Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 December 1878 — DAVID OAKTREE; OR, Hetty’s Christmas Present. [ARTICLE]

DAVID OAKTREE; OR, Hetty’s Christmas Present.

BY W. H. WHITE.

Oaktree farm is situated in the immediate vicinity of Oldtown, a picturesque little port of entry in Ocean county. The owner and occupant in 187— was Elias Oaktree, the son of Enoch, the son of Abijah, who was the son of Obed, and so on into the dimness of tho Oaktree past. The Oaktrees, it will be seen, were deeply rooted in tho soil. The founder of the family, old Adam Oaktree, left the mother country in tho evening of his days, to settle amid the Eden-like pastures of Ocean county, so long ago that the record of tho event has been almost effaced by the dust of centuries. From that remote period, each successor to tho estate has been content to follow in tho beaten tracks of his ancestors, mostly cattle-paths, for the Oaktrees were great graziers, besides being famous producers of cheese and butter; while as milk-dealers they have ever been considered the very cream of their class. It is something singular that but one Oaktree had ever been born in a generation ; ft younger son was xlnknown to the race, while no daughter had ever made an appearance. Tho son of the owner, at the time of the opening of our story, was David Oaktree, who had arrived at the mature age of 25 years. Daniel stood about five feet nine in his worsted stockings; ho was broad-shouldered, deep-chested, compactly built, muscular; a very Hercules in strongth. His hair was brown, his eyes hazel, his features regular, with a complexion healthfully sun-burned. A neighbor of theOaktreoswas Darius Seaton, who livod in a rambling old homestead with his wife, Ruth; and his daughter, Mehitable. The latter was a graceful little rustic, of twenty years, violet-eyed, and with hair of a deep auburn hue. Without question, Miss Mehitable was the prettiest girl in Oldtownship. She was of happy nature; her laugh was melody, her smile a ray of sunshine. It was delightful—especially to David—to see that smile beaming upon her red-ripe lips, gleaming in her violet-blue eyes, peeping out of dimples, to ripple in merry waves over cheeks and chi*. “Hetty ” (as all but the most staid of her old-time relatives and friends called her) and David were lovers, engaged in due form. They were to be united matrimonially, on “one of these days,” but which one had not yet been definitely settled upon. There was another ardent admirer of firetty Hetty Seaton in the neighborlood, a well-to-do member of another deep-rooted family in Ocean county. His name was Beriah Thorn. He was fully six feet in height; shapely, and as strong as a young giant. His thick, coarse hair was of the hue of a crow’s feathers. His eyes were deeply set and coal black, and, although bis complexion was as tawny as a half-breed Indian’s, yet a handsomer face was not borne by any man in the ceunty. One bright crisp afternoon in December—it was the day before Christmas, David returned to Oaktree by rail from New York, after a stay of two weeks in the great metropolis, whither he had been sent by his father on business connected with the farm. The first person he met after leaving the station was an old acquaintance, Elnathan Fern, who had an important story to tell, namely, that Hetty Seaton was about to be married to Beriah Thorn—Beriah himself had so told Elnathan. But the story was false. Hetty had written to David, in answer to his loving letters, and had given the missives to her father; but he, being busy with farm affairs, intrusted them, for mailing, to Thom, and what disposition the latter made of the tender things is a mystery to this day. David listened to Elnathan, and, as the story was repeated by others, and as the promised letters had not reached him, and being withal of a somewhat jealous nature, he accepted the lie as a tale of truth. The immediate consequence was that our hero, for the first time in his life, fuddled his brain with the then popular Ocean county beverage palled “apple-jack.” Under the px-

