Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1877-07-14

But Stephen with determination that
many thought kind ofnadness, worked
away. -
And really, in the fourth year it looked
as If he would succeed.
A portion that had been finished pro-
duced such crop as make the farmers
round doubt their eyes.
Stephen was jubilant.
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.
ty 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
yentured to try and reason with aud
comfort the gloomy man, looking dole
fully across the empty farm-yard towards
the great, flat, dreary Moss.
ut will soon be over, my poor Mag
gie," he said. Tomorrow am going
to get another five hundred pounds-if
[ can-upon the farm plcnishing and the
remnant of the stock. am sure, II get
it, to put the whole Moss under wheat
this year, and that will practically save
us. If don't, have lost my estate and
all these years. labor. and we shall leave
this place beggars. You know the worst
now, Maggie" 8
The next day, amid the driving storm,
she watched her husband make his last
desperate effort.
She turned and looked upon the pleas
ant room. her three children playing UNI
consciously about it.
Then she fled upstairs, and falling
down upon her knees, poured out all her
heart i'm passionate, pleading prayer.
As she rose with streaming eyes, her
uncle's last words flashed across her
mind.
Somehow they held new meaning
for her.
She unlocked her drawer, and lifted
the old brass-bOund book carefully and
tenderly out.
ut has comfortcd my fathers and
mothers for many generation," she
said, softly, Il will see what it will DO tor
me-"
And she unclasped it with prayer.
II was brought low and lie 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 1t had fallen
from heaven, and commenced to turn
with eager. trembling fingers the we'll
worn pages.
One after another, notes f1uttered 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, anu with what radiant face she
met the cross, wretched man that, half
drowned with the storm, walked about
shutdown up to the hearthstOne?
'Stephen-Stephen!" she cried, joy
Ously, "ncver look sad again. Uncle
JOseph's welding gift has saved us !''
And she spread the notes before him.
Maggie was right; the money saved
Stephen every way.
lie bought Thwaites out, he paid off all
farm, ard triumphantly finished the
draining of Dru's Moss.
To-day there is glorious stretch Of
wheat fields and meadow pastures, and
many Il traveller wonders at the bright
and fruitful oasis i'm 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 bags but Stephen Gray,
with labor and gold, drained the ill-land,
and he and his have grown rich OH its
outcome, though folk DO say as he found
crock of OF gold there me- lucky day.
Maggie's fortune was oddly given, but
the eccentric old man did not judge fan
amiss.
His wedding gift was blessed as he i'm.
tended it should be-in two ways-for
Maggie and Stephen learned to love it,
not only for the material help it had
brought them i'm their extremity, but also
for the promise of the tar more exceed
ing and abundant riches which it prom
iscs and provides for.
Stephen, though wealthy, was no long.
er proud.
All his pride andresentment vanished
when he gazed on the work he had fin.
ished by the aiG OF the Doctors Gift.