The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1896-08-04
LOST AND FOUND.


lost AND F0TIND
o 0oND'
Tho following manuscript came into
my hands about 80 years ago. Ny
friend John Williams, the writer of II.
was at nv house on visit. I should
rather co1l him tho fr;end ~ M, ,o+lor
az ho beloved ~ = .a.o,.t;o., $500
~ ~ 'o. r., W s-oA a0.ou piovloa'
W NY o"n ia0 LUX " ssea. fancy 10
me "hen was Coy ana olten told
me his story. One day, when he was IN
q peculiarly communicative mood, ]
persuaded him to write it out, which he
did, on condition that it was not TO be
publisbed dnrino bis ,ifetime Az ba
hos hoon aood vow Al ro.,, o.a ~ 49,
- - - 49, 49, s' A- -. Wv
'D0A' VI A'o 'Aiineuia'e Aain''y ""'e
passeu AWAY thefe can % no impfo'
prlety In oner1ng u TO the public. 1t 10
scarcely necessary for me to say that,
after lapse Of 30 years, it was neoes
sary to make copy Of it, an the origi
nal ink had faded very much.
I, John Williams had inst completed
my college career, which had been
neither better nor worse than that Of
thousands Of others. A slow, plodding
mind was all that nature had given me
within, and red hair, freckled face
and rather ungainly figure were what
she had bestowed upon me without,
John will never set tie river afire,"
was what my father had once said Of
me. Dear, kind old man, he did not
know that was within hearing dis,
lance or he never would have said it.
But, although the remark was gall and
wormwood to me at the time, it spurred
me on to exertion, and I made much
better use Of my time at college than
would otherwise have done.
Mary Mercer, daughter of a near
neighbor and intimate friend of nv
father, had been my lifelong companion
and friend. We were opposites in every
particular She was beautiful, and I
was as has been described She was
graceful, and was not; but, owing to
our secluded lives, we had been thrown
much together, and her charitable dis.
position had been accustomed to over.
look many of my imperfections. An ad-
miration amounting almost to worship
had risen in my mind when I saw her
after my four years absence at college.
I had left her sweet, attractive child,
and found her on my return woman
such as my fancy had never pictured.
OF course there could be but one re.
suit. II I had never been in love before,
l certainly was now, and was not long
in making known to Mary my feelings.
Mary 3 conduct on the occasion afforded
the first instance in which had known
her to swerye in the least from what
was the obvious truth. She was con-
fused, blushed slightly and declared
that I had taken her so much by sur
prise that she did not know what to
say; she had never thought of mo in
that light, and must really give her
little time to think the matter over. /
knew at the time that Mary was fib-
bling.
No woman was ever born with one
half of her sense without finding out such
things long before they were ever spoken
to her. But there was no help for it.
She had the game in her own hands aud
evidently intended to play it to suit her.
self. She asked for week to consider
the matter insisted that two days
were enough, but she was resolute, and,
with a wry face, l had to submit.
One stipulation was that should not
attempt to see her during that time, |
thong h this was rather hard and said
so, but she was even more nositive than
before, and I yielded with the best
grace | could,
In order to give her no excuse for
further DELAY I set off the next day to
visit college friend and stajd at his
house five DAYS. II took n dav to reach
his house and a day to return. Thus the
week passed away, slowly enough for
me, and am afraid my friend found
me dull companion. Promptly at tho
end of the specified time / presented
myself ct Mary's house. To my dis
may iouno u 1uil OF company. mad
been there only a rev minutes when
earned That the friends mad been there
sver since the DAY arterl LETT. lscahned
Mary . race actions manner and recep-
hon, put could make out nothing she
vas KIND and agreeable, but that had
been her ordinary manner, and no con-
,lrslons could be drawn therefrom.
found no opportunity to say word
% her IN private until my visit was
'Ver. AS went to the 'front.' door on my
way out to my horse, which was tied in
ront OF the house, she came out on the
'orch with me- as had been her habit
N previous OCCASIONS AS BABE her
'oodby l asked, as calmly as l could
hough heaven knows my heart was
'eating 80 loud that knew She must
ear 1t:
well, Mary, What IS my rate to be"'
Really, John, she SAID, you must