citement produced by this potent tipple, David sallied forth about an hour before sundown, to see Hetty and give her a “piece of his mind.” She was not at home, but had gone to call on Miss Lamb, a neighbor, so Mrs. Seaton said. Mad with disappointment, jealousy and apple-jack, Oaktree dashed off in search of Miss Mehitable Seaton. An hour after, David Oaktree returned to Seaton’s house, with Hetty in his arms, insensible, and bleeding from a terrible wound in the head. He laid the- poor girl upon a sofa, and, merely saying, “I am going for the doctor,” rushed from the house. He had been gone a short time when Beriah Thom came staggering in, with his face horribly mangled. “"What is the meaning of all this, Beriah Thom! ” exclaimed Mrs. Seaton. “It means that David Oaktree has tried to do murder.” “ What! did David Oaktree cut this awful gash on my daughter’s head?” shrieked the exasperated woman. “Yes; and then nearly murdered me for interfering. And here is the weapon he used,” exhibiting an old spade handle, stained with blood, and having a quantity of long aubum-hued hair clinging to it. Hetty began to revive. She opened her eyes and exclaimed, “ David! where is David? What is the matter with my head ? ” “ Don’t mention his name again, the murdering wretch! ” cried the indignant mother. “ Here’s the very club he tried to kill you with. I should think you’d had enough of him.” “ Tried to kill me! It is impossible. I don’t remember anything about it. Did David strike me ? ” “ Yes, Hetty,” gasped Beriah, from an old arm-chair in which he had thrown himself. “ Your mother is right. David Oaktree tried to kill you, and nearly murdered me. I wish the doctor would come. lam sick. I—I—” Before he could finish, Beriah slid from the chair in a dead faint. Hetty was bewildered. The blow upon her head had “ shocked her system through and through,” as her mother pertinently remarked, and had caused such a confusion of memory that she could not recall the slightest particular concerniug tho manner in which she had been hurt. Her father, as well as Mrs. Seaton, sided with Thorn, and, by tho time David returned with Dr. Solon, Hetty, in spite of herself, was made to believe that Beriah’s story was true. The elder Seaton hotly accused Oaktree of the bloody deed, repeating Thorn’s charges again and again, and exhibiting the blood-stained spade-handle in proof of the accusation! Hetty was silent. “Do you believe it, Hetty?” asked David, excitedly, when Mrs. Seaton’s tongue had ceased, from sheer exhaustion. The suffering girl, among whose exuberant curls the doctor was busy with Mrs. Seaton’s scissors and a saturated sponge, closed her eyes and made no reply. Cut to the heart, David exclaimed, piteously, “Oh, Hetty, Hetty, say you don’t believe it!”

She opened her eyes and said, faintly, “I can’t recollect how I was hurt. But, David, you did act and talk strangely. Your words were cruel, cruel! And you nearly killed Beriah, too.” Doctor Solon now interfered. “There has been too much talking done. Miss Seaton must not be excited,” he said. “Do you believe me guilty, doctor?” said David. “Well, I can’t say; don’t know. But the evidence is all against you. Mrs. Seaton, get another basin of milk-warm water and wash Thorn’s face. He has received an ugly wound. His nose is demolished. Oaktree, you have done some bloody work this evening. You had better leave Qldtown in haste, and look to your safety.” David was crushed in spirit, seeing that all were against him. He knelt by the side of Hetty, who lay pale as marble, and again unconscious. “God knows,” he said, “I never harmed this dear augel. I did strike Beriah Thorn, and if I had killed him I should not be sorry. He deserves to die, curse him!” Then, kissing Hetty tenderly and shaking his fist at Thorn, Oaktree left the house. The next morning David was arrested on the beach near Oldtown, whore he had been wandering all night, in a state of semi-stupor. A few days after the case was investigated by Justice Bright. Thorn, whose evidence was given as he lay in bed, testified strongly against his rival. The result was that David Oaktree was held to await tho action of the Grand Jury, on a charge of “assault and battery, with an intent to kill.” The Grand Jury of Ocean county met soon afterward. Oaktree’s case was the first investigated. The jury thought the evidence was strong enough to justify them in finding a true bill against Oaktree, who was accordingly locked up in the county jail and held for trial. The Court of Oyer and Terminer was to meet in Oldtown the next week, and David’s case was the first on the docket. His father, mother and friends visited him frequently, but brought with them no comfort, for they really believed him to be guilty. They thought, it is true, ho had acted under the influence of liquor; but that was rather an aggravation than an excuse in the eyes of the moral community of Oldtown and vicinity. On the morning of the day of trial it was found that David had escaped from prison. Search was diligently made, but without success. Two weeks subsequently the body of a drowned man was found upon the beach; and this body was identified as that of David Oaktree; and the drowning was thought to be an act oifelo de se. After a long illness, Hetty Seaton recovered. But, though restored to bodily health, mentally she was far from well. The cloud over her memory remained as dark as ever; her cheerful spirits were gone. She became melancholy, with little resemblance to the merry, laughing Hetty of former days. Time sped. Beriah Thom, whose good lo*ks were forever gone, offered himself matrimonially to Miss Seaton. His offer was backed by the parental Seatons, and by most of the family friends. But Hetty refused him firmly, almost fiercely. His lands, his backers, his money, the risk he had incurred in her defense—according to his oft-re-peated story—were unavailing. Taking Hetty’s emphatic “No!” as a final answer, Mr. Beriah Thorn retired sullenly to his oows and his cabbages, to chew the cud of revengefully bitter fancies. David Oaktree’s father and mother meurned the loss of their son deeply, finding no comfort save in hard work, and it must be admitted that they assiduously sought their consolation. A few months after her recovery, Hetty Seaton visited New York, for the first time in her life. A cousin of the Seatons, Mrs. Yerdan, a wealthy, childless widow, had, when Hetty was on the younger side of her teens, offered to adopt the pretty little rustic. The proposal which was then refused was now renewed, and gladly accepted. In her new home, surrounded by all the softening influences which wealth, controlled by education and adorned with refinement, ever exerts we will leave Hetty for the present, and turn our attention to other affairs. Seven years after in the month of November— the ship “ Invincible,” frqiq Cadiz bqund to New York, was wrecked on the coast a few jailss from Oldtown.

