LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2301, 18 August 1881, Page 4

LITERATURE.

A ETR'iITGE STORY OP A TIN MINE; LOST TO DUST. [‘Ch?mheri*’ Journal.’j Concluded .) •My d-’sr,’ aunt Betsy would reply, ‘I cannot tell you more than I have told you already. Your husbard has couo on a journey ; nothing ia said as to when ho " i 1 ' As tlmo wo c on, the difficulty of pacify* inc the young mother increa-ed. Toe suspense and anxiety told upon her seriously. The bra n was over taxed, and there wore d ror.s s’; niptoms of fever. The third night after the accident, aunt Betsy was keening watch by Mary’s bedside, "he tsllow Cindlo was giving a dim light, its long trek not hiving beer, snuffed for some minutes; for aunt Betsy bad put on her apectioha to rea l a few verse?, which exercise at", ueh an v.nusuri hour caused her to feel drowsy ; and. unconsciously letting tbo Bible sink gmtly in her lap, ehu closed her eyes. But she was net permit 1 rd to sleep long. Su tdenly the invalid awoke and sat bolt noright in bed; a wild light was in her ‘ Aunt Betsy, aunt Betsy I’ she cried, I’ve bean dreaming about Wiiiiun But look I there he is. Don’t you tea him sitting in that chair. See! he ia covered with blood! Re isj turning his head round this way. Oh, what a look! Why, ho is dying. My dar»ing, I’m coming.’ With a thrill c-y Mary sprang forward, and fell with her fsoe on the coverlet. Aunt Eetay lifted her gently back to her place without resistance on her part. I ho sudden burst of energy was followed by a roMary remained in a stupor, from which she had not awakened when the doctor came nest day. Aunt Betsy told him what had occurred, The doctor listened attentiuely to every word, after which be looked at the young mother lying so calm and still; Ino color was gone from her cheeks, her breathing was to”low a-: to bo hardly perceptible ; then he said slowly * She will awake again probably In the evening. Be in readiness," The sun was sinking in the golden west when Mary opened her eyes. ‘ Aunt Betsy !’ she whispered. • Here I am. dear. You have had a long shop. * ‘Where Is my baby? Hold him before me, please. My William,’ Mary continued when the child was disposed so as she could gat a full view of It, ‘ has gone a long journey —don’t look furprlsod, Aunt Betsy—ho has gene on a long journey, and I am going too, very soon. Take care of baby, aunt Betsy, and call him William, please. He will never remember hla father and mother ; but he will see his father's form one day ; and mind you tell him to lay his father iu my grave. Kiss me, aunt Betsy : I feel so tired. Before ni*ht threw its mantle over the eaith Mary Pollarraok's sprit had fled, Ko further attempt was made to recover the body of William Pollarrack. Everybody admitted it would have been of no uso. The adventurers had already decided to abandon the mine ; and it was the general opinion that it would not be worth while to clear the :un, which could not be done except at great expense, to find a corpse. Better to devote part of the money it would cost to the maintenance of the unfortunate miner’s orphan. 1 his was accordingly done. The sum of two hundred and fifty pounds was voted by the company to be Invested in the name of trustees for the ns? of the child, who remained In the care of hli g r eat aunt Betsy. She lived to see the charge grow up to man’s estate. It was her desire that he shou’d bo taught some trade, anything rath> r than mining ; but young William’s predilection In favor of his father’s calling was so strong that it was useless to think of opposing him. He was allowed to follow tho bont of his mind. Beginning about tho slime pits, he passed though the several initiatory stages at surf sea ; then he was alowed to go underground as a boy at 80s a month, and in dno time ho was admitted on equal terms with the men. All this while he was not neglecting the improvement of his mind; following the judicious advice of aunt Betsy, he attended, when able, the night classes In connection with the C Institute. His steady conduct attracted the attention of an influential mine captain under whom he worked, and who, finding the young fellow more intelligent and bettor educated than miners generally, promoted him from time to time, and eventually procured him a situation as under-agent at a mine in Devocshire. William lost aunt Betsy before receiving this good appointment; bat he had the satisfaction of knowing that she folt amply repaid for the pains she had taken with him ; she had seen enough to be satisfied that her trouble was Inot thrown away It was not until sho was near her end that she told him hia mother’s last words. The general circumstances of his father’s fate had been early made known to him; and, in oommon with other beya of hia own ago, he nssd to experience a certain terror whoa passing by the shaft where hla father had met his fearful doom. This feeliag wore off as