The Republican journal., 1873-02-20

erals father left it to him encumbered
| The mortgage was never lifted by the
latter. The general lived pretty well,
thinking his position required it.
Then in an evil time all Bramblehead
ran wild with a land fever-a speculation
that promised to make the poor rich, and
the rich happy. All the old stockings in
| all the dark corners in town were emptied
of their shillings to buy land in Roostock
| Why, people, old people, took money out
of their bibles that they had laid away to
| bury them, to invest, expecting to return
them hundred fold before it would be
needed. Burial day always seems so dis
tant to us, especially if there is chance
| to make any money tomorrow.
Amy's father was bitten by the going
madness. He gathered the little he could
| together. He drew his salary regularly,
and let his household bills run He sold
wronefully few bank shares that he held
| in trust for Amy, which an uncle had
wiled to her, and invested the money in
the golden land, secretly in the name of
| q brother in OHIO
The voyage turned out mighty poor
| The land was we'll timbered, but hun
| drcd miles from river OF tide water The
| bubble burst. So the rich became poor,
and the poor became happy, thinking how
| their betters had come down. They were
sure OF a burial, for nobody was ever too
| poor for that
The old gentleman aged. He grew
tretful and absent-minded. The grocer
the butcher called again and again tor
| their dues-at the front door too. The
| milk boy was even more malicious. He
| obc H. Il I,o ornrJan 10 SNTnr,,;,,
up, OF hos and chuckled TO himself
around the corner, as he peeped and saw
Betty Floyd, the old domestic, spend
many minutes spelling out, and many
more in securing off the words, and shak-
| ing her cloth at the empty street. Thrift
| had abandoned the household
| Amy knew but little of the truth. He
said he had only the amount OF two or
| three quarters salary in the lamented land
slide. She saw the falling step. and that
he did not like to have her note it, He
was glad. though, of her help AT the bank
which was needed now ofterner than ever.
| The toll began to tell on little Amy. She
didn't lose her beauty, though. don't
| think She will ever lose that My boy,
| am tedious ?'
Every. Go on"
Don't blow your smoke in my eyes,
then, or you'll swear I'm crying"
'Well, well; forward !"
"Where was E? This went on while,
the old man keeping the ship on the old
track, close hauled, flag at the peak, and
pumps agoing. But there came a day
when the world could do little for Abram
Woodson. and he could do less for the
world. One morning, when Amy was
helping HIM on with his coat to 90 to the
hank, he staggered and fell upon the sofa
The doctor came and said Paralysis >
He revived somewhat, but the old gentle
man was wreck OF the saddest kind
He couldn't speak IN ineligible word.
Amy became his hands, eyes and mind
Roy EIwell was appointed acting cashier
for the directors would not supersede
him at once. He fingered for months
with his faculties Mt skies and sevens
One day he said something that sounded
like May tenth and soon after he dropped
anchor for she last time.
The bank officers, when examining his
cash accounts, discovered a deficiency Of
between one and two thousand dollars
And they who had held the old general as
incorrnptible said There is none true
under the sun His bondsmen We're called
upon, and the few, which finally means
the many, thought thay knew the cashier
had used the funds in his keeping
Amy, living secluded with her old do
nestle Betty Floyd WAS ignorant of the
affair at the bank. She knitted worstcd
work and fitted ball-dresses for her school
mates of old days. Young Skinnem
offered her what he called his heart Bv
Jove. twenty Young fellows would have
come forward for her hand. but there was
something in her way that wouldn't let a
man with decent heart Ofl'erit, Skinnem
thought his magnanimity twenty per cent
above par. He had inherited from his
father the mortgage on the Woodson
homestead which he threatened to fore
close. Troubles came in troops.
Looking over her fathers papers one
day, Amy discovered n note addressed to
her. 1t was in the neat hand of the gen
eral. 1t told her that he wrote this for
her in case anything should happen to
him-that the world, after he was gone,
might Judge him amiss. That he had, it
is true, wronged her, his sweet, beloved
daughter; that he had been false to his
trusteeship; that their means were all
gone with the broken land bubble-that
his heart and thought were long sick with
the secret of it; that, May the 10th of such
a year he had found his cash unaccount-
ably short and no man yet knew it. 1t he
lived long enough he should make it up;
yes, make it up, every cent but Amy
must wait for hers; perhaps he could
never make that up, and if he did not
would his darling daughter forgive him
Amy bowed beneath this blow. Now
| 3n,,aarpH a n Of tha 1IOnaiI bi)I,
and ih-supplied household. And the
thought came to the stricken girl, how
once she had proposed to sell share of
her bank stock and buy gold watch and
chain, and on New Years morning she
found them under her breakfast cup, a
present from her father. get all this
confident. Yes, Hal, Amy bowed as the
lily without and rock within. She sent
she drew from the reluctant fellow the
a plain case to them A land enterprise
an opportunity for making money-and
the cashier yielding to temptation, bor-
rowed the funds of the bank, thinking to
enrich himself, and return the money.
IHey Wcle all lle HloIc Ieuuy 10 look on
the dark side for him, rs many of their
dollars had gone the way of his. The
fever had been among them, too.
This point of view was not plain to
Amy. Through Elwell, who had been
made cashier after the death of the gen
eral, she obtained permission from the
officers to make a personal examination
of the books, to be aided by Roy. Her
knowledge of bank routine was now ser
viceable.
About this time l returned from an
Indian voyage. | served as boy in the
bank awhile, you remember, and Roy,
with her consent, invited me to lend them
hand. l was glad for her sake, not to
say my own.
Hal, are you yawning?"
Spin away, spin away, my old boy"
''Well, we met and made our plans,
agreeing to make researches after Elwell
had finished his days work. By George,
Hal, you ought to have seen the girl. Her
perceptions were all quickened by pride
and love for the honor of the old man.