The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-02-11
WORTH OR WEALTH.


bag gold as crows do around carrion.
! won't have any such thing. Now you
know"
Father, you judge Walter too harshly.
be is good man-hOnest and industrious
and"
Industrious, say you? I'd like to
know what he's got to show for his in
dustry."
He has. a superior education, father"
Education, Fiddlesticks! Can he
live on his education? Can he make
money Of it,"
Yes, he can live on it. lie has already
obtained good situation as clerk"
And will earn jIsC enough to keep
him in the fine clothes he wears. know
these fellows. But there's an end ont.
II you choose him rather than your poor
old father yeu can do so. can live alone
! shan't live long-you can"
Stop-stop, father. You have no right
to talk so. You know | could not leave
you. And Agnes Bremen threw her
arms around the Old mans neck and kiss
ed him, and left the room.
" It's curious how these young folks
act" the miser muttered to himself after
he had seen his child depart. There's
been. twenty of the sharks after that girl
all of 'em lowering around her like man.
eaters after dead body. Don't l know
what they want? Cam | see? Aha
can't |, though? It's my money! But
Agnes has never loved one of 'em till this
Adams came siong-the jackanapes! And
now she wants to get married at once.
NOnsense!"
The old man bowed his head as he
spoke, and he saw a drop upon the back
of his hand. Ii was a bright drop, and
the rays of the setting sun were playing
on it,
"She cried when she kissed me-" he
whispered, wiping the tear from his hard
hand. - don't see what makes her so
tender hearted. She never took it from me.
But she may have taken it from"
The old man stopped, and cloud came
over his wrinkled brow, there was pang
in his heart. He remembered the gentle, ,un-
complaining being who had once been his
comprehensive mother of his child. He
remembered how she became his wife,
even when the bloom of manhood had
passed from him; how she loved him,
nursed him, and cared for him, and how
she taught her child to love and care for
him, too. And he remembered how she
had never complained. even while suffer
ing, and how she had died, with a smile
and blessing upon her lips, though the
gold of her husband brought her no COM
fort.
Noah Bremen bowed his frosted head
more low, and in his heart he wished that
he could forget all but the few lleeting joys
of his wife. But he could not forget that
it had been whispered how his wife might
have lived longer, if she had had proper
clothing and proper medical attention.. :.
- But it would have cost so much. IL
saved money!
Ah-the reflection would not remove
the panT. The other memory was upper
most.
Noah Bremen had passed the allotted
age OF man, being over three score and ten,
and all his life had been devoted TO accu-
mulaling moucy. lie had denied himself
every comfort, and his heart had been al
most as hard az the gold he hal boarded
But rs his hair grew more white and spare,
and the years grew more heavily upon him,
he thought mOre-reilectcd mOIc. The
swc, smile of his dead wife was doing lis
mission now, and the pure love OF his gen
tie child WAS continual remembrance TO
him that there were better hearts than hjs
own.
At length the mis- + rose and passed out
from the room. He would have left the
hut; but as he reached the little entry-wiy
he heard voice from the garret. II was
his child's. He crept up the rickety stairs
and looked through a crack in the door.
He saw Agnes upon her knees. Tears
Were rolling down her checks, aud her
hands were clasped toward heaven. And
she prayed:
"Oh, God. be good to my father. and
make his heart warm and peaceful! Make
me love him with all tenderness, and ena-
bic me to do well and truly the duty l
pledged to my sainted mother | prom
ised her I would love and care for him al
ways. Father in heaven, help me, oh,
help me -
The old man crept down the stairs and
out of doors, and for a whole hour walked
alone among the trees. He thought again
of his wife, again OF his child and then OF
his gold. And this was not the first time
he had walked alone there. He did not
himself know how great was the influence
his child was eXerting over him.
Agnes-pure, good, beautiful Agnes
went long and bitterly in her little garret;
and when she had become calm, and her
cheeks were dry, she came down and got
h-r supper. But she was not the smiling,
happy being that had fitted about the
scanty board heretofore.
A few days after this. rs Noah Bremen
approached his cot one morning, he heard
voices from within. He peeped through
rent in the coarse paper-curtain and saw
Walter Adams with his child. Her head
was upon Walters shoulder and his arm
was about her.
Walter was an orphan, and had been
Agnes schOolmate and her devoted lover
through all the years of opening youth.
He was an honorable, virtuOus man, and
loved the gentle girl because she was good,
and so gentle, and so beautiful. And she
loved him not only because he had cap
tured her heart in bygon- time, but be-
cause he was, of all her suiIors, the only
one whose character and habits promised
Joy and peace for the future.
g cannot leave my peor old father,
Walter" the old man heard bis daughter
say, " l must live to love and care for him.
1t is hard. My heart must break. But
the pledge of love ! gave to my dying
mother must be kept"
And so the great jOy-dream of my
youth must be changed 10 this sad reality" !"
exclaimed Walter, sorrowfully. can
not ask YOU 10 leave Your father, sweet
AGNES. for the truth in you, which wor-
ship, would be lie could you do so. But
| have a prayer-an earnest, sincere pray
er. | pray that God in his mercy may re-
move that curse from your fathers stoop-
ing folm!n w,,o,
AVE: the gold curse!" rejoined the
youth fervently. 81 hope that God may
render him penniless,"
"What! penniless?" repeated Agnes,
with start.
AYE, penniless; for then he would be
far more wealthy than he is now. Then
he would know how to appreciate the
priceless blessing of his sweet Agnes
love: and then the curse might be broken
and his heart grow human again. And
more than all, !" Walter continued, twining
his arm closely about the fair form of his
corapanion and speaking more deeply,
I" then | could prove TO him my love.
Then / could take you to my home, and
we could both love him and care for him
Neah Bremen stopped to hear no more,
and as he walked away he muttered TO
himself: IL
1.-The rascal. He'd do great things
Me penniless, and he pray Ing Tor II! Inc
young villain ~ ,..
When the old man gained his accustom-
ed walk among the great sycamores, ne
wiped something from his eye. de acted