The crew and passengers were saved. The ship soon became a complete wreck, from which nothing not worn upon the persons of the rescued was saved. One of the passengers, an American, soon discovered that the shore upon which he had been cast formed a part of Ocean county, of which he was once a resident. The quondam citizen repaired without delay to Oaktree, where he received a joyous welcome from old Elias and Patience his wife. The news was quickly bruited abroad that David Oaktree had returned, alive and welL The greatest excitement that had prevailed in Oldtown since the famous inquest was the immediate result. The ultimate consequences were more serious. Beriah Thom still lived and cherished his old animosity against our hero. Time, which usually lays a healing hand on such social sores, had intensified the bitterness of Beriah. Actuated by this feeling, he caused a warrant to be issued for David’s arrest, upon the old charge, and when the sun first set upon him after his return the wanderer was viewing the resplendent scene from the west window of the strongest cell in the county jail. Four weeks subsequent to his arrest, our hero was arraigned before the Court of Oyer and Terminer for Ocean county. He pleaded “Not guilty.” The trial proceeded. [The District Attorney stated the points he intended to prove. “It is one of the clearest cases I was ever connected with,” he said. “There is absolutely nothing to rebut the evidence against the accused. Mr. Oaktree, you had better confess your guilt, and throw yourself upon the mercy of the court.” “ Even to please such a Daniel in the law as you seem to be, I shall not alter my plea, I am not guilty, sir! ” was David’s bitter reply. “ I can make it clear to the court that you are! ” snarled Mr. Fox,the District Atomey. Mr. and Mrs. Seaton were examined. Their evidence explained the relations between David Oaktree and Mehitable Seaton, and the rivalry of Thorn and the accused. This was to show that there was a motive for the assault. Others testified to the intense excitement of David on the eventful day. This was done to make it appear that a condition of mind existed that would incite to deeds of violence. Beriah Thorn was sworn. “You saw the assault, Mr. Thom?” queried the District Attorney. “Yes, sir, all of it,” was the prompt reply. “Who were present beside yourself?” “Miss Seaton and David Oaktree.” “Where did the assault take place? ” “On the Old South road, near Pastor’s meadow.” “ State the circumstances.”

“Miss Seaton and myself were walking along the road. Oaktree met us, and, without a word being said, struck me a violent blow, with an old spade handle, and then felled Miss Seaton to the earth with the same weapon. Then he attempted to strike the young lady as she lay on the ground; but I interposed and the blows intended for her fell upon my head and face. You can see that I carry, the marks to this day.” He did carry them, there being very little left of liis once-handsome nose, and his words were literally spoken “through the mouth of a wound.” “Did tho accused speak during the assault ? ” “He said: ‘l’ll kill you both. You shall never live to marry each other! ’ ” A profound sensation was caused by this statement. “Is that all, Mr. Thorn? ” “I was struck senseless. Oaktree, I suppose, thought he had killed me. When I recovered, there was nobody near me. I thought he had murdered Miss Seaton and taken the body away to hide it. Then I made my way to Seaton’s house.” Dr. Solon’s evidence was in regard to the condition of Hetty and Beriah on the occasion. He also, in cross-exam-ination, related a conversation between the accused and himself, in which the former had stated that Thorn was the would-be assassin. But this was objected to, and ruled out. The crossquestionings of Thorn and the others evoked nothing in favor of the prisoner. Miss Mehitable Seaton was called by the prosecution. David’s cheeks flushed, his eyes dilated at the mention of that name. His love for Hetty was still deep and fervent. From the farther end of the room a lady was ushered to the witness-stand. She was plainly but fashionably dressed; and she bore herself with an air of quiet elegance which caused Oaktree to stare astonished, remembering, as he did, the unpolished rustic of former days. She threw back her veil, and displayed a face which evinced education and refinement in every feature. It was David’s old sweetheart, but polished and improved almost beyond his recognition. Oaktree’s appearance at that moment was not prepossessing, He had been too sorely distressed in mind to care about his personal appearance, and his poor father, at the last moment, had brought him by mistake an old blue suit—which now hung about the wearer a world too wide at all points—instead of the new clothes ordered at Draper’s, the Oldtown tailor. David was thin and haggard, beside. The contrast between him and Hetty was marked indeed; she with her air of elegance, he seemingly as clumsy as the dullest plow-boy that ever followed a furrow. “ Now, Miss Seaton, please inform us of all you know concerning this brutal business,” said the District Attorney. Hetty told her story up to the moment that Oaktree had met her and Thorn.

