The freeman. (Fremont [Ohio]) 1849-1850, 1850-04-20

me, her only legacy, in your hands. What
have suffered, God only can tell Scores Of
times have | sat, in the dark and chilly night,
upon the door-stone of this my fathers house,
and wept-wept that the past, with it innocen-
ice and JOY, had departed for ever; and then,
with softened heart, have risen TO ask ad-
mission to the old house but the remembrance
of your words would come back, and / have
turned away. Oh! il is cruel thing for fa-
ther to turn away from his child, as you turned
from me, for her first wrong step. l erred
fatally erred; but that error was light one to
those into which / have since fallen, when
! alone IN my weakness. and under circumstan-
ces OF strong temptation. I had no father, no
friend to whom could fly for counsel or sue
cor A sheep in the midst of wolves, and
the shepherd far away. is it any wonder that
I fell?'
The father shrunk back pace or two; his
heart seemed as if it would rend with anguish
He covered his face with his hands, and MUIR
INJURED
oh, that she had died in her beauty and
innocencer
There was the silence of death in the room.
For minutes he remained thus shutting out
the blasting image of his fallen child, every
moment expecting to hear other and more
dreadful words. But all remained still as the
grave Slowly, at length, he removed his
hands and looked up.
and innocence, were looking calmly upon him,
and the lips ofthe blessed image parting in a
gentle smile, seemed as if fabout TO speak. Mr..
Librand was not standing on the floor, but was
seated where he sat- when, but a short time
before, he had looked at the picture of his
child, and murmured-
.'oh! that those lips had language"
He had awakened from fearful dream.
Thank dod!' he said fervently, 50 soon as
he felt really assured that Marion had indeed
gone down to her grave, pure an innocent
For long time, with his eyes cast upon
the floor, did the merchant sit and think
What the character of his thoughts was, may
be inferred from the audible utterance of these
words:
Yes, yes. Let me say it from the bottom
of my heart, Thy auil be DONE and his eyes
were lifted involuntarily upward She has
been taken from the evil to come, and 4 will be
thankful
On the next day, as Mr.. Librand was walk
ing towards his place of business he started
involuntarily, at meeting the very man he had
seen in his dream. There was a young and
gaily dressed lady on his arm. The merchant
sighed as he passed on; and then he remem-
bered that this very man had on several occa-
sions, shown more than mere polite attention
to Marion. A shudder went through him; but
this, was as quickly succeeded by most pro
found and thankful acknowledgement Of the
truth, that all things are under the direction Of
an infinitely wise and good God. and that with
out Him not sparrow falls to the ground.
Thy will be done," was again the almost
spontaneous utterance of his lips and heart
From that time the merchant was changed
The old family pew was no longer vacant on
the Sabbath, nor was the expression of his face
so cold and stern as it had been since the death
of his child. That just whathe had seen in
his dream would have taken place had Marion
lived, he did not believe; but he received the
vision as full explanation Of the bereaviag pro-
vidence, aud ever after felt satisfied that Mari
on had been taken at the fttest moment.