Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-04-30

a stranger ?" All the way to Beacon street,
Hamilton Brent thought of it, and after he
sat down to his own dinner, pictured the sup
per table in Davis room, the centre piece of
thankfulness. To his matronly housekeeper,
whose heart was ever open to deeds of chari-
ty, he told the sad story, and promised to find
the next day where they lived, that from the
bounties he had been blest with Giles Davis
home might be vet happier and p1easanter.-
The next morning he did not forget TO ask
Giles where he lived, and after dark the
housekeeper and her son paid st. Nicholas
visit to the room designated, leaving their
basket upon the platform in front of the door,
with nothing to show from whence it came
but the the two letters-"H b." burned
upon the handle.
Early and late was Giles Davis at work.
and the ragged charity hand" that at first
the men in the yard had stunned, grew to be
respected by all, from his employer down to
Tip, the little fellow who made fires and did
the errands of the Office. The old house
keeper, after being caught in her second visit
la St. Nicholas, used to go in and chat with
the little woman whose hand and life grew
maryelously strong as the better time coming
cleaned upon her. t-- - - -
" Hope on her its heavenly radiance shed,
And waved it's silver pinions Ger her head"
The winter went by, and March came-the
month of winds and snow, of halls and rains
of days that are cherries and nights that
are gloomy even to the gayest heart, and still
master and man stood as firm and as high in
each others confidence as ever. Often, as
he sat alone, Hamilton Brent conceived an
| imperfect knowledge of his proverb shining
upon him, in the kind effort of Giles Davis,
but the full time had not yet come for him TO
see after many days." the wealth of its
promise.
Upon one of those stormy days you and i
have seen in March, came an order for ship
timber, which Brent must attend to himself.
| All day long he staid in that drenching and
chilling storm. That night his walk home
seemed longer than usual-the house colder
the matronly housekeeper "crusty." His
great visions were sad ones-his dreams more
like spiritual vistations than like visions that
we love to think linger around and above us
in our sleeping moments.
The next day at his Office passed sadly and
drearily, until it grew nearly night when heart
and flesh failed him, and he fell fainting to
the floor. In the hour of excitement that
followed, Giles Davis stepped into the posi-
ton of counselor and nurse. Every one in
and around the Office gladly followed his di-
rectons or asked his advice. He it was who
L tneN dRfeeu support uOluc anu stay WIN
him. During the illness of many weeks that
follewod his rash exposure, Giles strong arm
was the one on which the good old housekeep-
err leaned for help and guidance. The quiet
| little woman was brought from her humble
home to the grander one of her husbands
| employer, to assist in the enormous duties OF
nurse. The sick man, whose friends with
the exception of an invalid aunt, who lived
with her daughter in Maine,) had all gone to
the Esprit land, looked, in moments of con-
seriousness, the gratitude he could not speak,
every day, as Giles would go to the Office to
consult with Porter and report favorably to
his employer.
1t was not until "April showers" had
brought =" May flowers" that Hamilton Brent
took his old place in the lumber yard. But
| the strongest tie that can bind humanity to-
gether, united their hearts, and Hamilton
| never forgot that, under God, he owed his
after prosperity to the "charity hands. "
During the summer evenings when his bach
| elor home grew silent, he would think, with a
| lingering regret, of a pleasanter one in a
| quiet street, and devise some plan to insure
that one as part of his own. 1t was not I'M
til Christmas that his plan was perfected.
Then, when the other hands received the slip
of paper with =" A Merry Christmas written
| on it, and dollar note pinned to it, Giles re-
ceived a little package, and opening it in his
pleasant home, found it contained the gift of
one-fourth interest in the undergrad, pro-
yided Mrs. Davis would oonsont to occupy the
house in Beacon street, in company with her
husband, Hamilton Brent, and her old friends
the matronly housekeeper and her son. Mrs.
| Davis was not unreasonable. She went, car
rying with her nothing but the sweet smiles
| that had made her humble home paradise
for her husband; and as Hamilton Brent en-
ioyed the pleasantness of the group that lin
gered in the moonlight of his ancestral man
sion, his heart understood at length the bless
edness of the command, "Cast thy bread up
on the waters, and thou shalt find it after
many days"