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UP AND DOWN THE COAojN^j A SMOKER'S OLD PIPES. No. 3.—THE DEBTOR'S PIPE. Mrs Traeth had returned from the sea-side, and deep down in her hear; there was a feeling of thankfulness that her holidays were over. bhe had gone through the discomforts of being away from home, and had therefore a perfect right to enjoy any grains of satisfaction to be obtained from the remarks of her neighbours who were not aple to afford the g>nt- ejl misery of lodging at a watering place during the height ot the season. As si.-un as the & o.v of pride caused by the excitement of bringing the boxes out upon the pavement for arrangement in o^ni us had died out, her sufferings commenced. She fe-t wme P in knowing that her neighbours envied her t e which they vainly imagined she was going en] n a e s:r.ije, and her husband was told frequently that she had no patience with him for not leaving his wor.,Ia"d trying to er.joy himself now and then like other m Owen Traeth generally listened patiently to his wife's laudations of her annual holidiy, "tIt he knew from occasional words dropped unsuspectingly during the eleven months when she was In the bosom of her family, that she went away far more as a matter of duty than pleasure. One evening in November, Mr and Mrs Traeth were sitting together after supper. The little Traetbs were asleep, and the servant girl was retreating up-stairs to bed. This was the time when Owen and his wife usually talked over any little incidents that had marked the progress of th day. Old Mrs Deoaain is daad Isee," observed Mrs Traeth, who wa3 picking her teeth. "Yes I was thinking about her when you spoke. Poor old lady. It must be nearly ten years smce she gave me the pipe her husband made while he was conaned in the debtor's prison at Aberteifi. And now she's gone. There was a son named William and you knew the daughter Mary. Püor things, how they grieved ab-.ait tneir latuer s disgrace, and yet it was no disgrace at all. It wih be sej.en- teen years this Christmas eve since I saw them au together, and a melancholy gathering it was. Seventeen year3 and ncv., she's lead." Traetb, who had got up from his seat, ope.-od a desk an took out what he called the Debtor s Pipe. This pii;e was made of a hard-burnt potato cai-efudy hallowed out. The stem was a quili fixed m with seating wax, and the mouth piece, carefully wrapped round with, silk was of wood into which the quill was inerted. "I can never imagine what you see in that old pot ato to interest you so much," said Mrs Traeth, who had heard ;<•- Hstoiy twenty times at the very least, and had shed a few tears more than once as the ancient troubles of the Demains were related to her by her husbano, who had a great weakness, as we know,for talking about lib old pipes. ° •' Edward Demain was the descendant of a gentleman who in ti-e tr,,ul)ljuzi d,ys of one of the revolutions Came over here from Wili you have some more beer, Owen, because if you don't want it I will drink it myself," and vibout waiting f j.- an answer she poured the remainder of the supper beer into her glass. Came over here from Franc-V continued Traeth, and lived on the remains of a substantial fortuue until his death, which happened sooa after his son's marriage with the ol I lady whose departure we have just heard of. Edward Demain never had any intention of working for a livicg, nor bad he much cause to trouble himself about ways and means until he was a middle-aged man. His ''Hush exclaimed Mrs Traeth, who, after listening attentively said, Go on I thought one of the children was crying, but I suppose it i3 a dog barking up the .street." His money was not very securely invested, and a large sum deposited in a bank was lost at a stroke. Difficulties o-athered thickly in the path of Demain, whose creditors came down upon him, and after processes which it is not necessary to dwell upon, he was thrown into the debtor's nrison a broken-hearted man. His children suffered in siieuce, and did all that could be done to obtain the dis- charge of their father, who was opposed by those who had wronged him. He was willing to give up everything that he could fairly call his own, but he ste tdily refused to join his son William in signing over a small property which the creditors wanted, and William was willing they should