
"Ah, Mon Dieu; was only reading"
! Indeed when he was not working he
was always devouring the papers or
any bit of literature he could lay
hands upon.
Williams only fault, If it may be
so termed was a love of absinthe.
None OF us ever saw him drink it, or
even noticed the effect OF il on him.
but he frankly confessed that he was
n slave TO the habit and could not ex-
| ist without it, Long and patiently
! did mother labor with him on the
| subject, but he was obdurate. and one
morning at prayers when she insti-
! tuted a clause for his "deliverance
from the thraldom of rum" | looked
up and caught an odd twinkle in his
eye, which was not in keeping with
the situation. Father looked upon
| Williams weakness moro philosoph-
ically. The man is never drunk
and is old enough 20 know his own
mind. Let him have his nfounded
French cider" he argued. Every
month he would walk into town to
purchase his favorite tipple. He al
the same hour, and was always gone
about the same length of time.
noticed that when he started for
town he always carried bundle. and
one day asked what wa in it. The
bottle. mon cher" he replied; lit il
worth ten cents" With the excep-
tion of the money for his absinthe
and the little that he spent for tobac.
co and books he drew nothing from
my father, saying that he wanted TO
save it until he got ready to return
to France.
During the FIVE years he lived with
us his mode of life never varied. He
never received any letters and never
spoke of having any friends in the
country. He left us with as little
ceremony as signalized his advent
One morning he failed 10 appear at
breakfast and when / went to cal
him / found his door open and his
bed undisturbed, He had left with.
out sign or a word of farewell to
the people who had almost grown t.
love him. Father thought he might
possibly have gone TO town for alb
sinthe and drove in TO look for him.
but strange 10 say he could not find
tavern keeper who had ever seen him
or sold him drop Of any kind o.
liquor. While my father was away
went to Williams room again. 1t
was scrupulously clean and his work
ing clothes were hanging in order
upon the walls. AS ! was leaving
something bright caught my eye and
on picking il up found that it was a
tiny piece of lead which must have
been dropped when it was hot, for
there was a burn on the floor where I
took it from. / found other parti-
Giles of metal and noticed other burns
on the floor, but only thought Will
liam had spilled some solder while
mending some of mothers tinware
Perhaps l was right; but what mat
ters, we never saw him again. and
had it not been for the merest chance
might never have known who he
was My parents never did know
more of him.
About two years ago, while work.
ing as a reporter ON morning
newspaper, l had occasion to visit
that gruesome exhibit, the rogues'
gallery. The pictures proved singu-
larly fascinating to me and ] spent
several hours in the corridors, whose
walls are hung with the portraits OF
the most celebrated criminals of the
country. Men of all ages and condi
tions arc there, from the hardened
murderer, whose face is scanned and
contorted by expressions of greed
| f,,1 90