he grew older, yet he oould not but think at times of his father, whom ho had never seen, lying so many hundreds of feot down in the earth. And when aunt Betsy related the manner of his mother’s death, and tho words tho had uttered just before, he promised faithfully to carry oat her dying wish if ever hi t father’s re nab a should bo brought to light Some months after Wi liam’s taking his poit at the Devonshire mine, one of tho men there died underground, which circumstance greatly affected him, Tho mm had been working with a boy in a branch shaft, when, saying that he felt unwell, he left hla comrade to go to tbo surface. On tho boy subsequently mating inquiries for him, ha could nut learn that ho had been seen at tho surface since he list went down to work; nor had he gone straight home, as !he lad found on calling there. His wife, being alarmed, hurried back to tho mine with the youth, and persuaded two miners to go down and sea eh for the missing man. They found him in a corner of a plat about half way up from the place whera he worked, sitting on a piece of timber, dead. The excitement attendant upon this incident kept William, or Captain William, as wo must now call him, awake for a long time after ho retired for tho night. Scores of peril in which ho had been placed himself, Eteri-s of accidents that ho had hsard, rushed upon his mind, and when he did at last fall ssl. op, they mix:d themselves iu wild coufmion in his dreams. Towards morning his mind breams more settled and less extravagant ; aad In the last dream cf all he was in a level gazing at a man sitting ou u piece of rock, leaning forward with his face buried in his hands, hia elbows rest! g on hie knees Tho man had no hat cu. and his Lair web thick with cl tted blood. A.a the dtearner stood and looked, rot with a-toairimont or fear, best as it wero spell b; uad, he heard aunt Betsy’s voice paying in fcls ear, 1 llrmemher your mother’s la t words ’ He mat forward and touched the man cn the shoulder; when the whole scene immediately faded away, and ho awoke. William was not accustom, d to attach much importance to dreams, and seeing sufficient in what had recurred on the pro vicua day to account for tho troubled state of his brain in the night, he soon dismi-sed the pubjcctof his dreams from his thoughts. An advertisement in a local paper, however, which BHt his ryo in the comas of the morning, brought it all up again. Tho adverthomert ran ttur— ‘ Wanted aroridont agent for Wheal Splendour. Apply to Captain B.nny. C A rise in tin had again taken plao * ; enterprising mining men w«re again looking cut for suitable venturis to recommend to their clients ; and caco more Wheal Splendour, afee r b i- g neglect od for twenty-five year?,found advocates who oould speak confidentially o' its chances cf success wish tin at sixty pounds r. ton And arme gentlemen being willing, and that tot unreasonably, to believe this, a company was formed as before ’to givo tho mino a trial. ifezee tho advertisement which William saw, and resolved to answer. Iu applying for the situation, ho mentioned, ta a circn re stance that would be suro to stimulate him to nao every exertion in superintending tho c 1 caring of tho sha't, that ho t.usted to find s-mo re'ic (f hi? father, ?hj had been lo t there twenty five yu«ru ago. His appUcauoa was granted, and William soon found himself established as agent at U heal Spl rdiur Iu due time the adit wca rezcled. They had found nothing so far among the debris in tha shaft; and the yonrg csptiiu concluded that when his father fell away he must havs dropped strargnt into tho water in the shaft, and have been borne down by the falling raaia.

After n careful examination of tho plat, he turned aside into the adit level, but he had not gone far b fere ho saw something which made him stop) shoit and tremble from head to foot. It was his droam come back to him. There, a few foot off, was an object that one might firet have taken for a human being, In exactly tho game posture as tho in on he had seen in hia dream. ‘ Leok !’ ho exclaimed to tho man behind ; ‘ isn’t that the figure of a man ? It ia my dead father!’ And, becko:ring (hem to follow gently, he approached tho figure. It was like clay in appearance, smooth all over Resting on a stone and bending forwards, the general outline head and trunk was preserved, and tho two legs reaching to tha ground were quite distinct; A solemn pause ensued. Tho men looked at each other, but know not what to say. At last Wil iam stretched out his hand and touched tho figure; it immediately collapsed, and fell a little pile of dust at his feet. And William laid hia father’s dost in hla mother’s grave.

“ How much is that,” said a mourner in a flover-ahop pointing to a wreath of immortelles inscribed “To my mother in-law.” “ What you like,’’ replied tho florist; “ I have had it for four years, and no one has ever offered to purchase it.”