Newspapers / The Orphans’ Friend (Oxford, … / Oct. 27, 1875, edition 1 / Page 1
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CJCIt V01>UMK I. UXFOlil), N. C., WEDNESDAY, OCTOHEU 27, 1877). NUJIBEU 4,-i. From the Ceinpiinion. TWO STORIES 0:\E, ANO • ROTH TRUE. BY .K T. TUOWBlJIDGIi:. . The cliildron were teasing, as usual, for a story. ‘O dear !’ said Uncle Walter; ‘I’ve told you everything 1 could remember or inako up. 1 can’t think of another story for six iiiglit.s, at least. Yon must give me time for a new crop to grow.’ This was what he always said. Ihit alwav.s, somehow, a story was forthcoming before the cdiil- dren went to bed ; so they were not much discouraged. Indeed, Uncle Walter exclaimed almost immediately,— ‘I’ve thought of something,— two stories ! I’ll tell you two .sto ries iu one; and they are both true.” d'his was luck ! Not a story to bo told in six nights,—and here, in about six seconds, were two stories promised, and both true. 'J’lio children liked true stories, as, indeed, who does not ? ’I'hai story is worth very little which is nor time, at least to the liuman Ijeart and life; but Uncle Wal tor’s was to be more than that,— they wore to be true oven to facts. ‘I was reminded of one,” said ho, “by reading tlie other to-day in a book. Jloth happened in tin- f.-iDH.* year—eighteen hundred and twcutv-nine. One took place in lUii iiijporiai palace of St. Poters- Inu-;^, the other in a softlement in ti.c backvoedrt )f W e.stern New -tL. 'i'bcv are both so much ali/.r, and yet so very diiferent, liiAi ibev ought t* he told to- gt lln-f. *]'ll begin with the fai’-off one. ■winch 1 read To-day in the book. ‘ The jrreat Kmperor, Nicln^las ol ivussia, was lying sick in hi^ pii'.ce. Now men, when the\ arc sick, are very much alike, whe’-bor rich or poor, kings or C‘»n.mtuj folks. The pains of te- V';r, headache, rheumatism, are atH'UT ihe sai'ue to all, 1 suppose, h h? Autocrat of all the Riissias li.id taken cohl, and his physi cians had given him a sweat, 'i'iie fact that lie was tiie most jiowerful moinuch of Europe, that his word was law to millions of ]>ooplc, didn’t help his cold at all, >r console liim much, hung there, sweating off his aches and pains. ‘hut something did console him —that something which makes the poor man rich, if he possesses it, an ! which the greatest princes are poor enough without,—tiie )»resence and attectiou of his fam- i y. ‘Though a tyrant to his sub jects,—cold, stern, unrelenting,— Nicholas was a kind husband and father. He forgot his cruelty and ambition, when with his wife and children. ‘And now when he lay sick, it ■was the greatest delight to have the Empress sit by bis side and read to him; or to lisren to the merry voices of the princes and princesses at play hi the next room. ‘There w'as Alexander, eleven rears old,—who was afterw ards to become Emperor on the death of his father, in eighteen hunrlred and fifty-five. A noble boy then, to whom his father was giving the most thorougli etlncation an Emperor’s son could liave,—*for education, you see, is as needful to tlie rich and great as it is to you. ‘Young Alexander had as hard lessons to learn as any you com- })lain of, and shed many a tear over.them, I’yc no doubt, prince and heir to the throne as lie was. But he was a good boy, and he profited by tlie instruction he re- ceivel from the best teachers, so that he became aftejivards quite as great a man as his father, and a niiicli better ruler,—the most humane and liberal ruler, in fact, that Russia bas ever had. ‘But you must remember that he ivas only a child of eleven then; that it was the children’s play hour, and that he was hav ing a good time, like any other boy out of school, with his sisters .Maria and Olga, aged ten and seven, and his little brother Con stantine, only tw'o veai's old. ‘Suddenly the Empeor heard a terrible crash iu the children’s room, d'here was a sudden si lence of the merry voices,—then screams of terror—then the fright ened tones of a governess, who ruohed into the Emperor’s apart ment, cxclaiuiing,— ‘ ‘Cun.sfantine is killed !’ ‘d'lie Emperor, sick as he was, leaped out of bed in Ins night clothes, and ran with the Empress —a very nervous, excitable wo man—into the next room, where it was found that a huge porphyry vase, which had been accidental- ly toppled from its j)ede8tal by the children iu their play, had falleii u})on the baby Constan tin.*, who was completely bidden from siglit by the massy stone. ‘ J’lie alarm and excitement w'ero intense. Uoveimasses and nurses shrieked, and ran hither and thither, calling for help. The Em|;ress went into hysterics. 