Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1910-07-29

MY FATHER.
you properly in this extraordinary sit
uation. but 1t might have been more
kind TO give you bit of information
first. My name Is Harold Latimer.
am doctor. bachelor. ii ball player
and an amateur balloonist. like your
self. having just made my first ascen-
sion. | am six feet tall and weigh 200
pounds except when ! fall out of a
balloon as did just now; then weigh
ton"
"Where is it?" she said. with a shud-
der.
"The balloon?" said |. at is gone
wrecked, | fear but that's my fault.
for should have fastened it. will
assume the financial responsibility for
its loss. Who owned it,"
Father" said she. 1T was a very
old one. | am glad it is gone. don't
want any one | care for to go up in
one again"
"If we should become friends" said
|, 80 that might be included in the
suburbs of that wish. so to speak. you
have my promise that l will not nsvi-
gate the air Once is enough for me-"
And then told her how she had
come sailing across the field and how
the good beech tree which was now
our roof against the storm had stood
In her path so that she might come to
no hurt.
"My name is Lucy Calderwood,' said
she.
John Calderwood's daughterw | ex-
claimed. why, remember him.
say him make an ascent from. this
very field fifteen years ago or more. |
would have given the tip of my ear
to go up with him then. but prudence
comes to us with age. | have not
heard of him lately"
"He gave up ballooning for some
years until recently" said she. "There
Is so much of it now in the papers that
he took it up again, hoping to make
some money"
She proceeded to tell me that the
Fourth of July committee of Stockton
had offered her father a good sum for
an ascent and that she had received 1t
just before leaving the earths surface
with very little hope of returning to
it alive. / judged-and that she had
sent the money home by her small
brother, who was present. But why
she had done this suicidal act she
would not say. 1t was not for the
mere money.
The rain was now over, and she
walked with me to the house OF my
father, where | then lived. My father
Is a rock ribbed Yankee and imper-
vious to surprises. but my mother is
a southern woman bred in the extreme
of conventionality. Her emotions at
sight of her son coming home at 2 In
the morning with a very beautiful girl
whom he had met in a manner so ir
regular leave to the imagination.
Now, the rest of this is a love story.
and | have no art to tell that sort of
tale. Moreover, it ran very smoothly
and might seem tame in print. There
Is. however, mystery to be cleared
up. and here is the fact about it.
John Calderwood had become a
drunkard-not a steady topper, but a
victim of periodical sprees. Under the
influence of liquor, on the afternoon Of
July 3. he had stolen sum of money
from his employer in an absurdly open
manner. For this offense he was ar
rested on the morning of the Fourth.
or been robbed of it.
There was but one way to return
that money. and Lucy took that way.
She gave her life for it, as | may
fairly declare. She sent it by her
brother to her fathers employer. Il
kindly person whom ! have seen turn
pale at the mere mention of this oc-
currence.
John Calderwood was released, and
II there Is man on earth who can be
depended upon to go to his grave with
out touching liquor again think my
recently acquired father-in-law is that
man.
-s.--- So, ,r.'' =