“ That’s all, Miss Seaton,” said Mr. Fox, the District Attorney, supposing that her memory, in regard to the assault, was as imperfect as ever. “The case for the prosecution is closed, if the opposite counsel has no questions to ask.” “ But, if you please, it is not all. The , most important facts, which I now distinctly remember, are yet to be related,” replied Hetty to the astonished attorney. Mr. Shields, the counsel for the defense, himself much amazed, jumped to his feet briskly. “As you have done with the witness, Mr. Fox, and as the prosecution has nothing more to prove, I will go on with the defense,” he said. “ Please continue. Miss Seaton.” “Mr. Oaktree,” she said, “asked meexcitedly, to go back with him, and ap, plied some uncomplimentary epithets to Beriah Thom, when the latter suddenly seized the spade handle, which stood against the fence, stepped silently behind Mr. Oaktree and struck at him with all his force. But I shrieked out an alarm, and he avoided the blow. Thom then aimed blow after blow in rapid succession at David, which were parried. At last the weapon descended with a-force that would have made the stroke fatal had it reached its object. But, impelled by an uncontrollable impulse, I rushed between the two men, and gave Thom a push which caused his weapon to miss its mark. At this he, Mr. Thom—” she paused, and repeated the name—“ Mr. Thom turned upon me, and exclaimed, furiously: ‘ Since you are so fond of Dave Oaktree, you may as well die for him!’ or words to that effect ; and struck me hwe ” exposing a long cicatrice the wound had left. ‘‘Had not Psvid par-

tiaHy parried then blow I should have been killed. I have a dim recollection that David snatched the spade handle from Thom and struck at Mm. Then I fainUtd.” Mr. Fox could not shake Hetty’s testimony although he cross-questioned her at ell points, with all the ingenuity acquired by years of experience. After she had finished, Oaktree’s council produced a document which was admitted as evidence. It was a statement of the affair written by David before his escape from the county jail. The paptjr had been preserved as a curiosity, in the County Clerk’s office; it was found to agree with Miss Seaton’s testimony in every particular. The District Attorney was disgusted and would not make an argument. The defendant’s counsel submitted the case of his client without a woi d. The Judge summed u» thus briefly. “The prosecution has signally failed. The witness Thorn has clearly perjured himself. Tha jury will find a verdfi }t for the defendant,” The jury found as directed, and David Oaktree stood blameless in the oyes of the law. Beriah Thom betook himself hastily from the court, retired to the njeesses of his farm, and was permitted to remain there unmolested. David and Hetty—the latter accompanied by her cousin, Mrs. Yerdan—met in the ante-chamber of the court. They gazed eamastly at each other. Old-time memories crowded thickly up#m each. Admiration mingled with David’s love; disappointment at his apparent unculture blended with Hetty’s feelings. Oaktree offered his hand; she laid her delicate fingers upon his broad palm. “Thanks, Miss Seaton,” he said. “I thank you with all my heart. You have saved my life, Hetty; for if they had sworn me off to State prison I shouldn’t have lived to come out of it.” “And forgive me for the eruel wrong I have done you,” she replied, looking wistfully into his eyes. What Miss Seaton saw in their hazel depths drew her to him irresistibly and melted the conventional crust she had acquired. She became once more, for the moment sit least, his dear little Hetty. “Oh, David, David!” she cried, and clasped him about the neck with oldtime fervency. He kissed her passionately; then, seeing Mrs. Verdan’s look of surprise, blushed like a girl. “When shall I see you again?” he asked Hetty. “ On Monday evening, Christmas eve, at Mrs. Yeraan’s, in New York,” giving him the street and number, and presenting him formally to that lady. Mrs. Verdan exchanged but a few sentences with our hero, yet when they separated it was with a much more favorable opinion of him than she had at first entertained. David soon learned that Mrs. Yerdan intended to leave her property "to Miss Mehitable Seaton, who had thus acquired a degree of respect and admiration which naught but money or prospective wealth could have evolved from her numerous Ocean county acquaintances. At an early hour on Christmas eve, David Oaktree opened the gate leading to the grounds surrounding tho Yerdan mansion.

