The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-02-20

ewes Yes, and when saw her caressing
YOU, whom / would have had togged,
/ used 10 feel-though she was my
mother as well as yours--as II were a
stranger in the house and could not be
of tho same flesh aud blood as you and
She
"That is long ago, James, aud we
are no longer boy and girl. but man and
woman. But my heart tells me that
have not kept my promise TO her. She
said TO me when she was dying: Mary,
1 am afraid for James. He can be chiv-
alrously generous to - 36Yhho appeal
to his protectiop:~ ,acber f.tlessly
cruel to tho.<s6rkln. 10. 80. .rorl, dpu
remember how as boy ho fought IKE
a wildcat with two lads twice his size
in defense of the homeless cur that
crawled TO his feet when they were
stoning it, and you remember that upon
the same day, because his own dog
snarled at him, he beat it about the
head so mercilessly that we had to kill
it. Mary, | am afraid for James; am
the one and only soul in this world
where, young as he is, he feels himself
an outcast-who understands him. And
everything depends upon his associa-
tions. He might be IA good man or he
might be acriminal. Mary, promise me
you will not be too hard with him
promise me that you will try to under
stand him, and to make allowance and
to be gentle.
II promised her, James, and / meant
to keep my promise, but l know now
that l have not done SO. l did not
grudge you money. Igave you more of
what my father left me than l kept.
But l did not try to be to you what l
promised our mother to be. l know
now, though did not know it then. |
have reason to know it now, for my lit
tie son Stanley looks up at me with your
eyes to reproach me with it. What you
once were he now is in looks and in dis
position. fear for him as your mother
feared for you, and his mother knows
now that the promise l made to your
mother did not keep.
"James, if you have done evil, ! am
greatly to blame. If had kept my
promise, if had tried to take our dead
mothers place in your life, if had
aimed at being your companion and at
winning your confidence, if l had
sought to keep evil influences away and
to set good influences at work, you
might never have formed the associa-
tions you have formed. That you have
done the things they lay to your charge
I cannot believe. have seen The Daily
Record and the portrait, and / know
only too we'll, in spite Of the disguise,
that the James Mullen who is accused
of being Captain Shannon is my half
brother James. Twill never believe
nothing will make me believe-that it
is really true, and that you are response
BILE for the inhuman crimes which you
are said to have committed or to have
caused to be committed. That you are
associated with men who are capable of
any wickedness is, fear, only too true;
that men who, by fattering that fatal
vanity of yours, which l know so we'll
that constitutional craving to be thought
important and power, of which can
see traces in the manifesto which was
published after the explosion - have
made you their tool and have persuaded
you to accept responsibilities for ac-
tions in which you had no hand, / can
readily believe. But that you, whom |
have known to do such chivalrous ac
tions-you, whom / have seen empty
your pockets to relieve some beggar
whose woebegope looks had appealed
to your pity--could deliberately plan the
..Nf AflA
pie cannot and never will believe.
"Until l received your letter l did
not know where to write to you, and
feared to send to the old address lest my
note should fall into wrong hands. You
say that you have got into a scrape, and
that | must help you to get out of Eng
land as you cannot trust your associates
which / can we'll believe. You say,
too, that you must get right away to
America or Australia, and that l must
lend you the steam yacht, as it would
not be safe to go by any ordinary pas
senger steamer, all of which are being
watched. You say you would not drag
me into such q miserable business if you
could help it, but that you dare not
risk the chance of attracting the atten-
tion in which your chartering yourself
a boat big enough to cross to America
might result.
swell, see the force of all this. and
will do what I can to help you, but
only on one condition. How heartily my
husband and ! abhor the acts of those
with whom you are associated you must
know. Nos even to save your life, not
even to keep our connection with you
from becoming known, not even to save
our children from being branded
throughout their lives as the relatives
~ man who was accused of the black
81 murder, would we move hand or
foos in any matter which might even in
the smallest detail further the infamous
scheme in which your associates are en-
gagged.
"But Stanley and / have talked it
over, and if you will absolutely and un-
conditionally promise to sever yourself