Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1872-10-24

ing IN small CRIB that WaS plaGo ~.
side and toward the foot Of their =.
occupant. grand-oAild. vko0 S.I
they had informed mo, were am
ened probably By its gr.Ddfashs< -.
rose mp. looked sround. and se<,1
upon its knees. and elaspieg its IN -,
as its grandfather's were clae ~
looking upward out through tl - ~
a. the moon. whose hrighf lnht = =
its darling face, began noJ 1i3: =. .
II trying to repeat to- -
grandfashrr began ths LORDS Prsyer.-
The little fellew seemed to have this by
heart. He repeated il word for word, his
tiny, silvery voice sounding in eweet ae-
cord. could not turn away. or any lon
ger resist the better emotions which l bad
hitherto kept down. A rush ofrepentant
feeling passed through me with an effect
that shook every fibre. / fell on nv
knees. and with the tears streaming from
my eyes, Joined in the concluding words
Of the prayer.
! need not say changed my mind with
regard to the money. / passed . quiet
night and rose early, hastened away to-
ward my journeys end. SO as to give my
selfthe least time or opportunity for chang
ing my new-forrred resolution. In hand
ing the package to the agent, I said to
him. that as there was. money in it, Il
might as we'll be opened ID my presence,
to see that all was correct. &c. He Of
course discovered the error, ard handed
me back the amount that was ovef; With
which / returned home and delivered it
up to the proprietor in due time.
1t was fortunate for me in every way that
l pursued the course I had adopted. 1t
appeared that the money had been obtain
ed from the bank after bank hours. in the
presence of the teller, from one of the Of
fcers. There was no loose money on hand
Of the larger denominations. but there
were sheets of thousands and five hun
dreds signed by the president and CASH
ier. Either two sheets we're picked up in
mistake for onc. or the wrong batch of
sheets was selected from-that is, thous-
ands were selected instead Of Eve hun
dreds. The notes were hurricdly clipped,
strapped and endorsed "S5, ,0OO," without
recountlng, and so enveloped and handed
over to me. The bank had discovered the
error. aud no doubt was entertained but
that the missing money was with me-
Whether | should have had the face to
withstand the imputaticn. even with the
apparently undisputed co, .:.ition Of the en-
velope in my favor, is more than I can
say. butt doubt it.
But the notes, in pursuance re-
caution still in use in some bauks, were
payable to one Of the clerks. and had not
been endorsed by him. could not, there
fore. have used them. or if SO, they could
have been traced back to me. found
also, that the numbers had been carefully
ascertain Of all I had taken with me, and
thus another chance of detection existed.
What an escape
Upon returning and entering the count
ing-room handed the surplus back to nv
senior. with feeling somewhat of pride,
but mixed up with other feelings not cas-
lily described.
My precaution Of having the money
opened by the agent in my presence was
highly commended. and the probability Of
his misappropriating the undue amount
as very little personal knowledge of him
was possessed by the firm-was duly dis
cussed. What was said on this point
brought bushes to my cheeks.
In course Of time my senior accountant
was taken into the firm. was put into
his position, and with his salary 1 saved
money. finally got into business on mt
account, and am now, As you know, rich
| never forgot my farmer host and his
grandchild but at the death Of the farm
er took charge Of the boy. He is now my
partner, and the husband Of my aaugh.
ter.