The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-06-05

home to Daddy Dink1e's own house
Theo. gave her school in charge of som,
of the older boys. She told Dadd,
Dinkle that stranger had saved he
life at the risk of his own that he wa
sorely wounded, perhaps unto death
and she had brought him home to b.
cared for. And she grew white with
Watching and sorrow.
But one day Daddy Dinkle, through
the open door. heard a voice faintly
speaking in the next room: He had no
walked without help for month, We
he sprarg upon his feet. quivefing with
excitement.
Chico, You have lied to me you
who never told me a falsehood before
1t is no stranger hear in there. It i.
my we'll beloved son, who was deac
and is alive again. Take me to him."
And he tell upon his neck and kissed
him, and they wept together-the veal
old man and The weak young man. Bu
Daddy Dinkle took to his bed next day
and did not leave it. A week later, wheI
Edward Wallace, feeble yet and no more
than able to walk, went to his bedside
to take his blessing and bid him fare
well, he cltng to the tall man and wept.
MY son" he cried, "you will not
leave me again Alone in my helpless
blindness 1 have prayed daily and
nightly that might not depart this life
till I heard your voice. You were a
spirited lad, full of life, and wayward
sometimes, but I always loved you as
the apple of my eye. Next to one other
it was the cruelest disappointment OF
my life when you went away. Oh nay
son, my boy You will not leave again?
You will stay with the foolish old man
till he dies"
He reached out in his bitterness and
caught him, and clung to him with his
trembling hands. Thecdora sat beside
his bed. She turned her head away
and wiped tear from her eyes.
Father" at length Edward Wallace
said, chow can stay? I have accom-
plishe1 the career which was the
dream of my boyhood. have sailed
the seas from the northern icebergs to
the Southern Ocean. I have prospected
fer gold in Australia, and helped build
a telegraph through a country where
the foot of civilized man never trod
before. have sailed around the globe,
and done all that hoped for in my
youth, only to find at last that Theo-
dora is more to me than anatomy and
botany; more than the travel and ad-
venture more than all the world be-
side. Father have come five thousand
miles to ask Theodore once in her life to
forgive, and she will not. If she would
bid me stay, father"
The old man groped hopelessly over
the quilt with one hand.
"Theo., give me your hand. I can
not find it myself" said the old man.
She reached out her hand, cold and
trembling, and he took it in his weak
grasp, holding it thus in one hand, and
Edwards hand in the other. He drew
them feebly together, and laid the b nd
of Theo. in the hand of Edward.
"My children, it is the last wish of
the old man. Theo., my girl, shall it
not be SOP"
She glanced at the face of Edward
Wallace. He was looking at her with
his beautiful eyes, all moist and ten
der, offering her once more, and for the
last time, his heart, begging her to take
the gift the heart of a brave, strong,
loving, eternallY true man-hers for
ever and ever. Such love is Gods
blessed gift to woman. The world
seemed turning around her, and she
closed her eyes dizzily.
Daddy Dinkle listened painfully.
"Theo2" he said.
Yes, father, it shall be So
He smiled a pleased, child-like smile,
nodded his head family to show that he
understood, and turned his blind eyes
a little toward the light. Then his
mind seemed to wander slightly. He
thought he was back to school with his
boys.
hTurn to book fou th," he said,
cline 653, Tiri, It quene dederat cur
sum fortuna peregi-I have lived and
accomplished the race which fate de-
signed"
He loosened his hold on Theo's hand,
and Edward Wallace closed his own
fingers tightly, over it and held it fast.
Daddy Dinkle seemed to have fallen
into little slumber. His face was as
beautiful and creme as the face of an
infant in a happy dream.
The old man was dead,