The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1863-07-09

door on it's rusty hinges while far
above them both the angels of God
held their breath and listened. But
the lady could only see the subdued
man bury his face in his hands, and
while his whole frame shook like an
aspen leaf, she heard him murmur
amid child-like sobs
"My mother Oh my mother!"
And she knew the tears were wash
ing out also many dark pages in the
record Of Old Bills past life SO. with
a silent prayer of thankfulness, she re-
sumed
"But there was one scene father
loved to talk of better than all the rest.
1t was on the morning you were mar
ried, Mr.. Strong. 1T was enough to
do ones eyes good,' he used to say, 'to
look at them as they walked up the old
church aisle; he with his proud, manly
tread, and she delicate, fragile crea-
ture, fair as the orange blossoms that
trembled in her hair. ! remember how
clear and firm his voice sounded
through the church, as he promised to
love, protect and cherish the fair girl
at his side +; and | know, as he looked
upon her, the very winds of heaven
should not visit her face too roughly"
"And then my father would tell us
of home made very bright by watch
ful affection, and of dark eyed boy
and fair-haired girl who came after
while to gladen it; and then you know
he removed to the w est and lost sight
of you Mr.. Strong"
Once again the lady paused, for the
agony of the man before her was fear
full to behold; and when she spoke
again, it was in a lower and more
mournful tone:
81 promised my father, previously to
his death, that if | ever visited his ma
tive State, / would seek out his old
friend. But when l inquired for you,
they unfolded terrible story to me,
Mr.. Strong; they told me of broken,
desolate household, of the gentle un-
complaining wife, who went down,
with a prayer on her lips for the erring
husband, broken-hearted to the grave );
and of the fair-haired girl they placed
in little while by her side. Oh, it is
a sad, sad story l have heard of my
fathers old friend"
cit was /! 1T was l that did it all
| killed them p said Old Bill, in a
voice hoarse with emotion, and he lif-
ted his head from his clasped hands
and looked upon the lady, every fea-
ture wearing such look of agony and
remorse that she shuddered to behold
it. Wide, wide open stood the door
then, and the lady hastened to pass in.
A small hand was laid gently upon
Bill's arm, and sweet voice mur-
INJURED
s'Even for all this there is redemp-
ton. In the name of the mother that
loved you, in the name of your dying
wife, and of the child that sleeps be-
side her, l ask you, win you sign the
pledge? ?'
81 WILL" said old Bill; and he
brought down his hand with such force
on the pine table that its rheumatic
limbs hardly regained their equilibrium,
and he eagerly seized the pen and
pledge the lady placed before him, and
when he returned them to her, the
name of William Strong lay in broad,
legible characters upon the paper.
There was an expression, ludicrous
from its extreme curiosity, on the bar
keepers face as the lady passed quickly
through the "shop," after the long in
teryiew with old Bill and the express
ion was in no degree lessened, when,
in few moments after, old Bill fol-
lowed her without stopping, as usual,
to take his first glass. And he neper
passed over that threshold again!
And now, reader, you whose heart
throbs with tenderness and reverence
for humanity, fallen, despised, misera-
BILE though it may be, remember that
some where in the heart of your fellow
man is door, which, though closed
for many years, will surely open to the
hand that knocks in kindness, and the
voice that calls in love-.
An ORDER FOR A CoPPERHEAD
BooK.-The manner of men who buy
annnarhno1 -. al ri,