Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-06-20
WOODSTOCK, VA, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2l,ls77.

ached and yearned over this other
mothers. She up, and took her little
boy in her arms and sat him on his
fathers knee.
"LutherW she said, 81 will not
argue or reason with yon, for you will
get the best Of me there; I plead for
this boy in the name Of your own; take
him back; give him one more trial, for
the sake of this !" and she placed her
hand on the Furnished heap of curls, in
which were lights of gold. ..
The child looked up with his sweet
face full of bewilderment. Something
in the tender, solemn face of his mother
seemed to impress him. He reached
out his fat, dimpled hands to his father
and cried, in his pretty child voice
''Take him back, papa-take him
back :"
Mr.. Randolph was moved He bent
down swiftly, and kissed the small
speaker and fancied himself guilty of a
very unmanly weakness when he said
30 Mary, you women, with you chill
dren, are enough to turn mans brain.
It's against my lifelong principles to do
what you ask"
But after all. the speech conceded
much more than it denied, and Mrs.
Randolph knew that if Tom was not
beyond recall he might have another
chance with his master. t'
Three days had passed, and the year
had stepped softly from November into
winter, and the last month opened with
smiles as radiant as those which kindled
the face Of June; with winds as balmy
as Mays, and with no sign nor whisper
Fof the long path Of storm and darkness
through which the road lay toward the
spring, just as some lives lie in sweet
warmth and security on the border land
of awful experiences Of sorrow and pain
and loss, through which their feet must
walk into eternal rest beyond.
And one morning of this SUNSHINE
out of season." a youth, somewhere
about his seventeenth year, might have
been seen making his way slowly along
one of the principal thorough-fares Of
the city. If you had looked in his face,
you would have found it bright, intel
ligent one, with eyes that held usually
plenty of fire and spirit in them, but
now carried some gloom or sadness. or
both. So did the step slow and despon-
dent, so did the slender boy figure, with
the idle hands listlessly in the pockets.
for want Of some better employment.
Now, Tom Hayes" buzzed the busy
brain Of this youth. YOU'RE done in
this city, and the sooner you clear out
and 60 of to sea the better for you.
The best thing you can do is to ship as
common deck hand, for a good long
voyage round the world. You'll have
chance TO see something of the world
before. you get back, and, perhaps.
you'll get into a good berth, and be
captain some day. It'll be hard enough
at first, and you must make up your
mind to plenty Of knocks and rough
associations ; but it will be better than
loa fng around the city. with your
hands in your pockets, and your last
dollar going. Theirs no chance for you
here, with your character gone, and
your situation lost, and you've nobody
to thank for it all but yourself, as the
fellow told you when he sent you off.
All your fine visions and pretty dreams
Of making money and setting up the
folks at home are gone now. But poor
mother, and little RUTH" All. there
was a twinge then, that made the boy
start and shrink, as one might at the
touch of a coal of fire; he knew the
poor, broken-down mother, the bright
little sister, just three years his junior,
had set all their hopes and trust on him
and when they should come to hear the
truth, that he was discharged and dis
graced, and had run off to sea, they
would never hold up their heads again.,
All, if he could go back to the day on
which he left them! Then the tears
sprang up into his eyes; he was think
ing of their last words-his mothers
and little Ruth's. There was only one
thought harder than that, and this was.
going back and looking in their faces
and telling them the truth. And SO
reasoning after the fearful logic Of
evil" the one wrong always involving
into another, he told himself, in despair
and desperation, that there was no help
for it i; he must run OF now and go to
sea-
And he who had been too weak to
resist the temptation of the land, would
expose himself to those increased a
hundred-fold, on board the ship, among
coarse and bru-companions, amid the
lack of all moral restraint and inhu-
ences which long sea voyage neces-
sarily involves.
Just at that moment carriage turned
the corner, and drew up before the door
of a dry goods establishment, and a
lady alighted in some haste, and the
long silk scarf, which trailed down her
cloak, dropped suddenly to the pave
ment.
Tom Haynes was instinctively
courteous. He caught up the bright,
floating fabric and ,sprang toward,
"You have dropped your scarf.
ma'am." .s ~ Lt.t
Thus arrested, the lady turned sud-
denly. H