Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1877-03-08
Helena, Montana, Thursday, March 8, 1877
The Old Man who Smiled.

Ouc lAne IntIt was gOOu OlQ 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:
''He is good old man who has not long
to live.'
The old man had been we'll off in his day,
but when he found himself on the shady
side of life, wife dead and home broken up,
he said to his only son:
''Here, William, take all l have and let
your home be mine until die"
The son took the papers-you bet he did!
and the father was given cozy corner, big
chair and a corn-cob pipe. All went well
for year or so, and then the son and the
wife began to make it uncomfortable for the
nice old mar in the corner. They threw out
hints, deprived him of comforts, and one
cold day in winter he was told that he had
better 90 to Halifax-Nova Scotia.
The old name heart was sore as he went
out into the world to battle against hunger
and cold, and when night came he covered
in doorway and wept like child
''Who is making that chin-music up there ?"
called a reporter, whose steps had been ar
rested by the sobs, and he went up the steps
patted the old man on the head, and by-and-
by the story was told.
the reporter, taking the old mans arm.
''Your son is first cousin to the man who
preferred buzzard to lamb, and I'll help you
fix him.
Next morning one of the daily papers con-
tanned an item to the effect that an old gentle
rlan named Goodheart had been found wan
dering the street at night, and that when
taken to the station $4,000 worth of United
States bonds were found on him. The old
man read it over three times, slapped his leg
as he saw the point, and a beautiful smile
covered his face and climbed up through his
hair. In 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 comatose state on your ac-
count!'
The old man went home with him, wink
the corners. He had all his comforts back,
and the son bought him a costly pipe ana a
pair of box-toed boots that very day.
Well, as time went on the son ventured to
suggest that the bonds had better be turned
over to him, and every time he said ''bonds
the old man would smile and turn the sub
ject to patent milk-cans or the necessity of
counter6eiters taking more pains with their
lead nickels. The other day the father went
to bed to die, and he smiled oftener than be-
fore as he 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 fin
ally, 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, replied
the dying man.
"And, father, don't you see that this thing
is almost killing me?'
eyes, William, l see it."
''And, father-those-thos you
know. suppose you want them used to
purchase you monument?
Correct, William whispered the father,
winking CHASTITY wink. and as that same old |
smile covered his face death came to take |
him to better home.
When evening fell, and the son and the
sons wife were wildly searching the straw
bed to get their hands on the bonds, re-
porter stood under the gas-lamp across the
street. and with his thumb on his nose he
'weetly called out
'sSold again and got the tin-next filial son
step forward i''-Detr0it Free Press.