| | 1 | Author: | Duganne
A. J. H.
(Augustine Joseph Hickey)
1823-1884 | Add | | | Title: | The two clerks, or, The orphan's gratitude  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | It was a bitter night in December. The
wind howled round the streets and lanes of
Boston, entering every crevice, and penetrating,
with cutting severity, the frail abodes of
poverty, making the shivering tenant draw
closer round the dim fire, or crawl beneath
the thin covering of his miserable bed. The
rich felt it, too!—it swept down the Backbay,
and whistled round the trees of the Common—it
murmured hoarsely as it blew adown
Beacon Street, and rattled the windows, and
caused the vanes to creak.—Yes, the rich felt
it,—but they felt it, as we perceive the acid
in our food, only to enjoy the sweetness more.
Stretched on their downy beds, or dozing
over their sea-coal fires, they thought not of
the houseless and the wanderer, or, if they
did, 'twas but to mutter “Poor wretches,”
and turn again to their downy slumbers. —for you are still dear
to me: I am unjustly suspected, and the time
will come when it shall appear so. I can no
longer serve you, or be an inmate of your
family. Circumstances are against me, but
I cannot explain them. I cannot remain. I
throw myself again upon the world. May
heaven bless you and your family. My dear Brother:—Providence has
seen fit to afflict us in a peculiar manner.—
Our dear Fanny has been abducted; carried
we know not whither. A message, purporting
to be from Henry Fowler, came to
her a few days since. The man who
brought it gave her a locket from her brother
and requesting her to meet him on the shore
not a hundred rods from our house, and receive
a letter from her brother. The thoughtless
girl, without consulting me, repaired
there. Lucia accompanied her. She will
tell you the rest. My poor Fanny! I can
write no more. Will you use every means
to regain her. Lucia tells me that Richard
Martin, your clerk, was there. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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