The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1868-12-03
MARGARET MERLYN.
wH1rrEN FOR THE sr. CLOUD JOURNAL.
= j'Eil /, :i:..-4 IS. I.
By MRS. JANE G. sw1ssHELM.
CHAPTER I.
THE: suICIDI.


:1s she to be buried IN Christian burial, that will
fully seeks her own salvationl"-Aaials.
The warehouse was closed and a
Grape badge and written notice told
that he whose word had been lax with
IN it, walls for thirty years, would o.:
der its affairs no longer. The stern,
just man who had long ago won the
reputation Of = safe, successful mer.
chant, a solid man in society and4pa.
lar in the church, had gone to balance
his accounts with the Head. Of every
"Concern; = and bis firm tread and
erect carriage would no more be heard
or seen on Main street. "The busy
brood Of care," were plodding on! Old
friends Who bad exchanged With him
friendly greetings, morning after morn:
ing for long years:past-how short they
al appeared now !-passed With paled
lips aud hearts Of heaviness, while more
then one asked himself, .what matters
it-lfe aud all its belongings which
to-day is and tomorrow is cast into
the oven;' Or who, Of US shall stand
where Philip Merlyn fellY''
A pail had intervcned between many
visions and the natural sunlight, which
fell so profusely that morning on the
little New En- gland town Of c.; for
already it was rumored that the king Of
terrors, coming as he had in his most
terrible form, had been accompanied
by that still more dreaded phantom, f.
nancial ruin; and the rumble and
tramp, made by care and her brood,
sounded to the ear of not O. few q
though the, earth underne.th wete hol-
low, and ansareh: Of masonry above
gathered and sent back tile echoes.
In a quiet side street, the old two:
storiea dwelling, in the midst Of the
acre Of lawn, fruit, flower and vegeta-
bic garden, stood With closed blinds il
dumb: aud listening wonder. Bore he
had wooed and won his wife, in the
home Of her childhood !; md htre he
had come to fill the place Of dead sons
to the parents Who had NO chin but
her, 50 cheerfully and confidently com:
mitted ID his care. Here he had re.
ceived their dying blessing, u one: who
justi6ed their confidence; and here,
for . quarter Of . century, he had
knelt, morning and evening" 70 ask fox
daily bread and daily grace to resist the
hour ard power Of temptation; yet
here he now lay, with the blue ring
around his throat telling the story Of
suicide. :. !.s :" u: W. ~: i:
In ! darkened chamber, his widow
and seven children crowded close to-
gether, aud covered and trembled, Is
flock of sheep huddle and ..tramble
and" endure tho storm from which there
is no escape. In room below, . knot
Of men-the gray-haired pastor under
whose ministry the deceased had sat
from youth up-the elders with whom
he had been associated in "handling
the vessels Of: Gods house." and = few
leading members were In grave CON-
sultation as to whether the body Of the
,uicids could bc admitted into the fam
lily burying. ground. 49,. "
They wsee. the descendants Of. the
stern men who fought the battle Of the
Scottish Reformation, of those who
had ''dwelt III hales and caves Of ths
ssrth, they Of whom the world 1as 10.
x1olthy;' and :slthough' they rspudi..
ted, u Popish herssy, ill dedication,
Of house or grounds, they fslt that
Christian burial for = murderer or sui,
eide was dangerous example. II
those old times when: the battle between
Professionalism, and Popery and Pre]ac,
was fought, tho national n |! . !! custom o
Scotland, a. Of Denmark. in' Hamlet
day, was to bury suicides and murder
err at . cross road where each passe'
threw. . stone. upon the sdishonoret