The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1866-05-31

e4pOSiuS hhTOlQs VulalnJ, nence ner
sudden dismissal Of her hitherto vel
come suitor. When Richard learned
that the brutal man was still disposed to
work evil by attempting to ruin Mrs.
Wilbank financially, through petty spite,
he at once requested her to accept Of a
draft for a thousand dollars, which
would enable her to replenish her stock
of goods until his return to America,
which would be within six months.
Richard reached - at dusk, and,
grown to manhood, he was not recogni.
zed by the few who saw him and had
known him few years before. The
meeting between him and his mothers
best friend was most affectionate and
tender, and the young man wept tears of
sorrow for his loved, though criminal
mother.
But while shedding tears over the
grave of his mother, he vowed eternal
enmity to her destroyer. Three months
af:ea his return to the town where he
passed his boyhood, he had the salts
faction Of seeing his former tyrant COW.
ering under the invisible lash. Mrs.
Wilbank, directed By the hand of her
young friend, prospered daily, while
Harold began to show signs of poverty.
About this time the fire alluded to
occurred, and Harold for brief period
seemed to regain his former patronage
but this respite was short, his invetcr.
ate though invisible foe had his eye on
him. Not until the villain was crushed
to the very earth would the young man
reveal himself; and that period was fast
approaching.
Harold disposed of his small stock of
goods and vacated the premises where
he once enjoyed prosperity. He left,
not with q chastened spirit, but with
evil in his heart; for now, in order to
support himself he would be obliged to
resort to daily labor. This was very
CALLING to his pride, but he had no 9TH
er alternative. His children had both
left him long since, for he was a cruel
father. The elder married and the 9th
er was employed as domestic in a
neighboring town.
| One day, while working at digging a
cellar with other laborers, he saw a form
approaching which caused the blood to
rush to his temples in one tumultuous
food. Well did he know that face and
figure; they were those of the boy he
had SO greatly wronged in years now
gone. He glanced up once more, and
Richard stood within few yards from
where he was digging! With bowed
head he toiled on, hoping thus to avoid
the gaze Of the young man, and proba'
bly, evade being spoken to. He might
} have set his mino at rest on one point
, Richard did not intend to address the
man; that would only, probably end in
a quarrel. He was fully satisfied to see
his former taskmaster brought to so low
depth, and to know that Joshua Har
, old recognized him was ample revenge
for the time. For full half an hour ht
stood there, watching Harold at his me
| NAL toll, and who can tell the torture
| the cruel man endured during that pc
r riod?
5 One week later Richard lett for Eng
> land. The splendid edifce and stock 0
3 goods which had been his were trans
. ferred to Mrs. Wilbank, who was nov
' reputed the wealthiest widow in tn
: county.
Several days after the departure o
e Richard Downe, Joshua Harold wa
f found dead in bed in his hands h
/ grasped letter, which when releases
l. from his stiffened fingers, revealed mucI
t which had hitherto been a mystery t
e the citizens of -. The letter wa
t from Richard, and in it he made know
to Harold to what extent he had bee
}. the cause of his (Harold's) present de
: grading position. Probably the revela
4 ton caused congestion of the brain
: and thus died a man whose death ma,
J. be attributed to the wrongs he had in
flicted on boy, who, after having grow
4 to manhood, remembered them agains
e him.
4 The moral herein to be learned is il
s the retrlbution which, in some shape
: almost inevitably results from the infic
:, ton OF unnecessary punishment on
o child, for children grow up to be mel
T and women, and many tyrant will b
e made to suffer the vengeance of Cher
e ished Wrongs. j. l.. q.
e YOUNG AMERICA WoNDER'-Won
der why mamma keeps Bridget at hom