The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1877-06-21

What could be done for two acres
could be done for two hundred.
He had proved his position, and was
more enthusiastic than ever over his
idea.
But Maggie was almost hopeless.
She was beginning to suffer for very
necessities.
Strange, hard men came with author
ity about her home.
Stephen looked so i'll and haggard, and
was so irritable that her cup was full of
sorrow.
One gloomy afternoon, when it rained
So heavily that work was impossible, she
ventured to try and reason with and
comfort the gloomy man, looking dole
fully across theemPty farm-yard towards
the great, fat, dreaFy Moss.
1t will soon be over, my poor Mag
gle" he said. Tomorrow I am going
to get another five hundred pOunds-if I
ean-upOn the farm plenishing and the
remnant of the stock. l am sure, if I get
it, to put the whole Moss under wheat
this year, and that will practically save
US. If don't, I have lost my estate and
all these yearE labor, and We shall leave
this place beggars. You know the worst
now, Maggie"
The next day, amid the driving storm,
she watched her husband make his last
desperate effort.
She turned and looked upon the
PleasantroO her three children playing
UncOnsciOusly about it.
Then she fed upstairs, and falling
down upon her knees, poured out ali her
heart in passionate, pleading prayer.
As she rose with streaming eyes, her
uncle's last words flashed across her
mind.
Somehow they held neWmeaning for
her.
She unlocked her drawer, and lifted
the old, brass-bOund book carefully and
tenderly out.
1t has cOmforted my fathers and
mothers for many a generation" she
said, softly will see what it viii do
for me-"
And she unclssped it with prayer.
d" I was brought low and he helped
me-"
They were good words, and she read
the whole psalm through and turned the
leaf
A bank-note for one hundred pounds
fell at her feet.
She lifted it as though it had fallen
from heaven, and commenced to turn
with eager, trembling fingers the we'll
worn pages,
One after another, notes futtered into
her lap, until from between the leaves of
her uncle Joseph's Wedding-gift she had
taken eight thousand eight hundred
pounds.
Can any one guess how she prayed
again, and with what q radiant face she
met the cross, Wretched nan that, half
| drowned with the storm, walked about
sundOWn up to the bearthstOne2
Stephen-Stephen !" she cried, joy
OUsly, "never look sad again. Uncle
JOseph's wedding gift has saved usl'
And she spread the notes before him.
Maggie was right; the money saved
Stephen every way.
| He bought ThWaites out, he paid of
ali claims on his home, he resstOcked his
farm, and triumphahtly finished the
draining of Dru's Moss.
To-day there is a glorious stretch Of
wheat fields and meadow pastures, and
many traveller wonders at the bright
and fruitful oasis in the barren country
then some cOuntryman will say
1T was aimee the DEVILS own acres,
sir, and men and sheep past counting lost
their lives in its bOgs but Stephen Gray,
with labor and gold, drained the i'll
land, and he and his have grown rich on
its outcome, though folk do say as he
found a crock of gold there one lucky
day"
Maggie's fortune was oddly given, but
the eccentric old man did not judge far
amiss.
His wedding gift was blessed as he in
tended it should be-in two Ways-fOT
Maggie and Stephen learned to love it,
not only for the material help it had
brought them in their extremity, but
also for the promise of the far more eX-
ceeding and abundant riches which it
promises and provides for.
Stephen, though wealthy, was no
longer proud.
All his pride and resentment vanished
when he gazed on the work he had fin
ished by the aid of the Doctors Gift.