St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-01-18

time came he could not bring himself to
it. No, depend upon it, to man of
HOlcrOft's nature, man of generous
impulses, refined tastes and weakened
will there could be nothing so torturing
as to face his old friends after the dis
cOvery he would far rather accept the
solitude of the penitentiary and, be-
sides, having a mental perception of the
operations of law, he would regard a
term of years in the state prison as like
ly to expiate his crime, and satisfy his
outraged conscience but it would not,
it would not"
"NO, it would not" said Farley, the
younger man. ga crime like HOlcrOft's
reaches great deal farther than you OF
| can trace it, and the man himself car
ries a mark in his consciousness which
he cannot erase. | have always thought
that Shakespeare sounded the depths of
human sinfulness when he made Lady
Macbeth, even in her sleep, try in vain
to rid herself of the blood which the
/ world did not know to he on her hands.
'All the perfumes of Arabia will not
sweeten this little hand.' No one can
believe that any good act he does af-
terward will blot out his sin. He may
believe this theoretically of some one
else, but he will not himself sin and be-
lieve it. There is a case in my mind
now of a man who carried about for
years the remembrance of an undiscov-
cred sin, a sin which he believed wholly
concealed, and at length the confession
was forced from him by the pressure
! from within, and not from any external
| force"
.'What were the circumstances ?"
"These, if you will hear them: He
was young man i'll business here i'll
town, and doing fairly well. He had
many friends, and one in particular, Il
man older than himself, with whom he
was i'll the habit of exchanging accom-
modatiOns. His friend endorsed for
him, and he endorsed for his friend. 1t
chanced that his friend was burned out
in the great fire, and having no Office
| he used this mans safe as depository
for some bonds and other papers. He
went off also for a journey, saying that
he should have no occasion to disturb
his deposit during his absence, which
was to be for Il month. About week
after he left, this man, whose affairs
had become somewhat embarrassed by
the shrinkage OF value of considerable
insurance scrip which he held, got in il
very tight place. A note of his was
coming due, and he had no funds with
which to meet it. His own securities
were nearly worthless, and he was at
his wits end how to raise the necessary
sum. He could fOresee two payments
due him in fortnight which would be
sufficient, but he had never asked to
have Il note renewed, and he had IL
pride about it which made him now
refuse that relief. Then it occurred to
him that his friends deposit would he
available if his friend were on hand
He had received temporary relief in
this way before. That his friend was
absent was an annoyance, and he could
not reach him, for he was on the water
| Under the circumstances, as he said to
! himself, he was as much justified in hor-
rowing five of his friends bonds for Sc
| curitN i'll raising tour Thousand dollars,
as a boy would he who should shake
tree for apples, in the accidental alb
sence of the farmer, who had often Civ
ell him as many as he wanted. How
ever, he left this for last resort but
when the day came he had not succeed
ed in raising the money by any other
means, and he took this method. A
few hours afterward the original holder
of the note come to him almost with
tears in his eyes be had had the note
discounted month previously, and
now, knowing the critical condition in
which every one stood, he had been in
terror lest the maker of the note should
he unable to pay it, and the bank should
call upon him, which would be the only
thing needed to string him up, as he
said. There really seemed to be Il sort
OF special Providence in it all, said our
friend, to himself, for he had begun to
feel little uneasy.
EMeanwhile the loan which he had
raised by means of these bonds was a
short one, and he expected to meet it
by the two payments shortly to fall due.
What was his dismay, when the day for
| them came, to learn of the failure of the
house largest in his debt, and to be
waited upon by the smaller house with
a request for an extension. His friend
was to return in three days, and some
thing must be done ut once. The day
was discount day at his bank. He drew
up note for the necessary amount,
and went with it to the bank he was
told that though his own credit was
good, the bank had made rule that an
endorsement would he required in all
cases. The president whom he had
seen said as a suggestion, Get Mrs
name on the back meaning his friend,
'and we will take it,
But he will not be back for three
days he replied. He would give it to
me then, most assuredly.'
'Then you had better watt
q cannot and with these words he
hurried away. He knew very well that
he could not wait until his friend came
back. But somehow or other he must
get over these three days. He could
get note discounted at the bank after
his friends return, but how meet the
immediate difficulty? He went back
to his office. The uppermost thought in
his mind was: Il must get those bonds
back at once Then he thought of his
friends name as a security. Il am ac-
cepted,' he reasoned, sbecause the pe0-
pie know my friend will back me. He
would back me just the same if his
name was not Oh my paper, but the
bank of course requires that. They
won't take my word for it. 1t is a mere
form, anyway, something by which they
can hold us both. They simply want
to protect themselves. Well, they do
it when they have my name and his.
| Pll protect him. | tell them he'll back
me, and l tell them so by writing his
name Oh my note"
"AccorClingly he tore up the note and
wrote a new one, dating it a month
previous, and initiating bis friends
name on the back as indorser. The
question then arose how he could offer
this to the bank when he had just told
the president that his friend was away.