Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1865-05-12
From the New York Ledger
John Rodman.
BY MARY KYLE DALLAS.

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The best years of his life. Circuu
stantisl evidence, which has doome
many a man doomed him. Thet, and
false witness who took his oath to a Ii,
with Gods name upon bis lips, and bi
guilty hand upon Gods holy Bible.
was a horrible fate and the worst Of
was, that no one believed him innocent
friends, brother, casual acquaintance, a
shook their heads and said, 1T was
dangerous thing to trust wild youn
man with so much money"
Only Eva Fay, bis young betrothed
sent him a tiny note, blurred with he
tears, wherein shone these words-bea-
con lights to that unhappy man in tha
dark sea Of sorrow:
"My darling, whatever others think,
will trust aud love you until die"
Could she have come TO him, could sh,
have spoken words Of hope and tender
ness with her white hands in bis own, Ii,
could have borne his hard fate better
But they would not let her enter the pris
on walls.
Who could blame them, thinking wha
they did ? And she was 100 young anC
too gentle to resist them by force OF
stratagem. So the girl of sixteen could
only break her heart in silence, and her
lover bow beneath the just law which for
once had done injustice.
They parted, aud the years rolled on,
one after the other. In the world strange
changes happened, and there were deaths
and marriages and births. Old faces
went, new ones came. Inventions set
the world ablaze. Wars and rumors Of
wars shook the earth. In the prison, one
monotonous routine divided the days, and
nights were only marked by the exchange
of sun for gas-lght.
John Rodman's soul was crushed :
considered feloH by all he grew to feel
like one--to shrink from the eyes of
honest men, and TO have no hope on
earth or in heaven save those prison
walls.
Sometimes be said, "Ten years will
end at last" And then he asked himself,
"For what? My life is wasted. / can.
not begin again"
Aud untimely SHOWS fell upon his
hair, and wrinkles drew themselves up
on bis brow. And when at last the pris-
on doors were opened to let out the poor,
wronged man, he felt older than most
men at fifty. He stood in the world with
out cent, or decent clothes, or any
place to hide his head, and bowed be-
meath the sense of his great wrong and
bitter loss.
There had come out with him an old
thief, one of bis Jail companions--a bald
bold man, with a spot of gratitude some>
where 10 the midst OF his heart. He
followed John Rodman and came up to
him in lonely place, at the bleak corner
of a road, where he stood, puzzled, trying
to collect his thoughts.
II say, what are you going TO do ?" he
asked.
"Do ?" said John, gloomily. "Earn
an honest living, or hang myself"
"Don't let 'em know you've been in
there" said the thief, pointing prisonward,
cor you can't do the first; /; and before
you put your neck in moose, come to
our place. You'll find friend there and
o welcome. You was good to me in there,
and I like you," and he ended with an
oath.
Jobn Rodman shuddered. He knew
what haunts that man made his home in,
and horrible dread Of himself fell upon
him. He had been called thief so
long, that it seemed quite possible that
the actual life of one might lie before
him. He grew cold from the heart out.
81 shall earn an honest living some
how" said be. "All | want is bread, and
a shelter. Goodbye"
Goodbye" said the thief. ats
5-Alley, if you want to come there
you may YETI
And they parted-John Rodman TAX
ing the road toward New York.
His FIRST thought, when be quite un-
derstood that be was free, was of Eva.-
Not that he might WOO or win her after
ten years of disgrace, but only to see her
once and tell her how, through all those
years, be had remembered and Worship
ped her. He hardly guessed himselfhow
he had changed. The brooding, hang
dog look, the thin, bent frame, the un-
kempt locks that blew about bis face