The true northerner., 1875-05-14

of the parting between the mother and
her beloved son. She kissed him, and
blessed him and then hung upon his
neck with more kisses and blessings, and
then went away to her chamber and
cried.
Philip wrote home often while on his
way out (; and he wrote after he had
reached the wilderness. His accounts
were glowing, and his health was improv-
ing. Three months of forest life, and
forest labor, of which Philip wrote in a
letter that had to be borne more than a
hundred miles to the nearest post, and
then followed months of silence. Where
was Philip Why did he not write
One day DIR. Walsh came home pale
and faint, with a newspaper crushed and
crumpled in his hand. Not Immediately,
but by and by, he was forced to let his
wife read what he had seen in that paper.
She read, and tainted like one mortally
stricken.
1t was paper from far Western city,
and it told of the sad fate of the explor-
ing party under charge of Col. John
Beauchampe, how they had been at
tackled by an overpowering party of In
dians, and how those not massacred had
been carried away captive.
Poor little woman Poor Doctor
Walsh But the mother suffered most.
Her head, already taking on its crown of
silver, was bowed in binding agony, and
her heart was well-nigh broken. The
JOY was gone out from her life, and thick
darkness was round about her.
And so passed half year. One day
the postman left a letter at the door.
The hand of the superscription was fa-
miliar. Mrs. Walsh tore it open, and
glanced her eyes over its contents. O.,
Joy o, rapture Her boy lived was
well and was on his way home TO her!
When DIR. Walsh entered the room he
found his wife fainting, with the letter
clutched III her nerveless grasp.
BY and by, when the first great surge
had passed, husband and wife sat down
and read the letter understandingly.
"Thank God / found true friend,
or, 1 should say, a true friend found me, -
wrote Philip, after he had told of his
safety, and of his whereabouts. "But
for the coming of this friend / should
have died ere this. He heard of me by
name. and learned whence / came, and
when he knew that / was from Ems
worth, and was the son of Silas and
Mary Walsh, he bent all his energies to
my release. He spent thousands of dol
lars in enlisting and equipping men for
the work, and with his own hand he
struck down my savage captor, and took
me henceforth under his care and pro-
lection. God bless him And be you
ready, both, to bless him, for he is com
ing home with me. "
Upon their bended knees that night
the rejoicing parents thanked God for all
his goodness, and called down blessings
upon the head of the unknown preserver
of their darling.
And, in time, radiant and strong, their
Philip came home to them-came home
a bold and educated man, fitted for the
battle of hfe-came home knowing
enough of life's vicissitudes, and pre-
pared to appreciate its blessings.
And with Philip came a man of mid
dle-age-a strong, frank-faced, hands
some man, with gray eyes and curling
hair.
"This," said the son, when he had
been released from his mothers raptur-
ous embrace, "is my preserver. Do you
not know him 2"
The Doctor looked, and shook his
head. He did not know.
But the little woman observed more
keenly. Upon her the light broke over
poweringly.
"Is ii, she whispered, putting forth
her hands" is it-JAMEs AAIdERToNI"
Yes" " said the mana stranger now
no more-"I am James Ammerton
And L thank God who has given me op-
portunity thus TO show how gratefully /
remember all your kindness to me, my
more than mother ~
And he held her hands, and pressed
them to his lips, and blessed her again
and again, telling her, with streaming
eyes, that she, of all the world, had lift
ed him up and saved him
That evening Mrs. Walsh, sitting by
her husbands side, and holding one Of
his hands, said to him:
"Once upon a time pebble was
kicked about in the waste OF sand. A
lapidary saw it, and picked it up, and
when he had brushed away the dirt from
It's surface, he applied his chisel, and
broke through the crust, and behold-a
diamond, pure and bright !'-NeeO York
LedOer.