The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1897-04-02

selves fully as well If not better than
,hpy would if their parents had acted
with more sense. They met, courted
aud marricd-married two or three
years sooner than they would have done
il they had not been interfered with,
but had been allowed to continue their
courtship' uninterruptedly So much
for the wisdom OF their parents.
John held a position at fair salary,
and had saved up money enough to buy
and furnish 4 neat little cottage home.
Here the couple settled down as happy
as two lovers could be, and Mary laid
aside her rich attire and easy life, and
readily transformed the bankers daugh-
ter into the poor clerks wife; and She
felt none the worse by the change. She,
took up the duties of housekeeping and
soon became quite proficient.
Banker Blatchford and Farmer
Green, as soon as they learned that
their children were married, proceeded
forthwith to dsown them Mary made
one attempt to win her fathers for
giveness, but he refused her petition,
saying she need no longer consider him
in the light of father, nor, indeed, in
any other light save that of total
stranger.
"You have married as you wished.
and not as | would have had you," he.
said, $50 go your way and III go mine.
You have chosen to disregard my ad-
vice and desires, and have tied yourself
to penniless wretch, and from this.
time forth know you not You must
look to John Green for everything, and
when poverty and want overtake
you, as they certainly will, don't come
to me for assistance, for swear that
you shall never have penny or q
crumb from me-"
That quite settled matters between
the rich, proud, old banker and his low
ing, tender-hearted daughter and from
that time forth they were strange to
each other; and though for two years
they lived in the same town, and often
met and passed on the street, no sign
of recognition was shown by either.
Poor Mary could show pride and def
ance enough when she was in her
fathers presence, but no one ever knew
what tears she shed and what heart
aches she suffered when she was at
home alone. She loved her father next
to John, and even after his cruel speech
she would have gladly thrown her arms
about his neck and plead for his owe,
and forgiveness, only she knew that he
would repulse her if she did.
Johns father, not to be outdone by
Blatchford, notified his son never to
come back home, but to consider him
self disinherited and disowned. This
notice did not quite crush John, since
home had never been particularly pleas
ant, and to be relegated from it was not
such terrible blow as his father might
have supposed; and as to being disin-
herited, well, that was little short of q
joke, for the elder Green's possessions.
were extremely limited, consisting in
the main of forty acres of poor,
mortgage-ridden land, and dozen farm
animals, none of which were very
choice.
So, disinherited and disowned, John
and Mary Green went to work on their
own responsibility and for time sue
ceeded remarkably well. They brought
their little home up to point of mar
velous perfection, and had neat sum
in bank to which they were regularly
making additions. They were content~
ed, and even happy, in spite of the fact
that they were strangers to their par
ents.
But by and by reverses came. First,
Mary took with fever and for weeks
lay in the edge Of deaths shadow.
Then, after she recovered, John lost his
position on account of the house with
which he was connected failing.
Months of idleness followed, for there
was a business crash in the land and
employment was hard to obtain, with
an army of suddenly-discharged en-
ployes tramping the streets of every
town and village in search of work.
The little store in the bank began to
melt away, but to make short work OF
that the bank failed. Then John, dis
heartened and worn out, fell sick, and
for months was unable to leave the
house. In this condition they began to
feel the effects of want, and having no
other means of raising money to live on,
they gave a mortgage on their home.
Other sickness and other misfortunes
followed, so that John was never able
TO release the debt on his home, and in
time, when the interest had eaten III
deeply, the place was sold.
Then John and Mary, with their
child who had been born to them the
first year after their marriage, collected
together the small possessions that.
we're left them and joined the swarm of
eastern people who were on their way
TO Kansas to take up claims and make
homes on the great western prairies.
They went away out near the west
line of the state before they were able
to find any government land that had
not been granted to some railroad
company on other corporation, or had
not been leased to some cattle king,
Il