The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1877-07-26
BREAD ON THE WATERS.


And How It Returned Little Too Late
After Many Days.
There never was such a man to bet as
Staining. He was always so sure he
was right Our mutual friend, Marx
well, ought to have sailed for Brazil, but
felt confident | had seen him in the
street. Staining said it was nonsense,
and he bet me EGO to a shilling was
wrong. He had hardly finished speak
ing when Maxwell, who had not sailed,
came up. Staining pulled out from his
pocket-book a e20 note, and handed it
to me. "There you are, old fellow.
"A fool and his money! etc. Another
illustration of that wise adage.n % Not
exactly; for you don't suppose l shall
take your money!" "Yes | do; and
shall be extremely annoyed if you make
any difficulty" protested; but pres
emily he said, in irritation: g Then be
my almoner, and give the money in
charity" And depressed the note back
upon me, and left abruptly. There are
ODltNlitllS W SNelilOAAiZ III liiC phbAtN
highway with bank note in your hand
and puzzled expression in your face,
so the note was transferred to my peck
ct, and went anyway wondering, when
was met full tilt by a..clergyman whom
] very well knew.
"Hulloa?' he cried. "Mr Smith,
both YOU and seem 10 have our minds
so much occupied to-day that we can
not take care of our bodies" | apollo
gized. - No grave matter of mine, l
said; "but You look sad. Nothing
wrong with you or yours?" 4" No,
thanks; but have just left depressing
scene. A young couple, married in hot
haste, have gradually come to grief.
The wife and child are i'll.
Relatives and friends have reced-
ed in the remote background. And
worse than all, the husband" ''Has
become Incorporate or has gone mad?"
"Neither one nor the other.'' "Some-
thing worse?'' "Yes; for to be dis
honest is worse than going mad. And
il is such'a mere trife that is needed,
apparently, to put all straight, that l
groan at my inability at the moment TO
find it." "What is wanted?" "Well,
it's only 20 pounds" "There's the
money you require. Haste away, and
do all the good you can with it." My
friend looked astonished. He even hes
itated. alt is very, very good of YOU"
lie said, "but really .tE1 re
power to give it away. Good-by."
And | hurried off. Then I fastened
back to him. Kindly, on no account
mention my name" 81 No, rs you wish
it; but you should know that of the OBJ
iects of your bounty" And he told me-
Then we parted. l had gone only a
dozen yards when there passed me Il
young man, with a flushed face and a
frightened, anxious look in his eyes
lie caught up TO my friend and spoke to
him.
"That is the man. | said 10 myself,
"whose proceedings have been dubious,
and who will, I trust, be rescued by
Staiuing's 20 pounds. Wei, if the
wheel should turn, and this poor man
should ever be in position to deliver a
fellow-creature from such trouble as he
himself is now in, by the surrender of
20 pounds, | wonder whether he'll do
it? Smith, you surely know human ma
ture well enough to answer your own
question. Not he-not a bit of it,
This little incident, with plenty of
other things beside, was soon swept from
my memory by a sudden call to 90
aboard, even to the place where Marx
well did not go-Brazil. Here occurs
in my tale grand interval of 20 years
(mv story deals in 20'sD. l doubt
whether | should have come back had
not a young English lady one night sung
in my hearing an old home ballad. Sc
well remembered in connection witt
some loved ones who in this world vii
sing no more, that the well known crav
ing for the native land mastered me a
once, and within a very short time Iva
on my voyage to England.
On the way, had one night fright
jul dream | fancied a terrible enemy
had me on my back, and was clutchins
at my throat. Tighter grew his grasp
and fainter nay breath. Ny startling
eyes scanned every feature of ny muir
derer. Slowly and painfully-as / wa.
held IN this way, for some time as it ap
peared-did | call to mind the face be
fore me. 1t was Staining-but Stain
ing reckless, desperate Igasped an en-
treaty for mercy. - Give it me: Ivan
it: / must have it instantly-instantlvl'
WAS the, hoarse, reply "AYhat-wha
can he mean 'sWhatt' 80 he shrieke,
ia maniacal frenzy. Wretch, my ?