The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1915-01-21
Reunited
By Chance
By F. A. mitchell.

We peddlers-I mean we who driv
about the country selling our wares
meet with some very strange exper
ences.
On one of my excursions that mad
with a double team and high re-
wagon loaded with everything farm
er's wife could need | was looking
about me for place in which TO pu
up for the night when / came to
house standing beside the road tina
looked inviting except for a certain
loneliness there was about it. w
know instinctively when place is oc
cupied and when it is deserted, ant
the moment looked at this one knew
that no one lived there. Nevertheless
| determined that if | could get int
it | would stay there all night. Thu
lock on the gateway leading to thu
barn had fallen. and | had no trouble
in driving in my team. The barn wal
as easy of access as the gate. and
| drove both horses and wagon in undel
cover had feed for the animals witt
ME and, having fed them, went to the
! house.
Looking in through window, | saw
| furniture which seemed to be new
that is. it had evidently never beer
used. Something like mold had set
tied upon it, indicating that it had beer
there for long time. A screwdriyeI
from my wagon acted in place of 8
jimmy to raise a sash, and | effected
an entrance through window.
explored the house. all of which
had been evidently newly furnished.
Indeed. some articles had not been I'M
packed. In an upper story l found the
plastering had in part given way from
water let through a roof that needed
repair. the water having run down a
wall against which stood a mantel
The mantel had been displaced and
leaned forward Beside it on the floor
| picked up letter which, though it
had been drenched. | could see had
never been opened, and with difficulty
| made out the address. The post
mark had been too far damaged by wa
ter to be legible.
| made myself as comfortable as I
could during the night and the next
day drove on to the nearest postofice,
where | turned over the letter to the
postmaster He read the address and,
looking up at me, asked where | had
found it. | told him, and, taking up
hand magnifying glass, he studied the
postmark for awhile, then said to him
self rather than to me:
THAT must have been the day be-
fore the intended wedding. Now I re-
member Sam asked me to send any
letter that might come for him to his
new house. Andyi''
A young fellow about eighteen came
from the rear part of the Office, where
he had been stamping letters, and the
postmaster asked him:
"Can you go back far enough in
memory to recall delivering lie, to
Sam Joslin day or two before the
day he was to have been married?"
The young man ransacked his memo
ry for awhile, then replied: Yes, can,
4
and didn't find any one in the house
either. | went all over it and finally
concluded that the front sleeping room
upstairs on the mantel was the best
place to leave it. So set it up against
the wall and left it."
did the mantel stand flush up
against the wall?' l asked
mo 1t was wooden mantel and
had warped, leaving a crack. 1 set it
up so that it wouldn't slip down the
crack"
But it did. all the same" I said.
81 remember that | got caught In a
terrific windstorm on my way back.
ter fell into the crack" suggested
Andy.
"Maybe that letter or Sans not get
ting it explains the split" suggested the
postmaster
What splitY asked.
"Why, Sam Joslin was to have mar
ried Annie Springer and had built and
a new house. The day OF
the wedding Annie didn't appear. Sam
had taken her away from Bill Ed
wards, a good for nothing fellow, who
had been counting her. and Sam, who
was an impulsive man. made up his
mind that at the last minute she had |
brown him over and had concluded to |
marry Bill. Sam got fit on him and,
shutting up the house, went away and |
has never been back here since"
He opened the letter. but the ink had |
Deen so blurred that 1t would have re- |
luired long time to decipher had it |
lot been very short. 1t read
oh. dearest our wedding must be put |
,fft have just heard that mother is
lying, and must go to her at once
| went on peddling tin pans. wash
boards and the like, leaving the post
Master to work cut the romance. Six |
months later | drove by the house in
which | had found the letter. and saw
It once as | approached it that it was
10 longer deserted. / drove my team
nto the barn. and a young man and
came out to learn what l meant
Reckon I'll make myself at home
lere." said
"By what right?' asked the man an