The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1876-11-16
Old AbeI's Milestone.

Understand me Abel both my
father and myself are perfectly salts
fed with the amount already paid"
AMany thanks TO You, SIR, for the
saying OF it but nothing short Of the
full sum will satisfy me. At the time
| eight yeSrs ago next midsummer) it
was reckoned at 3 hundred and fifty
pounds in round numbers. mean to
pay it, every farthing, please Heaven
il live long enough. il die afOre,
I hope Polly will keep up the pay
ment reg'lar." .-
"But really, Abel, 1 don't like TAX
ing this money. 1 am sure these pay
ments must cripple you terribly"
"Never you mind that, Mr.. Baker,
Jr. feel something on my con-
science which is worse than hunger
or cold, and it won't be easy until
/ I've paid you all. There Is five pound
ten, sir I; not SO much as last half
year, because OF POlly's illness in the
/ spring Gut l hope TO make 1t more
next time. If you enter the sum in
this book and add it up, you'll find it
makes ninety pounds"
."Ninety pounds exactly. Well, il
you insist on my taking the money l
suppose 1 must. Is your daughter
married yet, Webb ?"
"NOt yet, sir"
"Likely to be ?"
"Well, Pm afeared it's higher than
like"
"What! you dlsapprOve of her
choice ?p
"Oh, no, not bit. Tom Smiths as
good q fellow as ever lived. He'll get
on, that boy will. He's sober, honest
and manly and all that'li tell in the
long run. But I'd rather she hadn't
anybody after her-leAstWays until
the debts squared 'twixt you and
me.n
"a debt that, as you know, we
already considered discharged.
"But which don't, Mr.. Baker, yr.
However, Pm q keeping you. Good
night, sir and many thanks for your
Kindness"
With that Abel Webb retreats, hat
in hand I; and bowing to Baker, Jr.,
with every backward step be takes,
finds himself by and by at the half
glass door opening to the outer Office.
Arrived here, he once more thanks
the younger partner Of Baker &
Baker, wholesale druggists of Ipe-
cacuanhs into the crowded thorough
fare.
Away from the close thOrougbfares
OF the city, on the Thames embAnk-
ment. His walk had been long and
fatiguing, and resting his arms upon
the stone balustrade, he pauses for q
few moments, with his eyes fixed up. |
on the dark silent flowing river. His
recent conversation with Baker, Jr. |
fully occupies his mind as he thus !
pauses on his homeHard journey ; |
and up on the old mans flushed and |
wearied features there breaks smile |
of self-satIsfsctiOn as the thought |
crosses him of what so many other |
men would have done had they been |
placed in his situation.
"a hundred and fifty pounds" he |
murmurs, as he looks out upon the |
sweeps of waters before him. lot /
of money, 3 lot of money Easily |
squandered, but how difficult to cave l
A fortune TO men like me. Honest |
Abel Webb the boys used to call me
at school honest Abel Weob have |
been to my employers, and honest
Abel Webb I'll try to be tn the end OF
my days."
In no spirit of Pharisaic egousm
does the old man thus address him.
self. Integrity, devotion and truth
are component parts OF his nature.
Briefly his life passes before him as
the cool autumn breeze plays with
his white locks, as he watches the
fiickering lights by the rivers bank.
First he sees himself kneeling by his
mothers side, and lisping a simple
prayer then bending low his head,
he feels her gentle, loving hand, aud
hears her sweet voice pray that God
will bless her child and cause the
precious seed of His Word to fall up.
on good ground and bring forth abun-
dAnt harvest E'sn now, as this Wis
ion passes before him, he humbly
bows his head and calculates with
fervid ardor, "Amen :" Next comes
the school life In a midland village.
Then the kindly face Of the vicar,
who has been the means of intToduc-
ing him to large city Eouse, rises
before him. To this succeed recollee-
tiOns OF his employment in the houce
of Baker & Baker his marriage
the birth of his boy Sam-the child of
promise that was to be q solace to his
declIDing years his acceptance OF
the situation of warehouseman in the
establishment OF Loostring & Tool,
the wholesale milliners Of Wood
street and the one sorrow OF his life
"a sorrow that seemed in its deep in
tensity to engulf all the joys Of the
preceding years. After this comes
visions Of the long, earnest struggle
to right q grievous wrong; last Of all,
the rememb brsnce of the kind words
addressed to him but an hour pre-
viously in the wholesale druggists
private room.
The changing tones Of "Big Ben"
awoke Abel Webb from his reverie.
With the sudden thought that his
daughter Polly would be home before
him IL he didn't make great haste, he
set of at q brisk trot, resumiDg his
CHEEKY whistle as he went along,
And sure enough, home she was.
When he had threaded his way
through labyrinth Of Westminster
by-way, and at last reached the cor
ner of the narrow street in which
were his lodgings, he involuntarily
cast his eyes up to the second floor
window OF one of the houses he knew
as well as though he saw her standing
before him that she had managed to
reach home first. No landlsdy-Over-
flowing with kind-heartedness as she
might be-couId provide such q hear
ty welcome to honest Abel as his
daughter Polly. Why, the very Goals
seem to burn brighter aud send forth
q more ruddy glow when she had
coaxed them into q flame. The re-
Election upon the drawn blinds showed
its CHEEKY warmth, aud bespoke the
comfort and love fostered within the
humble lodging shared by Abel and
his daughter.
Was Polly handsome ? No. Was
she pretty ? Scarcely that, for her
features lacked harmony. You had
to look below the surface to discover
what made Polly the idol of her
fathers heart and the cause Of ankle
ties unspeakable to honest Tom
Smith. First of all. Polly was short.
She had light brown hair, which
formed itself into natural curIs and |,
danced about her head in the most
provoking coqHettish fashion. Rer
eyes were q soft liquid blue, her nose
slightly Tetrousse, and her lips like no
other womsn's in the world-at least
so Tom thought.
So much for Polly's outward char.
acteristics. In temper and resolution
she was the counterpart of her father,
and her Judgment was far In excess Of
that possessed by most girls of her age
(1S). She was of industrious habits,
was thoroughly domesticated, and,
above all, possessed heart which as
warmly responded to the appeals Of
the suffering as it echoed the Joys Of
those It Lowell.
Polly's usefulness was not confined
to the two rooms on the second floor.
She had served her apprenticeship to
the millinery business in the house
possessing the services of her father,
and, strange to say, Tom Smith was
one Of the young men who "served"
at Messrs. LOostring & Tools. or
course the love affair was kept very
quiet, and sometimes poor Polly's
heart thumped with fear lest the Sc
cret should he discovered foF in the