Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1869-07-28
Arthur's Home Magazine
Words out of Season.


Who was that ine-looking young fel-
low we met to-day in the ravine below the
old mill p said Father Roberts to his
nephew one day at the dinner-table.
'Oh, that was Carl Lutz. | thought
you knew him, said Harry, looking up
with animation in his manly face.
Carl Lutz Why, he's one of the fel-
lows who tried TO rob and murder John
Vaulear, that rich drover who used to stop
at the St. Clair House ; but that was year.
ago. Really, he has a fine, honest face
now.' said Mr.. Roberts.
What little thing these words were
and yet how full of meaning and misery.
There, at the dinner-table, were all the
boarders-the professor from Philadelphia
student from Michigan, another from
Iowa, and two others from different part>
of the State.
1t was little seed sown, light as the
down of the thistle, but seed that would
germinate and bear fruit abundantly.
Grandma Roberts, the angel of the
household, looked up, a passing glance
round the table, and caught her breath
suddenly as she unconsciously whispered
to herself What did make him say that
unkind thing?'
Then Father Roberts, in the main a
kind, good man, went on and told the
whole story from the beginning.
A frolicsome set of boys, led on by a
reckless, vicious young man, had, ten year:
before, waylaid, struck and thrown from
his buggy a drover who had a considerable
sum of money in his pocket. A horsemar
rode up, and the boys decamped. leaving
the drover senseless on the ground TIVE
of their number were identified, and one o
them bore evidence against the whole
gang. They were, with the exception o
their leader, young in years, and this wa.
their first crime. The drover was a noble
manly man, who assembled the boy
together, talked to them like Christian
and freely forgave the injury to himself
and the offense against the laws of tn,
country.
After heae9g the story, the boarders al
made some y rks; two of them sale
summary jr Zee should have been meted
out; that they should have been made ex
amples to youth by serving a term in the
State Prison. Father Roberts agreed
with them, though he commended the
goodness of the humane drover. The pro
fessor, and grandma, and Harry, took the
generous and liberal side of the question
making abundant allowance for the youth
full culprits, who had been persuaded intC
committing deed that would shock anC
horrify them in after years.
Especially with one of these boys, Car
Lutz, is the thread of our story connected
At heart he was an honest, good boy, and
strove to live down by an upright life the
error of his young years.
The sweet charity of the Bible would
teach US to look upon all youthful faults
and crimes, and grave misdemeanors, a:
life-mistakes, and to speak of them tender.
ly as such TO throw the mantle of charity
over the bruise and the blight, and cover
them, almost, making believe that only
bloom lay beneath. But how few do it,
Wherever he went, the story followed
him. In church, stern, cold eyes looked
at him as though they would read the
very secrets of a vile soul in him in the
prayer-meeting, the same stony eyes glared
at him sideways, and people nudged each
other, and communicated the story and its
dreadful details in whispers
Alas for the rarity of Christian charity
He could not endure all this. A loving
girl, poor like himself, but rich in the re.
sources of kindly soul-one well &C.
quainted with him from his youth, with