Hetty heard his footsteps upon the veranda; the next moment David was in her presence. Could this be the man who so recently stood before her in the Oldtown court-room, pale, haggard, awkward ? And yet it was he; but how different! His ill-fitting garments changed for fashionable habiliments, his unkempt hair and beard neatly arranged, his cheeks flushed with the hue of health—the metamorphosis was complete! The evening passed pleasantly. Hetty found that David, like herself, had vastly improved, in mind as well as manners. During hm long absence he had, besides devoting himself to the study of books on all possible occasions, picked up a vast amount of general information in various parts of the world, and David had been an indefatigable traveler since his hasty exit from the Ocean county lock-up. On this Occasion lie said nothing concerning his financial affairs, and Hetty’s impression was that he still remained poor, or comparatively poor, with a prospect, in the distant future, of becoming liis father’s successor, and the owner of Oaktree farm. Mrs. Yerdan, charmed with Our hero’s conduct and conversation, cordially invited him to the annual holiday festival which was to be celebrated at her house on the morrow—Christmas. David cheerfully accepted the invitation. On the afternoon of the following day, David, arrayed in faultless evening costume, was warmly welcomed by Hetty and Mrs. Yerdan. The guests being all assembled, the doors of the great conservatory were thrown open, and a scene of novel beauty was presented. In this immense conservatory, which was lofty enough to contain full-grown palms, the trunks and branches of spruce, hemlock and pine trees had been skillfully arranged in imitation of the cruciform interior of a mediaeval cathedral. Every treetrunk in this Christmas temple was a ▼erdure-clad Gothic column; each branch was a portion, clothed in living green, of the interlacing mullions, aisles, arches, nave, roof and transept tracery. The fragrant box-plant hung in festoons from pillar to column; rare flowers, fashioned into crosses, stars, letters and Christmas phrases, hung from the various points of vantage. An organ occupied the proper place in the choir, and in the center of the transept, inclosed by blossoming orange trees, was the chancel with its evergreen altar. In short, all the appointments of a cathedral were here represented. A reverend gentleman in canonicals was at the altar, by whom, with organ and choral accompaniments, the Christmas services were impressively celebrated. The last notes of the final anthem were still vibrating in the perfumed air, when David whispered to Hetty, “Will you grant me a favor—a Christmas gift that I may choose for myself?” “ With all my heart. What is it?” “Yourself, Hetty!” His meaning suddenly flashed upon her. She blushed vividly, and hesitated. “What, to-day? Now? Impossible! Ask Cousin Verdan.” Mrs. Yerdan made no objection. Indeed, she was pleased with the proposal. Hetty insisted upon time in which to make a more suitable toilet. A few hours after she reappeared in a costume which seemed perfect at all points—especially to the gentlemen present—but which under other circumstances she would have scorned. But she made this sacrifice of etiquette to love gracefully—for his sake. David and Hetty were ushered to the altar; and the mildly-amazed clergyman proceeded to bind them together, matrimonially, in due and ancient form. Hetty and Mrs. Verdan still looked upon our hero as a poor man. The fete went on with unusual brilliancy. In the evening, David and his wife were together in the transept of the Christmas temple. From the hundred branches of a great chandelier, the light, filtering through colored globes, was like the softened sunshine which is shed from the tinted panes of a chancel 'window. “Hetty,” said David, as they stood en^

veloped in this variegated effulgence, “when we were first before this blessed altar, I said: * With all my worldly goods I thee endow.’ I now fulfill that prom--ISG> He gave her a package. “What is this?” she said. “ A Christmas present; all my worldly goods.” She opened the packet. It contained SIOI,OOO worth of bonds, coupons intact! “ Pretty ornaments for a Christmas tree, Hetty.” “ Why, David, J thought you were— * “Poor? With your love, darling, I were rich, indeed, did I not possess a dollar.” “Dear David, my David!” she murmured, nestling against his shoulder. “ How pleased Cousin Verdan will be!” “With these adornments for the Christmas tree ? ” “ Yes. But I would have been content if—” “ What, Hetty?” “If there had not been a single leaf of this kind upon my glorious Oaktree.”