Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1876-12-22
6iram Nelson's Drcan1.
A CHRISTMAS VISION.

On Christmas Eve the suns last rays
were quivering aslant the horizon,
as Hiram Nelson the successful merchant
nd.man of the world, sat in his private
office in the city, his face buried in his
hands, and an open letter lying before
him on the desk. He had given his clerks
strict orders that he should not be dis
turbed, on any account whatever and
he was now endeavoring to concentrate all
his thoughts upon the letter before him.
At last he made an impatient gesture,
and raising his head, took the letter and
for the third time commenced to read it
Hiram Nelson, Esq.
Sir appeal 10 you for the last time, and
may God in His boundless mercy soften you:
heart, or else have pity upon you at the final
judgment, where men rejudged by their deeds,
II you do not heed this, my last despairing
prayer.
When your daughter Maude married me,
against your commar d-expressed in the
harshest words-an0 you disowned, disinber
tied and turned your back upon her, with the
Rxed determination never to look upon her
face again; when you treated me like brute,
and insulted me upon every occasion that lay
in your power, did not resent il, because you
were her father sill, though you cast her from
you, and had forfeited the right to be called
such but when, through your agency and
fierce, malignant, persecution, was dismissed
from the position | held, thereby rendering
me pennies, and unable TO provide food and
clothing for my wife and little ones, must
and shall, protest against such heartlessness-
such unexamped barbarity.
Who would believe me? Who would not
turn away with scornful, incredulous laugh
if told them that Hiram Nelson-the rich
merchant, whose word is AS good as bullion on
Change; the respected Churchman and citi-
zen-would descend to such cruel baseness
Would 10 God ii were not so yet it is.
What | now ask is this Get me some hon
orable employment, in lieu Of that which You
have deprived me of, and your daughter and
grandchildren will live to bless your name
Understand me- Hiram Nelson, do not ask
this for myself; | would sooner die than sue
TO you for pecuniary aid but ask it, nay, I
demand it, in the name of your daughter and
her little ones, TO keep them from actual STAR
walton and Gcstitution, and you will not, you
cannot, have the heart 10 refuse
Think we'll, Hiram Nelson, ere you decide !;
and your daughter and will pray that God
may help you to make the right decision
RICHARD CARTER.
''Pshaw! what a canting hypocrite
Garter is" said the merchant angrily,
allowing the letter to fall from his grasp,
yet he passed his hand YEARLY across
his burning brow, his head sank again,
and vision of Maude, his daughter,
Aoated before him; not the light-hearted,
joyous Maude, whose merry laughter
rang in silvery cadence upon the air, as
in happier. bygone days; but Maude,
gaunt, hollow-eyed and worn by priva-
tions and hunger, with a haunting, striok-
en- expression in her mournful, brown
eyes, and-oh, God her children cling
around her, having the same pathetic
look-a look that ought never to be seen
in any child's eye
The merchant groaned aloud.
''Can I forgive her." thought he,
CATER what she has done Did she not
knowing we'll the consequences, of the
act she contemplated wilfully disobey
me, marry man ] dislked and disap-
proved of? Did | not warn them both
of the penalty attached to disobeying my
command, and did they not laugh me to
scorn, and defy me to do my worst p
There can be no relenting for me, even
if l would wish it, because l dare not
forswear myself, and break my solemn
cath"
He heard the shrill, small voice Of
conscience whispering in clear. bell-like
tones, Hiram Nelson, a wicked, cruel,
oath-such as you have made--is far
better broken than kept" yet he stiaed
it violently.
mol no man shall ever say that Hi
ram Nelson broke his oath she has gone
her own road, disregarding me entirely
and by the Eternal she shall continue it p
After this outburst his head sank once
more, and, wearied by the violence of
his passion, be fell gradually into deep
sleep He lay still,
"Dreaming, still dreaming, of days that were
Flowers that were faded, too lovely 10 last, y
until at last, out of the chaos of imagi-
nation, his thoughts took form, and were
shaped into dream.
His mind wandered amid the aerial.
fitting forms of the present and the flu
ture, until, looking adown the dim vista
OF the past, he saw, marshall in shadow
array, host of phantoms, grim and
threatening that had been done
in the past and could never be recalled
even through the lapse of cycles upon
cycles justifable, according to the law
of maniind-as, also, is the oppressors
of widows and orpans-yet, for all that
cruel and dastradly, considered in any
way, and entirely contrary to the law o
God
In the midst of death-like stiffness
a phantom glided out from the spectra
ranks, and extending 6eshless hand
let fall the covering from its face. anC
fixed stony, basilisk gaze upon til,
merchant who started violently as he re
eognized the countenance of one whom b,
had loved in days of yore-a woman
once fair, and like unto the pure ant