Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1859-01-21

Agnes-plre, good, beautiful Agnes
wept long and bitterly in her little garret;
and when she had become calm. and her
cheeks were dry, she came down and got
supper but she was not the smiling, hap
py being that had fitted about the scanty
board heretofore.
A few days after this, as Noah Brennan
approached his cot one morning, he heard
voices from within, He peeped through
a rent in the coarse paper curtain, and
saw Walter Adams with his child. Her
head was upon Walters shoulder, and his
arm was about her.
Walter was an orphan, and had been
Agnes schoolmate and her fervent lover
through all the years of opening youth.
He was an honorable, virtuous man, and
loved the gentle girl tecause she was SO
good, and so gentle, and SO beautiful; and
she loved him, not anly because he had
captured her heart in bygone time, but be-
cause he was, of all her suitors, the only
one whose character and habits promised
joy and peace for the future
al cannot leave my poor old father,
Walter" the old man heard his daughter
say. 81 must live to love and care for
him. On all the earth am the only one
left to love him. 1t is hard. My heart
may break. But the pledge of love gave
to my dying mother must be kept.
"And SO the great joy-dream of my
youth must be changed to this sad realityr'
exclaimed Walter, sOrrowingly. 81 can
not ask you to leave your father, sweet
Agnes, for the very truth in you which L
worship would be made lie, could you
do SO, But 1 have a prayer-an earnest,
sincere prayer. / pray that God, in his
mercy, may remove the curse from your
fathers STOPPING form -
"The curse, Walter p
"Aye-the gold curser' rejoiced the
youth fervently. II hope God may rem
der him penniless''
"What Penniless?" repeated Agnes,
with a start.
"Aye, penniless; for then he would be
far more wealthy than he is now. Then
he would know how to appreciate the price
less blessing of his sweet Agnes love, and
then the crust might be broken, and his
heart grow human again. And, more
than all" Walter continued, winding his
arm more closely about the fair form of
his companion, and speaking more deeply
"then l could take you to my home, and
l could take your father to my home, and
we could both love him and care for him
while he lived"
Noah Brennan stopped to hear no more,
and as he walked away, he muttered to
himself
"The rascal He'd do great things
Me penniless And he praying for il
The young villain /"
When the old man gained his aceustom
ed walk among the great sycamores he
wiped something from his eye. He act
ed as though mote had been blown il
! there.
Two weeks passed on, and Agnes grew
pale and thin She did not sin as she uset
| to, nor could she smile as had been hel
wont. Still she murmured not nor die
her kindness to her father grow less.
80, Ged help me to love my fatherl'
she prayed one night. "Let not my grie
make me forget my duty"
And the old man heard it.
One night Noah came home from tn
city, and in his hand he brought small
trunk He barred the door and drew th
tattered curtains close.
"See," he said, as he opened the trunl
and piled the new bank notes upon tn
table. "LOok there, Agnes, and see no,
l have worked in my lifetime ! had n
education, but | have laid up money
Moncy-MoNEY How many men woul
sell me all their brains o-night for this
, See--one thousand-two--thr four
five. Count them, Agnes there's a thou
sand pounds in each package"
} Agnes counted them over, for sh
thought her father wished it, and she mad
fifty packages.
"Why have you taken it from the banl
father ?" she asked
"To let it, my child-to let it at a roun
interest Agnes. l shall double it darlin
double it-DoUBLE ITl''
And while the old mans eyes sparkle
4 with evident satisfaction, his child wore
sad, sorrowing look and long after tn
she sat and looked at the working featur,
of her father, and prayed that the Go
Fiend would set him free.