The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1861-04-11

mad Reach me that inkstand, John. I will
write you receipt for the money
7 tther-----'
Not word more not single word Hith-
eric you've been quiet, obedient girl Cd
rat that girl; what's in her y
! The farmer reached The pen and ink to the
| old man. who sat up in bed and wrote the re-
ceipt The other took it, folded it up, and put
! it in his pocket Before he went out, he APP
| preached Esther and took her by the hand. i
once had daughter Thank God she died be-
| fore we came to what we are now, for it would
| have added great weight to my h art to have
| dimmed her youth with the sorrows which now
ovecshadow me. But if she had lived [ feel
that she would have been like you and / could
| have asked nothing better for her.
| He turned abruptly from her, and his heavy
! step VIZ heard as lie descended the stairs and
| lefs the house.
Once more Esther approached the bed. Faith
or, let me call him back before he is gone too
far. implore it for your sake; mplore you
for the love Of heaven. Oh you know not all
that is depending on your words and actions
this night. a5.
Despite the sadness of her tone, Obed was
| fairly aroused to wrath. tell ysu no! A
thousand times NO Were the very hell hound;
here who placed ME in this room, I'd tell you
MOP .ts.
came over her as she spoke:
] Now hear me yet again. It is not yet toe
late
IN her voice there was a tone OF solemn sad
ness such as he never had heard before, and
which filed his heart with foreboding but the
grim demon which had grped it so long still
kept lis hold there and struggled hard to keep
his holier feelings out. He shook his head. She
did not regard his gesture, but spoke on
| From my childhood until now | have been
with you. I have seen you grow from poverty
to wealth. You We're an earnest striving fru-
| gal man you struggled and fought your way
on; you placed dollar upon dollar; and as you
saw your store increase your heart grew glad,
The old man chuckled and rubbed mis- hands
i'll his bed, his eyes cleaning with satisfaction.
| Aye, girl money is power; remember that;
| always remember that
| But she waved her hand and went on.
AS your heart reioiced it also grew hard and
strong; It's better feelings one by one were
frozen out, until at last but one single over
whelming passion filed it; crushing to atoms
all others and sitting there alone the sordid
love Of gain
The old man made gesture Of itnpatience.
| 1 M no worse Than my eighbors, mnttered he,
not a whit worse p
The girl went on:
! watched this feeling az it grew. Child as
l was, tried to battle against it and turn you
to better things 1 hoped as grew older and
as coming years gave weight and inuence to
lny words, / might still redeem the past and win
you from your threatened destiny. 1t was a
hard task, for all went well with you. Where
/ ever you went, whatever you did, the gifts of
! God were showeyed upon you in rich prOtusion.
But amid them all, your heart still chung to earth
and them Ii was never raised in gratitude to
the Givcr, nor did it dream Of the object of the
| gift.
You're wrong my child indeed you are, sal j
the old man with d tremulous voice, i was
grateful. indeed Was said my prayers al
ways
idle words bear no fruit! What acts Of
yours eyer showed that the blessings which you
received were extended by you to others 2 de-
mauded the giIl sternly.
Obed muttered something about throwing
away mercy On wasteIui inprovident vaga-
BOMBS.
The poor wero about you by hundreds, nay
/ by thousands the earth was teeming with them.
| Their cry for help, by you ever unheeded, from
you went to heaven with the story Of It's wrongs
with not one voice to say that you had shelter
ed, fej or clothed. Such as sought you, you
tainted with tho calamites which Heaven had
cast uuOn them, as crimes Of their own commit
tang The result came, Your house was shun-
ned by every one who felt that sorrow and sul-
4erug formed Z claim 10 aid and sympathy from
all who belonged 10 the great brotherhood OF
man. was your child and had an errand TO
| fulfill. Time was waning fast; the frosts OF age
were on your brow. What if eternity were reach,
ed and found you lost to mercy and to God
/ who are you?' demanded the old man sit
| ting up in his bed, that speak to me thus?
! AS net your child
! 4 was afraid you had forgotten 1t, said he,
now let me tell you III have no more Of this.
! The girl looked sadly IN his face BE it as
you have SAID, my mission IS ended
/ As she spoke she stood before him, no longer
! a tinId shrinking child She still wore the
semblance of her former sell, but there was an
air almost of glory about her person, and maj
esty in her clear eye from which all earthly pas
sion had fed, and her low, startling tones spoke
! like conscience.
Now hear and see the hidden past, and from
| that divine the future
All about him seemed to whiTl. The room,
the furniture, the bed whirled and whirled, and
/ then became mist. The mist gathered into
masses which filled all space, and pressed upon
/ him He shook with mortal fear, and closed his
| eyes, for he shank from what was TO come. -
| Again the voice Of Esther came stealing on his
ear; so quiet, yet so commanding, that he could
| not help out listen.
Now hear the past rs you know it not, and
yet as you know it will. The flight Of time rolls
/ back upon ITSELF and as the curtain which
shrouds the past draws back, | see feeble sick
| " boy with his head bowed at his mothers knee,
! his hands clasped, and his lips uttering lisp
ing prayer; very feeble prayer to reach SO far,
vet whispered as it was, it assembled to the Great
! Throne, borne upward by the strong tervid sup
plication of her who brought him into being,and
! now sheltered him beneath her strong love.
| saw her borne to her grave, and the boy, as yet
a child left TO tho care Of strangers beneath
whose neglect the lessons Of his childhood were
swept away. His nature became stern, and he
Grew up q cold aud hardened man, strong to
! ight the great battle Of life, and struggle for
| the rewards of earth, without one thought of
her who had sheltered his young life, without one
thought Of the great reckoning TO come. Again
| see him in hisIyOuth, plodding, striving man,
with earnest anxious brow, and toil-hardened
hands He is sitting at table with book in
his hand thumbed and well worn. It marks the
progress of his gains, and he pores and ponders
over it, turning from it only TO look al q small
box near by, which holds those gains, the story
of which is written in that book. Upon a shell
near by lies another book 1t is dust covered,
and has been undisturbed for months a spider
has woven his web around it, and rests there in
security. It is book of promises, of promises
which never fail,
Obed turned uneasily in his bed. I know il
we'll he muttered My mothers bible She
gave it when / was q boy, very little boy.
Il The girl did not seem to hear him. 'Promisef
made wheu the earth was in its infancy and hui
manity was tainted first with sin. Promises
i which have ever been fulfilled, and ever rewar
ded as mans wants called them into birth ant
whose glad realization shall exist when eartl
, and man shall be swept away, and time itsel
merged into the great ocean Of which IL forms
. bnt drop-eternity.
: Obed raised his eyes, but he could not bear
the earnest mysterious gaze which met his own
He trembled at her words; and yet he could bu
love and reverence her for no felt their trutl
} like holy writ.
Speak l charge yea, said he with halfimplo
ring, half Shrinking gesture let me know TN
, worst, who are you?'
Hear the rest, answered the girl. From
: childhood until now there was one commission
t ed from on high to guard and direct the foot