The Delawarean., 1900-06-27

and had to pass through R. When
l learned we were approaching that
town, l asked the coacbman whether
he knew where Mr.. Blank lived.
Half mile farther on" was the re-
ply. I'm show you when we reach it."
He pointed out the place. 1t was
lonely dwelling on a hill about 300
yards from the road and half a mile
from R. When we reached that
town, l determined to stay overnight
and visit my friend the next day. 1
did so. He received me with the ut
most kindness, and spent two very
happy days with him. l visited with
him the extensive smelling works in
the neighborhood, all of which he own
ed, and finally, on the night preceding
the morning on which l was to depart,
he told me his history.
when l was about 49," he said, II
wanted to go to college, but my father,
who was an austere man, bound up
In work and rather despising bookmen,
insisted that l should remain at home
and acquire a thorough knowledge of
the business which he had established
after much labor and expense. l con-
sented, but he placed me under the
severest restraint. l was the only son,
and my three sisters, all older than
l, We're married. They and their hus-
bands were greatly disappointed at my
father keeping me at home with the
expressed purpose of leaving his busi-
ness to me, small portion of the
profits to go to my sisters and the
main part of them to be invested in
the business, for his ambition was that
the business should vie with the largest
in England of the kind.
young as l was, fell In love with
a comparatively poor girl and married
her. AS / had given close attention
to business and became almost as we'll
acquainted with it as my father was,
l presumed upon his knowledge of that
fact and audaciously brought my wife
here to this house and introduced her
to him."
The speaker was deeply moved, and
there was pause of a minute or more.
"She was shortly to become moth
err" he continued, ''or l shouldn't have
done it. My father grew frantic with
rage. He struck me. He seized a
walking cane and showered blows
upon my head and body. bore it all.
But when he foully and brutally beat
my wife with his cane and called her
vile names l could stand it no longer.
/ knocked him down, and he lay at my
feet bleeding.
my poor wife was removed to
room, and a doctor was summoned.
My wife was dead before daylight. l
kept all the circumstances to myself,
the doctor alone guessing at what had
occurred. buried my wife. My fa-
ther lay at deaths door for a week,
and then he began to recover slowly.
"As for myself, / was crazy with
grief. My sisters and their husbands
accused me of having attempted to
murder my father and used threats.
In moment of despair 1 left home
and enlisted. But the life of the bar
racks was unbearable, and when was
Informed by the parents of my dead
wife that my father, overwhelmed
wife's death, had committed suicide,
determined to desert. My wife's ia
ther came to the barracks and gave me
money, and the first opportunity had
l fled. Mind you. every exertion had
been used by my wife's parents to
secure my discharge, but one of my
brothers-in-law, who was a member of
parliament and in with the party in
power, frustrated every effort to that
end. The excuse was that great war
was pending and that not a man could
be spared"
What followed the reader may an
ticipate. My friend was the very man
who appropriated the students clothes,
as narrated above. After doing so he
returned home and found that his ia
ther had carried out his original pur-
pose with regard to him, leaving his
sisters, however, amply provided for.
The whole affair, he said was almost
forgotten, and he and the rest of the
family lived in comparative amity.
When l told him that l was well
acquainted with the youths, one Of
whom he had deprived of his attire,
and that I had heard the story narrat-
ed by them more than once, he laughed
heartily and said:
Bring them to see me some day, IL
you can, and I'll treat them as they de-
serve, for they acted in a manly and
considerate fashion. "-Exchange.