Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1878-08-01
sion Of his face revealing bis thought.
"Is it my last deal, old man?"
asked the gambler, carelessly.

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"Is it my last deal, old man?"
asked the gambler, carelessly.
II have seed good many wounds"
answered The tfapper, land I've
noted the direction of good many
bullets, and never knowed man Ii se
who was hit where ye be hit if the
lead had the slant inward, as The
piece had that has gone into ye.'
For a minute the young man made
no reply. No change came to bis
countenance. He turned his eyes
from. the ;.apper's face aud looked
pleasantly eff toward the water. He
even whistled line or two Of an old
love ballad, then he paused, and,
drawn perhaps by the magnetism of
the steady gaze which the eyes of the
lcapper fixed upon him. he looked
sga,n into the old mans face, and
said:-
"What is it, John Norton?"
"I be sorry for ye, boy" answered
the old man. "I be sorry for ye, for
life be sweet to the young, and wish
that yer years might be many on the
arth."
"I fancy there's a good many who
will be glad to hear I'm out of it,"
was the careless response.
II don't doubt ye have yer faults.
boy" soswered rhe trapper, "and 1
dare say ye have lived loosely, and
did many deeds that was better un-
did, but the best use of life be to
learn how to live. aud feel sa-tin
ye'd have got better as ye got older,
and made the last half OF yer life
wipe out The fust, so that the figures
for and agin ye would have balanced
in the Judgment"
"You aren't fool enough to believe
what the hypociitical church men,
bers talk, are you, John Norton? You
don't believe that there's any judg-
ment day, do your"
"I don't know much about church
members" answered the trapper, "for
I've never been In the settlements;
leastwise, I've never studied the hab-
its of the creturs, and I dare say they
differ. bein' good and bad, and I've
seed some that was sartinly vaga-
bonds. No, don't know much about
church members, but sartinly be-
lieve-yis, / know there be a day
when the Lord shall jedge the livin'
and the dead; and the honest trapper
shall stand on one side. and the vag-
abond that pliers his skins and steals
his traps shall stand on the other.
This is what the book says, aud 1t
sartainly seems reasonable; for the
deeds tpat he did on The actin be OF
two sorts, and the folks that do 'em
be of two kind, and atween the two,
the Lord, eff He notes anything, must
make a dividin' line."
"And when do you think this judg-
ment is, John Norton?" asked the
gambler, as il he was actually enjoy
irg the crude but honest ideas Of his
companion. The t-apper hesitated a
moment before he spoke, then he
said
ct conceit that the jedgment be al
ways goin 'on. It's court that never
adiourns, and the deserters and
Lnaves and the disobedient in the
regiment be always on trial. But /
conceit that there comes a day to
every man. good and bad, when the
record of his deeds be looked over
from the start, and the good and the
bad counted up; and in that day he
gifts the final judgment whether 1t be
for or agin him. And now. boy" con-
tinued the old man, solemnly, with a
touch of infinite tenderness in the
vibrations of his voice, "ye be nigh
the Judgment day, yerself, and the
deeds ye have did, both the good and
the bad, will be passed in review"
"I reckon there isn't much chance
for me il your view Is sound, John
Norton" And for the first time his
tone lost its cheerful recklessness.
"The court be a court Of mercy;
and the jedge looks upon 'em that
comes up for trial as ef he was their
father"
"That ends it, old man." answered
the gambler. my father never
showed me any mercy when I was a
boy. If he had, 1 shouldn't have been
here now. If I did wrong deed. ]
got it to the last inch Of the lash,
and the words were more intensely
bitter because spoken so quietly.
1.-THE fathers OF the 'arth, boy, be
not like the father OF heaven. for
have seed 'em correct their children
beyond reason, and without mercy
They whipped in their rage, and moi
in their wisdom; they whipped be-
cause they was strong, and not be-
cause of their love; they whipped
when they should have forgiven, ant
got what they 'arnt-the hatred o
their children. But the father o
heaven be different, boy. He knows
, that men be weak, as well as wicked
He knows that half Of 'em haven't ha(
a fair chance, and so he overlooki
much; and when he can't overlook II
4 I conceit he sorter forgives in lump
= Yis, he subtracts all he can from tn,
7 evil we have did boy, and ef tha
isn't enough to satisfy his feelin's
/, toward man that might have bel
. different ef he'd had fair start, b.