New York Dispatch

A MYSTERY SOLVED
Thrown Upon the World to Avoid Disgrace.
The Charcoal Burner of the Black Forest.
A Rich Mother Makes Herself Known.
A Romance of the Old and New World.
Almost one year ago a Mr. Herman Seiler, of Paterson, N. J., died, having first willed the bulk of his property and money to his wife. They had been married over seventeen years, but had never been favored with children, and had settled in Paterson shortly after their arrival from Germany, soon after their marriage. As soon as she had satisfactorily arranged her affairs, the widow departed for Germany, to revisit her friends and the place of her birth. She returned to Paterson from her visit to Germany recently, and was accompanied by a charming young lady whom she introduced as her daughter.
The strange history of the young lady mentioned is the only excuse for adverting to Mrs. Seiler's widowhood, her visit to Germany, and her subsequent return, accompanied by her whose singular career is exceptional and highly romantic.
THE ADOPTED CHILD,
On a cold November night, twenty years ago, Anthony Mindner, a charcoal burner of the Black Forest in the Grand Duchy of Baden, was on the point of retiring to rest for the night, when he heard the feeble cry of a child proceeding from the outside.
He cautiously opened the door, and peering through the darkness and the wind-driven snow, he saw something white on the door-step.
He raised it to his arms, and removing the bundle to the warm room, he unwrapped many folds of cloth, and a fine child was disclosed to his view.
He aroused his wife, who had already retired, and showed her the child, which was apparently about two weeks old. What to do with the little girl foundling was the next question. The husband decided upon handing it over to the authorities on the following day, but the childless wife appealed eloquently in behalf of the child, and it was finally resolved that they should adopt it as their own.
A small book that was attached to a chain around the child's neck, contained some gold and silver ornaments, and a small sum of money.
Anthony Mindner, beside being a successful charcoal burner, was an accomplished wood carver, and was in much more comfortable circumstances than the majority of those who followed the same profession. He was therefore in a position to bestow advantages upon his foster daughter, such as few of his neighbors could confer upon their children, and the little one when of age was sent to the school in an adjoining village. She was named Leonora after her foster mother, and grew to be
THE PRETTIEST AND MOST INTELLIGENT GIRL
in that little village on the borders of the Schwarzwald. When sufficiently advanced in years she assisted her foster parents at the wood-carving, and became so accomplished at that species of work that objects of her manufacture were soon in great demand.
When fifteen years of age her foster mother died, having for the first time informed the girl of her strange accident of birth, and her unknown parentage. Anthony soon followed, and Lena was left alone in the world. Her business, however, offered her a fair remuneration, and she was not left without means by those whose loss she regretted as deeply as if they had been her real parents.
The mystery of her origin, now that she was left doubly orphaned, was continually in her mind, and she bitterly regretted that her foster mother in dying, had left her entirely motherless, even as a memory of the past.
The little village on the confines of the Black Forest, where she had dreamed away so many happy years, now took the dark shade of her gloomy imaginings, and the solitary grandeur of her surroundings only helped to intensify her melancholy forebodings. She concluded to leave, and soon after located herself in a town in the centre of the duchy.
FINDS A MOTHER.
Last Spring a middle-aged lady called upon Leonora Mindner, the famous wood-carver, at her residence in her new location, and her astonishment may be judged when she informed her that she was her mother. Lena refused at first to credit the news, but was finally convinced, much against her will, that it was really so. She had left her illegitimate child on the doorstep of the charcoal-burner's house, because she knew his wife to be a kind-hearted woman, otherwise nothing would have tempted her to act as she did to save herself from disgrace. She married soon after Lena's birth and emigrated to America, and could not make herself known as her mother until her husband's death left her free.
It was long before the daughter consented to become reconciled to her, and not until writings, conveying to her a considerable amount of property, had been drawn, would she consent to accompany her to this country.
Mrs. Seiler and her charming daughter, Leonora, arrived in Paterson recently, and as the latter is now wealthy, it is not likely that she will follow her profession of wood-carving any longer.