Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1865-05-12


. ed kitchen door where fat woman
was just taking from her stove oven
great pan OF biscuit, and a comfortable
supper smoked on the board.
The fragrance of the warm bread made
him faint with longing. His finger
quivered. He humbly said, hat in hand
"A piece of bread if you please ma'Am,
as a child might.
+ He no more dreamt of any possibility
Of refusal than of seeing those warn
biscuits turn into stone.
But that woman, comfortable with good
food, rosy frsm her warm fire and lamp
light, turned on him in vixen fashion:
"Bread! You're able to earn your own
bread. don't encourage men begears.
There's work for them as aren't too lazy,
You'd best tramp if you don't want the
dog set on you. Here, Carlo here, old
fellow y
John Rodman turned without word.
He was growing blind and deaf He
staggered out into the street, and stumbled
against man who was passing. The
latter first uttered an oath, then a cry,
aud caught him by bis hands.
1t was the thief whom he had parted
from at the prison gates. And four doors
off was the alley he had named.
An hour after, rascals, who deserved
jail and the gallows, every one of them,
had given John Rodman the good food,
well-bred, honest people had denied i'm.
They let him rest after that, until he
grew strong and doubIy desperate. With
his wrongs heavy upon him-with those
thieves bis only friends-he fell at last.
A dwelling was to be robbed, and John
Rodman was amongst those who were to
pillage it. His task was a dangerous
one. He was to enter the house, eoncea
himself until a safe hour, and then ad,
init the others.
AT twilight, while the household were
in the dining room, he crept in at back
window, made his way up stairs, and hid
beneath q bed on the upper floor.
There he crouched until the house
grew still, and one by one the inmates
ascended the stairs. AT last some one
stopped at that door and entered. Ii il
should prove a stalwart man, his task
was doubly dangerous. He peeped out
1t was a wOman-a fair woman-wiih
golden hair and blue eyes, whose face he
could plainly see, and who put down her
lamp and sat beside a table. From |
thence she took a box, and, opening it, |
drew out some letters, time.worn and
yellow, a miniature portrait, and lock |
of hair, which she kissed, and fell to
weeping over. Then she buried her
face in her hands and prayed, murmur-
ing The words over, but uttering one
louder than the first.
John Rodman almost screamed in his
aeitation-that word was his own name
And in a moment he knew that Ibis was
Eva Fay, and that, constant TO his mem
DRY even yet, she prayed for him.
Oh the great joy to know it-oh the
horror of being where he was. Silently
he wept, brushing the tears aside to watch
her, until she began to disrobe herself,
when he yelled his face in honor of her
chaste womanhood. Intently he listened
in the after darkness, until her breathing
grew regular aud heavy, and he knew
she slumbered; and then by the window
he had entered he departed, and fled for
life. But before he left he had scribbled
in the darkness upon a card these words !;
Eva, have been near you. l am
Ioathsome with prison life and prison
associations. / dare not let you see me
now. You believed me innocent of that
crime OF which they charged me. God
bless youl was innocent then. Yet
since that time have been on the verge
of crimes as great. Pray for me, as |
heard you pray, and wait and watch
little while. Nerved by the knowledge
that you love him still, John Rodman
may yet make a name for which you
shall not blush. God bless and keep
you. Adieu.'
He laid this upon her table, and went
forth man again. He walked the streets
until day light, praying inwardly. When
The sun arose he saw glimmering on
many a wall and fence new placards,
posted over night. The first call for
men had been made. Columbia's voice
summoned her sons TO her aid, and thou.
sands we're ready. John Rodman read
he words, "Reoruits wanted" as though
hey had been written by the hands of
angels. Hard by, drums beat and bugles
Haired fr o IN recruiting Office. Ifl
Heavens gates bad opened John Rod