'I'he Emperor laid hold of the ov erturned vase, and with Ins own hands tried to remove it; but, though physically a large and pow’erful man, he found it too heavy for him. ‘Help came soon, however; and the vase being lifted, little Constantine was found unhurt, the great rim having fallen exact ly over him, and shut him iu the opening. ‘The anxious father gathered liim up; and we may well be lieve that the mighty Czar of Russia forgot his dignity, and shed very human tears ot joy when liis darling child looked up and laughed. ‘The excitement, and the ex posure to the cold in his night clothes during his sweat, nearly cost tlie Emperor las life. He got well, though, after a while; and the children grew up to be men and women,—Alexander to be Emperor, as I have said, his sisters to marry princes, and lit tle Constantine, who cam© so near being crushed by the vase, to be high admiral to the Russian navy. ‘And now for the twin story of this,’ Uncle Walter went on, af ter answering all the questions the children had to ask about the Russian j)rinc.cs. ‘It happened, as I iiiive said, in the same year —iind I don’t know but on the same dnv—m the backwoods of Western'^New York. ‘There a ymng married cou ple, who!u we will call Mr. and Mrs. Edwards, had settled a few years before on what was then an immense forest, on the shores of Lake Ontario. Tliey made a clearing, whicli they converted ijito a little farm, and built a hut, which in a few years gave place to a more substimtial log-house; and tliere they lived, witii still a few bears and wild-cats for neigh- bois, while otlier neighbors, more to their liking, were slowly in creasing in number around them, when this thing happeued. ‘Curiously enough, they, too, at that time had four cliildren, and tljo nauio ot the oldest >vas Maria. She wa-s aged twelve. The other three wore bovs,—Ed ward, nine ; Ooorge, six ; and the baby, not quite old enough to walk. ‘One afternoon the children were at play, when Mr. Edwards was chopping iu the borders of the woods, a few rods from the liouso. ‘The wind had blown over a hirge elm tree, tearing it up by the roots, which had lifted a gre;vt mass of earth with them, and left a Iiole in the ground, six or eight feet across and one or two leei deep. ‘Over the north side of this hole the mass of roots and earth rose like the mud-plasterod end of a log hut, and afforded the children a pleasant shelter from tlie wind that autumu day, as they played horse in the warm sun, calfing the hollow behind the roots their stable. ‘Mr. Edwards was cliopping another prostrate trunk near whore it joined the roots, and the children were having a merry time just on the other side of that shaggy Wall, when suddenly he left his axe sticking in the log, and cried out,— ‘ ‘Boys, it won’t be safe for you to play tiiere any longer!’ •‘Why not r said Edward, who—like some other children 1 have heard of—always wanted to know wliy he couldn’t do this thing or that, and often didn’t be- 1 eve much iu the why, after he had lemmed it. ‘I wisii you’d let us; it’s real nince here.’ ‘ ‘But this log is almost off. It will drop in a few minutes, and then the stump may fall back in the hole wliere you are, by its own weight. I’ve known roots to do such a thing. Bo away with you, and take the baby, if Maria hasn’t taken him already.’ ‘ ‘Maria has gone to the house and loft us to take care of the ba- b}',’ said Edwai’d. ‘ ‘Well, take care of him, then, and yourselves, too!’ ‘So the boys took the baby up out of the hole, Edward giving him a ride on his back, while George drove, and went to play in the woods, a little farther off. ‘Mr. Edwards continued chop ping, and the boys soon became so much interested in some new game that they forgot all about the baby ; while he, left to take care of himself, aiul thinking, no doubt, the hole behind the up turned elnu'oots a very comforta- able place, crawled away once more in search ot it. ‘Bnddeidy the trunk Mr. Ed wards was catting parted from the stump; and the root, as he had more than half expected, flew back in its place with a dull, hea vy thud. ‘ ‘There, boys,’ be cried, trium phantly, ‘you see now why I didn’t want you playing in there!’ ‘Tlie boys Inistened to the sjiot to see what had occuned ; but the father noticed that Edward, as he ran, lookeil about him, alarmed and confused. ‘ ‘What are you looking for, Edward V his father asked. ‘Where’s the Imby ?’ ‘ ‘He was out there, just a little while ago. 1—1 don’t know where he is !’ Edwanl stammered, and began to cry with terror. ‘lie romenibere l that it had been all he and George could do to keep the baby out of the hole any time that afternoon, and that lie had last seen him creeping away in that direction. He was naturally a good boy, and very fond of Ins little brother; and the thought of what had now happen ed tln’ough his negligence, tilled him witii the wildest fear and grief. ‘0 he is killed ! baby is killed, I know!’ lie shrieked, running frantically around the stump, and seeing how closely tlio tremen dous mass had crushed down again into the liollow. ‘Maria, hearing the alarm, (;uiic running from the house, followed quickly by lier mother. A terri ble scene ensued. The mother and children were beside them selves with fright and terror. And no wonder! Think of it,— that dear little baby crushed un der tile stump, which a hundred men could not move! ‘Mr. Edwards alone kept liis head clear. ‘ ‘Look in the woods!’ he said to his wife ; ‘all about! He may be behind some log. Edward! Marla! run to the neighbors! "fell them to bring their oxen and log-chains! quick as you can go! George, help your motiior search! ‘As for iiirnself, he ran for a spade, and began throwing out tlie earth under the side of tlie stump where he thouglit the child most likely to be; working as he never worked before or after in all his life. ‘George and his mother soai’ch- ed the woods in vain, while the father dug as fruitlessly. Mean while, Edward and Maria ran to the nearest neighbors, told them the strange, horrible story ; and Mr. li^lder, Mr, h^igglestone, Mr. Worth, and their boys and men, left everything to go with their yoke of oxen, horses and chains, to help pull the stump over—if, indeed, it could be pulled over at all. “But before they reached the spot, while the .mother was wild ly searching, and the father a.' wildly working, George cried out, ‘O, mamma, 1 hear baby soine- wliere !” “Mamma listened- Papa listen ed. A laint cry came from the direction of the bouse, Mrs, Ed wards flew into that directifin, fol lowed by herlmsbandand George. Louder and loader grew the evv as they ■went nearer and nearer; and thereafter all, wastho bahy ii; tie house ■whiclt He had ;eac led some roiindahont course naving misse«l tlte lioLLo-w hv the stump, and, finding the kitcli- en deserted, ha«l finally set up his little howl of loiiesomeness and aiarnn “Do you think the Emperor an . Empress themselves could itave been any more overjoyed when tliey fimnd little Constaiiti- lie unhurt beneath the proplivrv* vase, tiiat this father and mother were in the American backwoods when they found their (ovn littie baby safe? Human life, you see, is very much the same, whether men rule emjjires or chop wood, live in palaces or log huts. “M hen the neighbors came, they, ot course, luul a gi>od iaugfi over tlie affair ; and if anv one laughed, and had rig-lit to laugli, it was Edward wlio laid been sjj i.itely in a fury of fear and self- reproach, tliinkingit was Ids own wicked c;irelossness t’lat liad caus ed his baby brother’s death,” “And wliat ever became of that baby ? ’ the children wished to know. Uncle Walter laughed. “(), well, that Mr. and Mrs, Ed wards were your own grandfath er and grandmother, Euwurd and Barah I'reston, Tlie Maria of my story is your own mother. And as for the babv,—why, I was that baby myself f' Clmsiii^ D«er witii a The poor Enlish deer have suff’ered for centuries, hunted hv “hawk and hound.” It was re served for men of the Western World to run down the frigiiten- 0,1 quarry hy water, and paddio wheels, Gn the 4tli of July, says the Portland Oreyonian, as the steamer Maria WKliins was on her wav from Freepoj't to Kalama, she sighted a deer in the river, abort a mile below the latter jilace. When first seen, lie was about one-third of the way across, and striking out boldly for tlie Oregon shore. The steamer was head(-d off for him witii all liaste, ami there being no fire-arms on board except a small pocket pistol, it was decided to try and captuio him alive. A noose was made in a rope, and thrown as the bout approached, but missed the game. 'I’he deer tunied and made for tho Washington ’J’errritory side, which was the nearest, but Cajit. Huntington turned the little steamer in fine style, and headed him off. The chase now became exciting. A second time the ropes were thrown unsuccessfullv, and the deer, though making prod igious efforts to rencli the shore, was a third time overhauled. This time both ropes caught on his horns, and after a desjierato sti'uggle, he was hatiled (hi board and securely fastened, but one hoiTi was broken off in the strug gle, He proved to be a fVmr- year-old buck, and in fine con- ilitioti, A breeder of potvHry writes^ j “Every spring I procuro a quan tity of cedar Ixiughs, and sea; them plentifully in and around the hen hou.se. This h: ah that is necos.sary, as the cdi**’ ' f-' the cedar keej)s avvay lice. '1 remedy is- cheap, sinijjle, and ef- lectivo,- and is well w»rt-[i tryingr ny all w!io Inivelmns to cav- ”
The Orphans’ Friend (Oxford, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 27, 1875, edition 1
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