Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1875-12-20
Written for the Orleans County Monitor.
Bread Upon the Waters.

attractions, I'm sure you must have a
good mind" The speaker was Ernest
Lincoln, a young man of twenty-three,
rich and talented. The listener was on
ly Hattie Sterne, the poor little girl
whom Mr.. Delano's people had taken
from the town-farm, ostensibly, for
charity's sake; but really, because they
wished to have something that they
might abuse at pleasure.
"But," sobbed the child, Mrs. Della
no says she will break every bone in my
body, if can not find it, and I've
searched everywhere for it. She says,
too, that I'm so ugly | never can be an
angel when die Oh, what shall do ?"
The little girl again flung herself pas
sIOnately upon the ground, burying her
/ burning face in the autumn leaves that
so thickly covered it.
Ernest Lincoln was nonplussed. He
was no philanthropist. He had never
done a charitable deed in his life-that
is, one that had ever put him to any Sc
rious inconvenience. He was really
kind hearted; but petted young men of
fortune have so little time to devote to
poor people, that it is scarcely to be
wondered at that he had thought of them
only in . general way, giving generous
donations to them from his purse, but
never opening that nobler fountain of
kind words, which come so freely from
a heart overfowing with love and pity
for the unfortunate. But this afternoon,
when out for quiet walk in the old
woods, humming to himself snatches of
gay songs, he almost stumbled over this
little waif of humanity, poor Hattie
Sterne. His heart was moved with a
new, strange feeling, pity, which led
him, after listening to her sad story, to
say those words which begin our story.
Had it been some lovely woman coquet-
ing for his love, he would have known
how to address her; for not few fair
women had sought the poor boon of his
love. But this little tear-stained face
of neglected child. whom not even a
mother had caressed, appealed to him
in a way unfamiliar to him.
"Hattie, said he. 'I've no sister.
will clothe and educate you, and then
you shall live with me"
Then. with many soothing word, he
took the child in his arms, and after a
little, succeeded in calming her wild
storm of grief.
To resolve with him was to act. That
night, Ernest Lincoln went to Mr.. Del.
ano. and after some difficulty. succeeded
in obtaining his consent that Hattie
should attend fourishing boarding
school in the vicinity of Boston. Their
he wrote to an old friend of his mother
residing there. requesting her to tak'
charge of Hattie, and to draw upon hi
banker for any sum that might be nee
essary to pay her expenses. He theI
dismissed the subject from his mind.
Ernest Lincoln went abroad will
gay companions. He drank with ther
the social glass, took his first lessons il
gambling and dated his fall from tina
hour.
His fortune was squandered. hi
friends left him; and all that remaine'
of Ernest Lincoln was a miserable wrecl
-pitiable to behold.
The years that had only brought rui
and disgrace upon Ernest Lincoln, hat
given to Hattie Sterne womanly grac
and accomplishments. She rename
: three years in the school in which Ell
nest Lincoln had placed her. At tn
end of that time, by the death of he
mothers brother, she became d wealth
heiress. She devoted herself more assiC
uously than before to her books, and al
ter six more years of hard study, gradr
ated in O celebrated female college
Then she purchased house in Ne
York, furnished it magni6cently. invi
: ed an elderly woman, distant relative
to live with her and serve as companio
and chaperon.
n Beauty and accomplishments like hel
i. would bring admirers anywhere; bu
when backed by wealth. they make the
possessor first among the admired.
- The acknowledged belle of societ
was Hattie Sterne. People copied h
. dress, her demeanor and even her repa
tees. But although society had stror
y claims upon her. the poor had strong
ones. Many an hour she spent at Il
i bedside of some poor sufferer, eloquen
ly directing them to Jesus.
: One dismal spring day, she went
. visit poor woman living Oh one of t
= most wretched streets in the city. III
;s woman had once done plain sewing
Hattie's house, and hearing of her illnei
N she resolved to visit the poor seamstre
,b at her home.
t. She found her very Ill, dying of th
e. most fatal disease. consumption. b
| around that sick bed was shed the
he diance of Christ's countenance, and hi
nv tie fingered long in its brightness.