The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1861-10-02

BY CLARA SIDNEY.

| uapS you put IL tneTe Oy ulISt1ke.
And the young wife turned towards her
husband face whose sudden whiteness
belied her hopeful words.
"It's no use, Maria, | tell you it is goner'
cried the young man, in tones of despair :;
"gone, and the Lord only knows what is to
become Of u.s."
What is the case, sir?' asked one of
the several gentlemen who left their seats
to gather round the distressed family, con-
sis,ing Of the parents and two very noble
and beautiful little ones, boy and 4 girl
II have been robbed of all the money
that have on earth," replied the young
man, his lips quivering and his teeth fairly
chattering in his head. And am bound
for Iowa with my family. We have none
t,e ,bslp us; we shall starve, or these will,
uOb ~. T., for them. -.
o', not so bad as that, my man." uuoth
venerable gentleman, with long beard
ana S"'d- headed cane; mot SO bad as
.aa .na'' you "osf not SO easily lose your cour-
At this the pretty, weeping wife looked
up, and said with earnestness:
".f you only knew one. half that he has
come through, you would not wonder that
this last misfortune is the drop too mnch,'
sh ,ulders, she sobbed afresh.
~ would like to hold you on my lap, my
hoy, may have that pleasure - asked the
old man of the little boy.
"Yeth thir," was the frank assent, and
the little fellow sat quietly where he was
placed, while Jenney looked with smiles up
into the benign face beside her.
"You must excuse me SIR the old man
said addressing the husband and father,
"but feel very much like taking liberties.
Will you be so good as to relate so much as
you may choose of your history? feel
strangely curious to hear it."
There was sympathy in every act and
every tone Of the old man, and the sore
heart Of the troubled young man was very
thankful to unburden itself
His name was George Howard, he said,
that is, this was the only name he knew
anything about, for he was foundling TAX
en- from the cold stone floor Of public
building one cold autumn morning. He was
then about two years old, had been drugged
and left there to perish, or to be picked up,
as the case might be- A kind gentleman
had found him, anu for six or eli ght years
he was we'll cared for, and happy. Then
his friend died, and he found himself cast
out on the mercy of strangers. He was TAX
en- into family where they were not over
kind to their o,cn children-to him they had
denied every pleasure and every advantage.
He could not obtain time to go to school,
but had managed to get candles and to study
at night. Thus he mastered book keeping
and some other things, and at eighteen
years Of age had obtained a good place in
store At twenty he had fallen in love with
sweet and worthy girl, and after two more
years Of toll, in spite of the opposition of
her proud relatives, he had married her
This was mistake, he supposed, at least
every body seemed to consider it so. They
ought to have waited. But his salary was
quite sufficient to live on, and what more
did they need? They were very happy;
but alas there cane change. A bank
exploded somewhere; then another and an
other; then the merchants began to shake,
and like a row of bricks standing near to-
ge;her, when the first one gets blow, down
they all fell, and his employers among
them.
There was no getting situation. Hun
! drcds Of clerks, and many merchants, also,
were out of business. George determined
to 90 West. Then he met with many mis-
fortunes; he was long time sick, several
times cheated, and once burned out; all
that he took out with him was soon gone
What made the trouble so bad was the
fact that his family were with his wife's rel
atives, and he knew very well how they all
talked to her; he knew how hard it was for
her high and true heart to hear him blam
ed for everything, and undervalued and
l L L. =
and borrowed money enough to go for his
family, and they had started for home in
the great west, and now this blow had fallen
upon them, and it was too much.
81 am now without a dollar i'm the
world ]. concluded George, and the poor
fellow'Ht his head sink on his breast, and
two tears fell from his great, sad eyes.
"Cheer up. my man. said the stranger,
"you know it's an old saying that the dark
est hour is just before the dawn. And if a
man epsr trusts and hopes in God, it should
be when hcmost needs to. And you are in
that place now"
"Yes; think am," returned George
gloomily. "And it is very hard. | had
hoped that our scorst troubles were over"
"Well, think that they are" said their
companion smiling Here, Mr. Conductor,
| (for that fanctionary at this moment paused
beside our group) | pay for three--you
don't charge anything for my children, you
know"
''It is exceedingly kind Of you, sir," said
name and address, that we may know where
to send the money whe', we become able
to return it,"
"You will have no difficulty as to return
ing it my man, as reside in the same town
to which you are bound. My name is Ap-
pleton. every body in-- knows me-"
Little Josey, who had been looking in
tently at the stranger, here exclaimed -
"You look like mine papa"
"The child is right" said his mother
"If you will excuse my saying it, sir there
never was father and son looked more alike
than do you and my husband"
The gentleman was vsibly agitated.-
For moment he made no reply then
said:
IL lost mo only son when he was two
years OF age lie was stolen away, and
we could never find him."
snow, young man, do not say that you
are really my stolen son. There is, per-
haps, no reasonable proof that you are
But the time and manner of your discovery
would seem to suggest that it may be So
My heart yearns over you as it never has
yearned over any living creature since my
boy disappeared. have never been bless
ed with another child. Twill take you all
with me to my home, if you are willing to
go with the old stranger"
Was not the darkest hour nearest the
dawn?
George and his family went with the old
man to his home his large, palatal home,
no longer solitary as it had been. The
moment Mrs. Appletons eyes fell upon
George she claspcd his hands and gazed