Weekly Trinity journal., 1877-02-17
THE OLD MAN WHO SMILED

/ One time there was a good old man
! living in Detroit. His back was bent,
his step was slow, and men who gazed
upon his snowy locks and wrinkled face
whispered to each other:
lie is a good old man, who has not
long to live"
The old man had been well off in his
day, but when he found himself on the
shady side Of life, wife dead and home
broken up, he said to bis only son
Here, William, take all that I have
and lot your home be mine until l die
The son took the papers-you bet he
did and the father was given cosy cor
ner big chair and n corn.eob pipe. All
went well for year or so, and then the
son and the sons wilo began to make ii
uncomfortable for the nice old man in
the corner. They threw out hints, de-
prived him of his comforts, and one cold
day in winter he was told that he had
better go to Halitax-Nova Scotia.
The old mans heart was sore as he
went out into the world to battle against
hunger and cold, and when night came
ehe covered in a doorway and wept like
a child.
Who is making that chin-music up
there ?' called reporter, whose step.
had been arrested by tho sobs, and ho
went up The steps, patted the old man on
the head, and by-and-by the story was
told.
Come down to the station with me, -
said the reporter, taking the old mans
arm. " Your son is first cousin to the
man who preferred buzzard to lamb, and
III help you fl him ~
Next morning one Of the daiies con
tanned an item to the effect that an old
gentloman named Goodhart had been
found wandering the street at night and
when taken to the station $4,000 worth
of l. nited States bonds were found on
him, The old man read it over three
times, slapped his legas he saw Che point,
and beautiful smile covered his face
and climbed mp through his hair. L.
about AN hour his son William rushed
into The station and called out:
Father, dear father, come home
All OF us were crying all night long, and
my wife is now lying in a comatose state
on your account !"
The old man went homo with him,
winlNng at the lamp posts and smiling
as he turned the corners. lie had all his
comforts back, and the son bought him a
costly pipe and a pair of box-toed boots
that very day.
We'll, as the time went on the son ven
tured to suggest that the bonds had bet
ter be turned over to him, and every
time he said "bonds " the old man would
smile and turn the subject to patent milk
cans or tho necessity of counterieiter,
taking more pains with their lead nickels
The other day the father went to bed tc
die, and he smiled ottener than before as
ho lay waiting for the summons. The
son said his heart was breaking, and then
went through the old mans clothes to
find the bonds. He didn't find any. He
searched the barn and the garret, and the
cellar, and finally, when he saw that death
was very near, he leaned over the bed
and whispered
Father do you know me ?"
"Oh, yes-I know you like book, 81
replied the dying man.
And, father, don't you sec that this
thing is almost killing me ?"
y os, William, | see it,
"Aud, tather-those-t those-bonds,
you know. l suppose you want them
used to purchase you monument ?"
Correct, William" whispered the
father winking ghastly wink, and as
that same old smile covered his face
death came to take him to a better home.
When evening fell, and tho son and
the sons wife were wildly searching tho
straw bed to got their hauGs on those
bonds, reporter stood under tho gas
light across the street, and with his
thumb OH his nose ho sweetly called out ;
Sold again and got the tln-noAt ailal
son step forward v'--DeHoit Frec Press,