The Yale expositor., 1895-05-24
CnAPrER I.-tContlnued.D


THAT must be his name and his age;
about 2 years. Joen'
The boy started slightly as If at a
familiar sound, and said in a very affec-
tionate tone: "Mother!"
"Poor child!" said Mrs. Gust. "Some
dear mother will weep for her lost
Aarling; but until she can be found /
will be your mothe;'-shall not,
Joseph?"-to her husband.
d" | don't know about that, Mary.
The boy is an idiot, think. Wait
while before you assume so great re-
sponsibility."
But somebody must care for the
dear child" replied Mrs. Gust 1--WE
have no children of our own TO care
for
During this conversation Joe sat in a
state of wonderment, but with tear
standing in his eye. When Mrs. Gust
had concluded her words, Joe looked
confdingly into her face and said
"Mother!"
That ended the doubt, and the boy
filled, the childless void in that other
wise happy family henceforth.
Joseph Gust and his wife had been
for near twenty-five years one of those
rare phenomenons, a happy childless
family. Their married life had been
one long honeymoon, each living for
the other and as ever anxious
to win continued affection as in
the early days of loves young dream.
They were known among their many
f,.,n "a, oil rhn ha1
not yet, after quarter of n century,
finished their cOurtship. And into
such a house as that it was Little Joe's
good fortune-comparativ good-to
become a welcome member.
After a few weeks when the mystery
about the boys parentage had proven
insoluble, and it had become certain
that he was deficient in mental capac-
ity, Mrs. Gust set herself to training
the lad to proper habits, with all the
devotion of mother. Whatever else
he lacked. the lad was not deficient in
gratitude, and his efforts to comply
with every wish of his foster-mother
were most touching, and coupled with
manifestations of strong affection. And
now, at the end of three years after
his rescue, he had been trained to
h;bits of neatness, order, promptitude
and obedience remarkable for one
whose young mind was so feeble and
so deficient in self-consciousness Self
consciousness, indeed, he had not. He
knew himself only in the third person.
His vocabulary was brief and his sem
fences generally mere repetitions But
some of his powers were remarkable.
He kept time, mentally, almost with
the accuracy of clock; and he obeyed
all instructions given him by his foster
parents-when he understood them
with perfect accuracy. He was always
cheerful and touchingly affectionate
Such was the character and such the
condition of Little Joe" at the open
ing of our story.
Cincinnati in 1923 was not the beau
tiful Queen City" she now is. The
panorama of surrounding hills were al
most without an inhabitant, and the
primeval forest had scarcely known
the woodlands AK. The rivers front,
instead of the present gentle slope
(which is artificial, was a bluff mud
bank, through which ran roadways
slanting TO the waters edge, and to the
''Iorse-boat" landing, whence the
quaint ferry boat made its hourly trips
to the Kentucky shore. Beyond Sew
.enth street northward to the hills all
was corn fields or open commons"
and Race street on the west was the
ultima thule in that direction. Follow
on the eastern side the muddy brook
called Deer creek, and the reader of
to-day will have the boundaries of Gin
cinnati at the date of Little Joe's adj
vent. Mr.. Gust had witnessed the
growth of the infant city from the time
when the little village about Fort
Washington" near the present intersec-
ton of broadway and Fourth streets,
and the settlement" near the foot of
Main street had bourgeoned out in var
ious directions into the most preten-
.tious young city in the Ohio valley. He
was both surveyor and civil engineer,
and in these joint offices had done much
to direct that broad foresight which
had guided the early inhabitants in
opening up and improving the natur-
ally favorable site of the infant city.
Originally the two plains upon which
the city now chiefly rests were not con-
nected by gentle slope as at present,
but were divided by bluff bank of
gravel extending nearly the whole
length of what is now magnificent
Third street. Long before any system
of waterworks had been provided, En-
gineer Gust had gathered Silurian fos-
sils, shells, coralines and trilobits on the
river hills beyond Deer creek where
reservoirs were afterwards built, and
he had at that early day foreseen the
site of the city's future fountains. At
the time of this veritab1e story wells
for the supply of water were few and
far between, and these were of great
depth. The chief reliance Of the pso-
pie was then upon the water carts A
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