The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1875-12-24

to believe that l am not SO sinful as l
seem Try to think that l strove hard
indeed did-to obey your wishes, but had
nog strength to do it. Oh, my dearest! now
that by my own weakness and wickedness l
have set gulf between us, perhaps never
to be crossed, beg and pray you to shake
off that fearful love of gam which has made
us all SD wretched, and be your own good,
gentle self again. Be kinder to Jacob
poor Jacob for loved him, father; and
forgive, oh, forgive your child ~
The two men stood staring at each other,
with fearful thought burning in their
eyes, for long, breathless moment. Then,
as if he had dashed it aside with his clench-
ed hand, the depressed, shrinking air was
gone from Jacob; all that was manly and
noble in him came uppermost in his strong
sorrow, aud he, whose patint drudge he
had always been, covered before his dilat-
ing eye.
wretch r' he shouted, ''see what your
accursed money has done for you. You
would have your daughters life hell for
it You would have given her, body and
Stuf, W d liitiIk CHouSdIu tlIlSS iiipIS dc-
graded than a beast forit! You have held
it up to her daily an idol to be worshiped
before Heaven Are you satisfied ?"
81 meant it for her good-indeed did, ;"
groaned Flint.
"Oh, man, man what are you now
Old, alone in the world, standing in your
grave, hated and despised by all of your
kind Now, go to your money and seek
consolation in it if you can. Prostrate
yourself before it will it bring her back
to you, or to me, who loved her footprints
on that dirty floor more than you loved her
soul? Pray to it, weep to it will it make
her what she was? Oh, poor, misled, ILL.,
used girl ~
So crying out as if his heart were broken,
he sank into chair aud burst into tears.
For a long while the old man stood
silent, with a bewidered look in his face !;
then he started toward the door, bareheaded
as he was.
"Where are you going ?" asked Jacob,
OBTAINING him.
Il am going to find my child,' he said,
brokenly. Il am going to bring her back,
and try, through all the years of my worth
less life, to atone for the wrong | have
done her. Jacob, will you go with me ?'
For many days after this, people Won
dered at two strange figures whom they
encountered in the streets-a baggaro,
white-haired old man, supported by a
younger one, who wandered hither and
thither, on broad thoroughfares and in mar
row byways, peering with eager eyes into
the faces of all they met. But no trace of
her they sought SO anxiously was found.
Night after night they placed a light in the
office window, vaguely hoping that she
might see it's glimmer, and, feeling the
longing it expressed, return to them. But
she never came.
Avarice, in Roger Flint, had so sapped
and mined his nobler feelings, that when it
was torn out of him, at one fierce clutch,
it left him weaker than a child to bear his
trouble. Worn with fatigue, heartsick
with fruitless expectation, he broke down
completely, and took his bed with no wish
to rise again. And Jacob Stirling, more
manly in bis patient sorrow than he had
ever been before, sat by and tended him.
Jacob" he said, one afternoon, few
weeks after his daughters disappearance,
'Jacob, l dreamt last night that our poor
girl had come hack to us, and was weep
ing bitterly to think of all the wrong and
sorrow had brought upon her young life.
And thought that she put her arm about
my neck and whispered: All dream,
dear father be comforted, for it was all a
Dream Jacob" he said, suddenly inter
rupting himself, Il wish l could see her
before l die.''
Jacob made no answer.
''If she ever returns to you when l am
gone," he continued, with a sigh, take
her in shelter her tenderly from the world,
keep her from her own thoughts, and be a
brother to her. God knows she will need
it Tell her that her father loved her, in
spite of his sin and folly. Tell her that he
never blamed her. bat himself, and that
his only wish was that he might see her. to
ask her pardon, before he died. Will you,
Jacob ?''
81 will," answered Jacob, in low voice.
Then, arising and going into the Office, be
sat himself down at his old desk ano rested
his head on his arms, in gloomy thought.
He had been so bu. a moment, when the
door opened and Mrs. Hayward entered,
aud though the day was dark, sunbeam
seemed to have entered, too.
The smile left her lips as she saw the
haggard face he turned toward her.
"What is it, Mr.. Jacob? Are you not
well ?''
"Yes," he answered, indifferently, 81
am WE'LL"
"And Jessie ?' she inquired, with
singular look.
''She has left u.s." he cried, brOkenly.
"Don't ask me more.'
There were tears in the little woman's
eyes, and yet she was laughing, too.