The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-07-06

Che ola man. - be sorry Tor We, Tor
life be sweet to the young, and | wish
yer years might be many on the arth."
Il fancy there's a good many who
will be glad to hear I'm out of it," was
the careless response.
81 don't doubt we have yer faults,
boy" answered the trapper, land |
dare say we have lived loosely, and did
many deeds that was better undid, but
the best use of life be to learn how to
live, and 1 feel sartin ye'd have got
better as We got older, and made the
last half of yer life wipe out the fust,
so that the figures for and agin We would
have balanced in the Judgment"
You aren't fool enough to believe
what the hypocritical church-members
talk, are you, John Nortonp You don't
believe there's any judgment day, do
you?"
81 don't know much about church
members" answered the trapper, - for
I've never ben in the settlements; least
wise, I've never studied the habits of
the creturs, and dare say they differ,
bein' good and bad, and I've seed some
that was sartinly vagabonds. No;
don't know much about church-mem-
bers, but ! sartinly believe, yis, know,
there is a day when the Lord shall
jedge the livin' and the dead; and the
honest trapper shall stand on one side,
and the vagabond that pliers his skins
and steals his traps shall stand on the
other. This is what the Book says, and
it sartinly seems reasonable; for the
deeds that be did on the arth 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 di-
vidin' line"
"And when do you think this judy
ment is, John Norton?n asked the GAM
bier, as if he was actually enjoying the
crude but honest ideas of his compan
ion. The trapper hesitated a moment
before he spoke, then he said:
-" | conceit that the Judgment be al
ways goin' on. It's court that never
adiourns, and deserters and the knaves
and the disobedient in the regiment
be always on trial. But l 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 jedg-
ment whether it be for or agin him.
And now, boy" continued the old man
solemnly, with touch of infinite ten
derness in the vibrations of his voice,
eye be nigh the Judgment day, yerself,
and the deeds We have did, both the
good and the bad, will be passed in re,
view"
q reckon there isn't much chance
for me if your view is sound, John Nor.
ton" And for the first time his tone
lost its cheerful recklessness.
THE court be court of marcy; and
the Jedge looks upon 'em that comes
up for trial as eff He was their father y
THAT ends it, old man." answered
the gambler. " My father never showed
me any mercy when Twas boy. If he
had, shouldn't have been here now.
If did a wrong deed got it to the last
more intensely bitter because spoken SC
quietly.
"The fathers of the 'arth, boy, be not
like the Father of Heaven, for l have
seed 'em correct their children beyond
reason, and without marcy. They
whipped in their rage and not in their
wisdom; they whipped because they
was strong, and not because of their
love; they whipped when they should
have forgiven, and got what they 'arnt
the hatred of their children. But the
Father of Heaven be different, boy. He
knows the men be weak as we'll as
wicked. He knows that half of 'em
haven't had fair chance, and so He
overlooks much; and when He can't
overlook it, / conceit He sorter forgives
in lump. Yis, He subtracts all He
can from the evil we have did, boy, and
eff that isn't enough to satisfy His feel
ms toward a man that might have ben
different eff he'd had fair chance. He
jest wipes the whole row of fgur's clean
out at the askin'."
cat the asking?" said the gambler:
"that's mighty quick game. Did you
ever pray, John Norton?'
"Sartin, sartin, be prayin' man.
said the trapper, sturdily.
cat the asking?" murmured the
gambler, softly.
"Sartin, boy" answered the trapper;
CHATS the line the trail takes, We can
depend on it; and it will bring We to
the eend of the great clearin' in peace. -
Its quick DEAL said the gam
bier, speaking to himself, utterly I'M
conscious of the incongruity of his
speech to his thoughts. Its quick
deal, but can see that it might end as
he says, if the feeling was right"
For a moment nothing was said. The
trapper stood looking steadfastly at
the young man on the moss, as he lay
with his quiet face turned up to the
sky, to whose color had already come
the first shade of the awful whiteness.
Up the mountain a rifle cracked.
Neither stirred. A red squirrel ran out
upon the limb, twenty feet above the
gamblers head, and shook the silence
into fragments with his chattering; then
sat gazing with startled eyes at the two
men underneath.
"Can you pray, old man?" asked the
gambler, quietly.
Sartinly," answered the trapper
"Can you pray in words?" asked the
gambler, again.
For moment the trapper hesitated.
Then he said: g can't say that can.
No, sartinly, can't say that could I'M
dertake it with reasonable chance of