have." No," said Demain, the rents they can take, but this hand shall never sign away from you the only remaining portion of a property which ought to have come to you un- reduced." This resolution the old man maintained in the face of his son's persuasion, his wife's reproaches, and his daughter's tears. Seeing that Demain was determined not to yield, and that no relenting need be looked for from the creditors, his family gave up their home in Ystref and went to reside in the town where the debtor's prison was situated. What always puzzles me about people who are ruined like Mr Demain is that they have enough t) live on with- out working." Mrs Traeth did not believe in ruin, unless it landed its victims in the workhouse. You may not believe in ruin like Demain's, but to him it was real enough, and although he would not sign the deed which would have stripped his son of the last remnant of family property, he felt acutely his position as a prisoner for debt, which he would have discharged if the bank had not stopped payment. More than a year hai passed since Domain's imprisonment commenced, when it was clear to close observers that confinement, together with anxiety and o-rief, was killing him." ° What shall we do,' said Mary to her brother, after visit- ing her father one day in autuain. He cannot live in that abominable place much longer, and yet he says he will never sign away your property. Surely you can do something— you who are a man, will not allow your father to die in prison for the sake of a little land and a few houses ?', Mary,' said the young man, and there was great ten. ,I derness in his voice and manner, 'your sorrow makes you unjust. I have done all that can bo dene. The deed of renunciation has been signed by me long ago, but I cannot, compel our father to add his name. Every argument I can think of has been urged by rnj, but he has never betrayed the slightest symptoms of yielding.' 'He will die in priscn,' said the girl, 'and I shall al- ways feel that we might have prevented the disgrace which m-jt ever be ours 'I donot seehow we can be blamed for misfortunes brought U3 hy no fault of ours. Disgrace to be real must be of our own making, and I cannot think my sister will sink beneath WTOQCJ.. "Ihe young man did not refer to the visible decline of the prisoner, his^father, who felt acutely the grief of his daugh- ter and the silent helplessness of his son. He knew his iTTisonmeut was for life, and many and bitter were the re- factions which employed his lonely hours. True, he might liberate himself by placing in the hands or others that which he had no right to dispose of, but would not liberty on these terms be mote intolerable than restraint, which, after all, entailed no stigma? The bitterness of his lot was t und, as is often the case, mixed up with his consolations. 11 it were not for my family,' he would sometimes say, I could bear my misfortunes without murmuring, and then he would remember the patient, clinging love of his daughter, and dwell upon its almost cruel exclusiveness, until he felt that, for all he had lost and suffered, he would not have the life of the pass year with it-1 humili.tion and pain blotted out. He had seen bis son's affection, and at times exulted in the unsuspected wealth of love which his troubles had revealed to him. Mrs Demain was stunned by the events which had suc- ceeded each other so quickly. She thought her son in some way or other might be able to assist his father, and there can be no doubt the passionate regrets of Mary did much to fix in the mind of her mother the idea that in some sort of way William was to blame for the deed not being signed." You will burn your llppers into holes if you put them on the bars in that way," said Mrs Traeth, "I never saw such a man as you are for not keeping your feet still." '• The autumn slowly darkened into winter," continued Owen, who was trying to iix the quill stem into the charred potato pipe. Demain's health, which had been gradually declining, at length utterly gave way, so that he was unable to leave his cell. The governor of the gaol did all he could to alleviate the discomforts of his prisoner, and relaxed the of the prison to the utmost possible extent, on his b3haif. l'thry,'pent nearly ail her time with her father, who "still persisted lin his refusal to sign the deed, but < r;^v"d daily at the thought that he would die in a prison. ''One d:iy in ^ie ear^ part of December, M iry had passed nnL nf tbe prison sates, which clanged behind her with a -mind Uer father v. as rapidly sinking, and she M 5ct.