Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-04-11

| tie had been a claSSmate OF NINE IN
college, and was willing to please ME ;
and the sentence, which few moments
before had waited upon his lips, was
suspended, and the boy was placed
under bonds in the sum of $50, which
bond required that he should appear
again in court at the expiration of one
month.
sit was not my purpose to bail him
out at that time, and the little fellow
seemed slightly bewildered when the
officer sent him back into the dock; and
he may have been more bewildered still
when he found himself consigned to jail
instead of being sent to the penitentiary
ION the following day 1 went down
to the Jail with an order from the sheriff
and was admitted to the boys CELL
His face frightened when he saw me,
and in that instant saw, as if by in.
spiration, the latent goodness of the
poor waif. sat down and called him
by name and asked him if he remem-
bered me.
''He remembered me very well as the
doctor who had been called to his
mothers dying bed.
"'Well, said 1, 4 would have helped
your mother then had it been in my
power, and have come now to help
you if you will let me-"
HE caught my hand and looked up
into my face and asked me what l
meant.
"Of course, said he, l will let you
help me-
"'But,' said I, will you help me:'
''He looked at me again in the same
wondering way.
"'Will you help me to help you?' l
asked.
''He caught my meaning.
"'Oh,' he cried, will you give me a
chance
81 told him that was what [ had
come for.
"'I have never had chance he
said. Ever since l can remember l
have been down in the mud and the
dirt, and those that wear fine clothes
have stunned me the officers have
kicked me; and only thieves and pick
pockets have been good to me. Oh. il
1 could only have chance"
g. You have been punished for doing
wrong?' queried.
eyes, sir, he said. I was sent to
the penitentiary.
"'But it did not seem to do any
good.
"'How could it?' he asked, with
utter simplicity. I was treated like a
little wretch while 1 was there, ard
when 1 came out 1 was kicked back
into the old path. What chance was
there for me to do better? Give me a
chance and see.'
"After talking with the boy awhile,
and satisfying myself that his very soul
yearned for better life, told him tc
make himself comfortable and conten.
ted where he was until saw him again.
1 made him understand that if he came
out he must come upon my response.
bility, and that 1 only wanted time to
find a suitable starting point for him in
the new sphere. There was no wilc
burst of thanks-no gushing Of senti.
ment Or promise. He took both my
hands, and looked up with a solemn
earnest look, and with a tear starting
from either eye, he said:
"'Give me a::chance, doctor,-a chance
where can hold my own with honest
people-and if fail I will never ask
help again.
II promised that would try, and
then l left him.
Il had a dear friend living away il
the country-a true christian man, who
preached true christianity by living it,
and who prayed with strong hands anc
tender heart. I wrote to my friend,
and told him the whole story, and he
wrote back for me to send the boy tc
him. Then l went down to the jail,
and when Dick looked up into my face
he clasped his hands over his eyes and
broke out into sobbing and weeping
My first thought was to comfort HIM
with assurance ofcoming good but he
stopped me.
81 know! know?' he cried. 4 see
it in your face. 1 saw you smile, and
knew you had come to help me. Oh!
never, never saw that smile before
ION that day 1 took Dick Printle
from the Jail, and carried him to my
own house, where I gave him new
clothes where my wife and daughter
were kind to him. On the day follow
ing, as needed recreation, went with
him into the country, and introduced
him to my friend, where he was at once
taken to comfortable home, and to
tender, loving hearts.
THAT was IL years ago. To-day the
waif which l rescued from the mael-
strom Of vice-the brand which l pluck.
ed from the burning--is an ornament to
the society in which he moves, and that
society is Of the very best. He says il
was from reverence ofme that the idea
came to him Of being a physician; but
no matter whence came the thought,
the medical profession gained a grand
accession when he received his diploma,
and suffering humanity gained a true
and able helper. He found a wife in
the daughter of the man to whose care
consigned him; and he has found