Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-03-10

would not hear OF RnytnlnS Dut Aoury
taking his money with him; it belonged
to him, aud he did not know how much
he might want the spare cash over there
in the strange land. His son had 10 col
sent. But on Saturday before his drpar-
ture he went to take leave of the pastor
and got him to write down for him the
number of the psalm which was to be
sung next morning at church. In the
night he babe his father goodbye, aud his
last words were: "Father, when You sing
the psalm, tomorrow, in church, think
kindly of me-"
In the night the old man, who was now
alone, got up several times; it seemed to
him that he heard his son moving about
in the sitting-room, but no one was there.
He had certainly forgotten something,
thought the old man, and now his spirit
ia coming to find it and take it away.
The old man is not free from superstition,
and it would certainly be no kindness to
convert him. On the window sill, where
rosemary and pinks were blooming,
bunch of which the wanderer had stuck
in his hat, lay the old mans hymn book,
wrapped up as his wife had always kept
it, in a piece of white cotton on this cot
ton the moonlight, shining down from the
mountains, played so strangely, and the
old man laid his hand on it, as if it gave
him something to grasp. AT last he went
back to bed.
In the morning, when the bells were
ringing, the old man went to church
with his hymn-book under his arm he
did not take it out of its cover till he was
in church, then looked at the number of
the psalm which was hung up, and began
to turn over the leaves slowly with his
moistened finger. But suddenly he cried
out, so that every one in church started
and his exclamation sounded above the
prelude on the organ "Henry, what
have you done ~ There lay the hundred
thaler note of the wanderer, and it was
his whole property,-there it lay between
the leaves. Henry put it there, and
that's the reason that be said yesterday ::
Father, when you sing the psalm to-mor-
row, think kindly of me-" The old man
could not join in the first verse, but with
the second he began as if he had the
voice of his youth again.
As they came out of church, all were
talking of the goodness and faithfulness
of the wanderer to his father. The old
man said not word; he only pressed the
hymn-book so firmly under his arm that
it hurt him, but this he scarcely noticed.
81 have the money still. haven't
touched it, and it still lies in the same
place where he put it." So said the old
man, and had to go to the village with
him and into his little house. There lay
the hymn-book on the window sill, wrap
ped in white cotton cloth. The old man
took the book out, and, to be sure, at the
psalm numbered 1874 lay the hundred
thaler note.
"Why haven't you put it out at inter-
est ?" asked.
The old man laughed and replied at
last: That's what all the people say,
everybody, ones just as wise as another,
they only think of one thing. But L will
not"
"You have the best interest from the
money, you feed yourself on the good
| thought that your son is so excellent" L
| answered.
There, there I" cried the old man, lyon
are the first person who has understood
| it. You must certainly have enjoyed
much kindness from people, because you
understand so well. You're not stupid, l
saw that directly"
The old man was quite happy to find
man as shrewd as himself. And when
asked him why he left the book lying
there so openly, whether he was not afraid
that some one might break pane of glass
and steal it, as might easily be done, he
answered smiling-and the smile lighted
his withered face wonderfully:
'No one would do that. The people
hereabout know what is in it, and any OF
them would rather cut off his head than
steal the book. But do you mean those
who do not know? People don't steal
hymn books, this guards it better than
| hollis and bars"
The old man went back with me part
of the way to the place where | had first
met him. Then we babe each OF er Il
! friendly good by.
When 1 was in the Harz mountains
again last year, did not find the old man
in his place-he lay under the sod. But
his hymn book with the money is in the
pastors keeping, and in public adver-
tisement the son is summoned to receive
| it, otherwise both will fall to the nearest
relations.