-m'n<»d to make one last effort to obtain his re- was dct^ i ^n brother to the opposing creditor, leT;f"Tv; court would do all she could to persuade anu before n*x' h;g na^e to the paper, she walked her father to .-> 0 not notice that she was si wly h .rewards and at ^aevidemly de,ired to speak accompanied by some on- i d thg ?overn0r,a wif to ncr Mary acts of gentle kindness "V^ho bad stiown the in their trouble." rqnt.v-n James's wife, and let Come wuh me, -■ I Y^u muafc not alto- us see if we cannot do sornethm needed. Come aether lose heart; now when strength A plan for re- witH me and let us see if we cannot devise a plan for^re vour father without ruiniug your br.^t^ rr.^fv's new friend took possession of her and they e «oon sitting together in a well furnished room built in one of the massive towers of the prison." ( r) There goes the mrat for to-morrow's d inner," exclaimed Traeth, who jumped up and ran into the back kitcnen; spying as she went, I never saw such a man as you in my life; the cats might run away with everything iu the horse and you would sit there like a post." While -V,!S Traeth was gathering up the remains of a IV- which ha l been dragged from a shelf, Owen wondered h S-v he was t" blame for the feline thief, but wisely con- ,jp than he would maintain a discreet silence. a Traeth had again settle.! down she asked how vw htTi -ur^ «-/■ w> I.. r h^ v-'3' to Pr03e about a pipe vbich riiT.rVh nicking up with a pair of tongs. was not wiT" D main returned home that night," con- tinu-,IJ)Vqen "she fdt that early in the n-xt year some- tinu -d Owen, ane, be towards liberating her father, thing fcffeotua, ffiign tt,at jt was doubtful whether Next d, however she s.^ year> aml rfe,0lved that her fit-i-r wou-d to d()ntJ r]Ulck;y. xhe whateve- was do.:e wo unsafe to calculate on m;dical man said i- r anj his wife did all that Domain's life, and the liherrvtion of the prisoner, could be done to facilitate Pr',i«ted their sympathy. wh, iu Sl> strange a way hau en. > 0'f bn Wi'liam had gone at the urgent i creditor, sister to try to sot ten the hear, letler froQl The day bfcforhe^^1^3t come home at once as bis father I' \?S»J^d wS tbis setter and a telegram from the medicaVraa'n, De^tawl^dying. ^VobSr^calal of opposition the young man hastened home, and it was decided that night to risk the 1 consequences of removing the sick man from gaol even if t all order which had been written for was not obtained from the proper quarter. The necessary order for the removal of Demain was re- ceived by the g 'vernor on Christmas Eve, but it wus doubt- ful whether the invalid could be moved. As soon as he knew he wa3 at liberty to be removed he would listen to nothing the medical man could say until the necessary ar- rangements were completed. As carefully as possible he was carried outside the gates, and as they clanged behind him he said to his daughter, ''Thank God your father did not die in a prison," and then the grasp of his hand relaxed, his head fell frr.vard, and Edward Demain died within the shadow of the castle walis, there in the open street on Christmas Eve. This pipe was found in i, room, and You would talk all night, I suppose," said Mrs Traeth, who was evidently sleepy. This pipe was found in his room and I have kept it ever since. Now the old lady, who was well cared for by her children, is deal. They received the property which Demain was so determined not to surrender, and have never forgotten the Christmas Eve when their father was liber- ated." This is the last of the smoker's old pipes, unless I tell the story of the Churchwarden' some day. The Ccast. PERSY Wisku:.

MACHYNLLETH-

BARMOUTH

TREMADOC.

LLANYMAWDDWY

FFESTINIOG

BALA

LLANNOR NEAR PWLLHELI

NANHORON NEAR PWLLHELI

PWL.LHELI

DOLGELLEY.

PORTMADOC

IPENRHYNDEUDRAETH

CARDIGAN.

LAMPETER.

ABERAERON.

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[ ABERYSTWYTH !

LLANYCHAIARN

LLANRHYSTYD ROAD

CARNARVON

TOWYNi

7-DEATH OF THE REV. OWEN ROBERTS,…

HORRIBLE OUTRAGE AT BREMEN-HAFEN.

BUTTNGTON

LLANFAIR CAEREINION

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