Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-08-02
sMRTTEN WITH REMORSE

worst OF them. inis haiph hurst, Tor Instance
whom you only know as"
"a thief and a would-be murderer"
ia nevertheless most devoted husband and
son, and the soberest fisherman on the coast.
''parson, am astonshed at you! Why have
had four gamekeepers hogged In less than three
years; and have hardly dared, for three times
three to call feather or foot OF game on the
Jeffcott estate my own. Transportation is too
good for such rsscals, and II had the making
OF the laws"
''Don't say it. Judge; you know you would not.
/ acknowledge Ralph has given you great prov
ocation; but what about Luke Dayton? II il his
first known offence, aud he swoars he never
lifted gan against a fellow-creatura
"And pray what docs he call my haros and
pheasantsi Aud what right have such men as he
with guns at al2 And what do those great law
hounds mean, sleeping all day long under his
kitchen settler"
Luke has had a hard time this winter, Judge.
His mother is blind and feeble. his wife aud
child have known both cold and hunger"
tWell, sir, you have done your duty now, We
will consider the subject closed, il You please,
Fill your glass"
mo, thank you, Judge. Luke had some
hopes, and must now tell him that they are
ia se. Besides must sec Elizabeth, who is al
most beside herself with grief and anger
''Angerf Well, like that Why, l ought to
have given him fourteen years, and l made it
Asven, for her sake"
"Seven years means forever to Elizabeth Day
ton, She will break her heart before they are
over"
''Pshaw! She has too much sense to have no
much sentiment. However am sorry enough
for her; and il you can help her, use my means
freely, and Judge took out his purse and offered
the clergyman sovereign for her.
A piece OF gold for broken heartl However,
her friend took it, and then went to seek her in
the little seaside town. A dreary rain was drop
ping on the cottage, which had lonely, sorrow
ful look. Something more than solitude brood
cd over II; for sacred is the place, however
humble, in which mighty grief sits down.
Elizabeth read with loves quick instinct the
verdict in his hestating step and silent face She
was walking rapidly up and down the earthen
floor, but she stopped suddenly, and gave him
one searching, imploring look. He shook his
head, and then put out his hand to take hers.
but she flung 1t passionately away.
Don't speak ~ she cried. II know all you
are going to say about patience and submission
and Gods will. will never believe it, sir. l
would not think 80 hard OF my Maker. / know
He is as angry as l am tonight. And if He
can't comfort me, it is far beyond your power
Oh, Luke Luke my husband my husband !"
And she wrHng her hands, and swayed her body
backward and forward in a very agony of uncon-
trollable grief
1t was such sorrow as lifted her beyond the
pastors understanding and beyond his office.
She listened to no word he said, and when her
child, pretty girl, three years old began to cry
in sympathy, she struck it angrily and bid it
cease.
All tho long night the good clergyman thought
Of and prayed for this poor woman, drunk with
overmuch sorrow. and the next day he renewed
his efforts for her husbands pardon. But all
failed, and in three weeks Luke Dayton sailed
away in convict ship.
Punishment does not prevent crime the
world was just as bad after the flood as before
it, and Judge JOifcotts game WAS no safer after
Ralph and Luke had been transported The
TACT reconciled the Judge to what he had DONE
toe Nnla Ianfh Law AnnN NNNtAIa
brain fever, he had felt something very near
akin to remorse
But Elizabeth did not die, though she came
back to life but the shadow of her former self |
ALI her fresh, sweet comeliness was gone she |
walked as if tired with hard journey, and her |
eyes were the very homes Of some dumb accu- |
Bng sorrow.
For a little while every one helped and pited |
her, but friendship is made for great sacrifices |
chronic benefits kill it - and the poor woman |
found out this truth soon enough.
Three years after Luke's departure, letter
from him came to the clergyman who had stood
his friend in all his disgrace and trouble II was
raining heavily at the time, but he hastened at |
once to Elizabeths cottage. She had not been |
seen there for several months so he sought her |
at her sisters. who lived at little fishing vii |
lage three miles distant. |
lie never regretted the journey. Elizabeth
was very i'll but when she saw the weary, wet |
messenger, with the letter in his hands, she |
turned her face to her pillow and wept such |
sweet soft tears as she had not shed since her |
trouble touched her |
1t was not letter of much hope or comfort |
but little she minded that "for you see. sir, |
she said solemnly, II kHOio Luke is dead, and |
all these things are nothing to him nom. But | |
am very glad that you thought enough OF poor
broken-hearted girl, to come three miles through |
tho rain to comfort me- l feel as il | knew bet |
ter now what Gods pity for me must be like"
And for my part think ii was the best sermon |
he ever preached.
1t might be year or more after Elizabeth's
death, when, one winter evening, Judge JEFF
colts housekeeper went into a small garden to |
bring in some line linen aud laces, bleaching |
there. A little girl was just getting over the |
stone wall, with the bundle in her arms. Some |
thing in the wretched little face touched the |
womAn's heart, and she made no alarm.
do you know that you are stealing, and that
/ can send you to prison ?"
II am so hungry" that was all the child said
Then putting out her arms in blind, uncertain
way, she reeled and fell.
The good woman put down the linen, and Hf-
ted the child. She carried her into her own
clean, white rooom andnursed her until she
was strong and well. In the interval, she had
discovered that her name Lizzie" and
that she was the child of Luke and Elizabeth
Dayton. Then some good angel put it into Har-
rlet MasonB heart to Keep and train the child
in the way she should go. 'If tell the Judge"
she argued, 'he will send her to some reforma-
tory prison; and il turn her loose she will soon
good woman Of her"
No particular effort was made to hide Lizzie,
The master saw her wedding in tho garden and
busy about the house, and perhaps, sometimes
thought that Mrs. Mason had been fortunate in
her little hand-maiden.
1t is true that Lizzies good qualities had
needed patient cultivation. Sometimes her
protector had almost regretted the charge she
had assumed; sometimes she had got weary of
the girls lying and plfering, and felt inclined to
wonder if the poor were really 'sipners above all
Others" But the reward promised to those who
do mot weary in well-dOing' came. First a
compensating love sprang up between the old
woman and the young one, Good actions brou-
ght what they always do-both thanks and usage
and when Lizzie was six teen there was no daint-
ier cook and no neater housema d in the parish.
Soon after Mrs. Mason fell sick with ty-
phoid fever, and before she was out OF danger
the Judge took it. To the two invalids Lizzie
was everything, and think she fully repaid,
during that hard three months, the kindness
that had sheltered her.
One evening, when the Judge was beginning
to notice with chiid's eagerness all the incl
dents of his daily life again, he asked Lizzie her
name, and learning it, he continued the cate
chiam until she wondered After short 81
lence, during which she was busy drawing the
curtains and lighting the lamps, he said abrupt
ly, and yet in sad voice.
'Lizzie do you know that it was l who sent
your father over the sea Z"
'Yes, sir"
''And what do you think Of me?"
Nothing hard now, sir. Perhaps did once,