Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-04-23

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faith and hope. The latter, however, he
found always below par in the market,
and ere long he was pushed very close to
the wall indeed.
Hope tod him many promising
tale, and urged him westward with persua-
sions which were well seconded by his
necessities. Only one thing held him in
New York, the face OF his pretty, gentle
sister; but she, with the unselfshness of
true affection, forgot her own loneliness in
his welfare, and urged his departure.
Before leaving, he sought his fathers
presence to win from him some kind word
or promise Of forgiveness but the old
man was very bitter in his anger and dis.
appointment.
Il have no time, sir" he replied to
Roberts petition for forgiveness and good
will, =" have no time for such tooeres.
If you are sorry, come back to your desk
again. IF you can't do that, must un-
denstand my go will to mean share
of my few thousand dollars when L die"
Father, cannot do business in the
way you propose. L should lose myself,
sir, if your thousands were millions"
Nobody wants to buy you, sir, [ be-
lieve, at any price. l am sorry that
have no more time at your disposal"
So saying, he dropped his eyes upon an
interest table, and Robert went out with
swelling heart, and veil Of tears over his
eyes.
Westward the yauug couple started
next day, their whole possessions in one
not very large trunk. Just for half an
hour they stopped on their way to the
depot to kiss the sad face Of Lucy, and
arrange for some method of communica-
ton with her.
The West, then, was even a wilder term
then now it meant almost anything be-
tween Cleveland and the Gates Of Sunset.
Robert Hammond pushed forward, until
he reached little city of shantes stand
ing on the low, swampy shores Of Lake
Mlchigan-the embryo of the future
Chicago. There he rested, not SO much
from choice as necessity, his funds being
gradually disappearing and his wife sick
with a slow fever.
Very hard indeed were the first two
years to the adventurers. Poverty, suffer-
ing and pitifu! sense of the incongruous
elements among which they had fallen,
had made up their life. But natures like
Robert Hammond's, though they may be
stunned for a time, have In them such an
element of life and strength that complete
prostration is impossible.
From the first blank despair, hope arose
with strength and intensity exactly
suited to the circumstances. Work, man
ual work, was first obtained, and its re
suits carefully used. In two more years
he had saved capital sufficient in those
days Of small pretensions to buy few
thousand feet Of lumber.
L don't quite know how such things
happen-I suppose they are natural Sc
quence of events-but gradually, almost
imperceptibIy, the thousand became tens of
thousands of feet, and the small lumber
yard gradually extended itself along the
low sluggish Illinois river; while small
fleet Of lake schooners waited on the yard,
and there every arrival and departure left
balance Oh the right side of Robert
Hammond's books.
For the first seven years a desuItory
correspondence was kept up with Lucy,
but the last news had all been untavor-
able. Lucy had spoken of great losses
and reverses, and intimated that she was
afraid they would have to relinquish their
old home.
Nor were these all her troubles it was
evident she suffered much from her father S
growing irritabiity and unreasonable
ness, and that this was especially SO at
any mention OF Robert or his whereabouts.
The unpleasantness Of the news from
New York was in such direct contrast
with the surroundings of his home, that he
might well be excused for not seeking more
of 1t. Besides, his business was constant
ly increasing, and required all his thoughts
during those hours in which men may
work so that when he reached his home,
atfectionate care of his pretty wife and
the encircling arms Of irrepressibe chill
dren very exclusively claimed his first at
tention.
1t was almost twelve years after Robert
Hammond and his wife had turned their
backs on New York, they were sitting
together one evening in that quiet hour
which supplements the noisy one given
to children and precedes those given to
rest.
The fire burned brightly, and the lamps
from under the rose colored shades threw
soft, warm tints on all the beauty and COM
forts of thoroughly handSom room.
Sitting in her low chair with closed eyes
and idle hands folded over the dropping
sewing, Mrs. Hammond was holding
pleasant communion with her own thoughts.
The face had yet the tender look left on it
by the children's kisses, and though her
lips moved not, am sure any one would
have said she was praying. Perhaps she
was. God knows that if any human souls
ought to pray, it is those who share with
the angels the charge Of immortal souls.
Just far enough away to make low,
musical murmur, the children were saying
their prayers, and outside the luxurious
home the snow fell silently and the dim
shrubs shivere1 against the window panes
1t was near Christmas, too, and Christ
mas influences were in the air and in the
heart. A sudden and great tenderness
fell on Robert Hammond as he listened to
his children's voices and looked around
mis- happy home and in the face of his
good, true wife.
And he remembered his faults that
night.
Where were Lucy and his father! For
nearly three years he had heard nothing
certain, and the last wandering and uncer
tain intelligence had been Of very sad
and unpleasant nature. lie recalled easi-
y enough all the dark, hard points in his
fathers character, but that gave him no
satisfaction. Somehow he was sensible
tonight that he had not been faultless.