Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-02-20

Then the little group passed on; and
the tall stranger followed them out of the
glare of the gaslight into byway, where
| they entered a house with Mrs. T..
| Rogerson's day-school for young ladies'"
| written on the door. Then he went back
| to the High street, and that same night a
| large parcel from the Diapers came, For
Mrs. Rogerson and Miss Margery," and a
little packet from the jewellers for
master Tom Rogerson."
"Everything we wanted" sighed Mar
gerry, happily. 81 only hope they are real
| How could they have come? The shop
people say they were ordered by tall,
dark gentleman, very pale. l wish mann
ma would let us believe in ghosts, and
then we could understand it easily, for
that description is like dear papa. But |
never did hear of any ghost that had
money. l wonder what Aunt Mary will
say when she comes tomorrow"
The stranger went back to the -Four
| Swans. Next morning he went to the
cathedral, and stole into a shady corner
to take part in the service. The sharp
little widow came in, looking sweeter
and happier than would have seemed pos
sible the night before. Beside Margery
and Tom, she had lady with her-an
|
those pale fair faces, that look as if per-
feet repose was their only remaining at
mosphere of life, and any Earring ele-
ment, even of Joy, would shake and rend
the tender spirit from its feeble
dwelling A face bright with spiritual
| Joy, and pleasant fancies and senti-
ments God often sends pleasant fancies
to those pure but weakly souls that could
never rise to create and grasp pleasant
facts. What are such fencles but the
dainty aroma of the royal feast awaiting
them in their Fathers mansion?
Lowly kneeled the stranger through
the old familiar prayers. He sat leaning
forwards with his face in his hands,
while the white stoled choir chanted the
glorious anthem: "Glory be to God in the
Highest, and on earth peace, goodwill
towards men,"
Then he came out, silently. among the
crowd of worshipers. People were ex-
changing good wishes with each other
actually Peter, the old waiter, saluted
even him with ga merry Christmas.
A merry Christmas!
The stranger stayed and wandered
amsng the graves There was world
of silent memory seething in his heart.
Beside that vision of the little boy, lis
tening awe-struck to the choir, there were
others Of a young man, vain, ex-
travagant, selfish, counting as of
nought, or of little value, all
the love and pride and household joy
which looked so very fair from this point
dead! More pictures still. Of young
man, reckless and cruel in his sins, full
of that bravado which dares God and
good men out of fear of the devil and his
minions; Of the CHASTITY horrors of a con-
vict ship; Of Stunned man on a wild,
lawless shore-the prodigal feeding on the
swine's husks. Then Of a little rough,
miscellaneous group, listening to SIM
| pie mission sermon, which even "black
! fellows" could understand, and which,
| perhaps, was the more likely to touch the
| white men, because it was so like what
| they had heard at their mothers knee, or
in their Sabbath School,; of hard heart
broken, of sinner seeking salvation, as
men dying of thirst seek for water
| springs. And then the sweet household
instincts, dried and dead under the for
getfulness of God, stirring again in the
remembrance of Him, and the return to
His ways. 0 God such longings for
| comforting word in the old familiar
| voices-such dreams Of atonement and
reconciliation
| AL these memories between that little
| boy and this strange, silent man, whom
| nobody knew.
| Was there any long tried servant of God
| in Norham that afternoon, poor, humble,
stricken, and tempted to think that God
! in His mercy forgets his selfjustice, and
| tears the moral from the page which He
purifes with His pardoning blood? Or
was there any needless young sinner,
l.1attering himself that he will repent in
| time, and that then all will be as if he had
never sinned? Gould either have read
| the secrets of that silent Wanderer, each
would have got a lesson never to be for
| gotten.
Glow can / bear it?'' he said within
! himself 81 wanted to hear the divine
! love and forgiveness in a dear human
voice; but / must not tear open old
wounds, that are healed as much as such
wounds can ever heal. It is Just. They
cannot forget My life lies among
theirs like a waste field, whence
noxious weeds creep into other peo-
pies gardens. viii God Himself for
get? How can bear even His pardon, if
His eye is fixed over on the sins that hang
about my neck? And yet, oh God,
though Thou slayest me, yet will [ trust in
! Thee"
And so he made his way among the
| long grass to a square, Fashioned
| grave-wilh all the names on it very old
except one, which, with its remarkable
epitaph, had only been written the very
| last year.
! To the memory of
| BARBARA HERON,
Aged AZ,
| who expressly desired that these words of God
should be written her grave for the comfort of
| whoever should come here, repentant and sorrow
| stricken.
''Who is God like unto Thee?. Thou wilt
| cast all their sins into the depth Of the sea.
For the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will COM
fort all her waste places and He will make her will
derness like Eden, and her desert like the garden
of the Lord: JOY and gladness shall be found
! therein: Thanksgiving and the voice Of melody
And the stranger bowed himself to the
ground, as if he had heard an angels
voice Perhaps he did. Here was the
love-type of that heavenly love that he
was idly clutching in faith that was half
despair! the love that survived sin and
suffering and death, and stretched hand
to save and soothe from the very grave
itself.
Oh, Barbara, Barbara, your tenderness
had taught you to lay sweet snares for
every possible opportunity! Oh, Barbara,
Barbara! surely God must have comforted
you in your lonely walkings in those
green avenues by the ruined abbey. He
did not empty your pure heart of its
earthly love, but He dropped into it a
balm which changed its bittarness to &C.
lestial nectar. Up in Heaven. where YOU