The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1879-07-02
A Suggestion.

We have not space in the Register for
an extended tale; but we have evolved
an idea for one, which idea we arc too
unselfish to withhold from q waiting
public because we cannot get all the
glory of it. If some skillful pen will but
fill in this bare outline with rich rhe-
toric and vivid imagination, not only
will some interestin' readin'" be pro-
duced, but great moral engine will be
sent into the world to accomplish great
good. We should, perhaps, entitle our
romance
"a BRAND FROM THE BURNING; /;
OR, THE DELINQUENT SUBSCRIBERS SAL
vATIoN."
We would introduce the first chapter
with picture of the heretofore honest
and prosperous farmers happy home.
The angel of peace dwelleth there, and
the country paper comes to his postoffice
box every week.
Having been supporting this county
paper for some four years without paying
for it, he is surprised one day to get po-
lite note frAuh the publisher to cash up.
Indignant at being dunned, he resolves
to punish the base insulter of his dignity
by beating him out of the whole bill
All, rash resolve! "This, this, the source
of all thy ills"
AS delay makes his fatal purpose mani
fest, direful consequences follow; his
friends fall away and recognize him no
more; the wife of his bosom deserts him
and files an application in Chicago po-
lice court for divorce; his daughter
elopes with ightning-rod peddler and
his best horse and buggy; his son, losing
all self-respect in his fathers degrada-
tion, goes to the city and enters politics
his cattle start on " a journey to the CEN
ter of the earth," through a neighboring
quagmire; his hogs die of cholera; his
corn yields only tassels--all mankind and
nature seem to conspire his ruin. Job
had his comforters, spiritual and human {;
but "what charm shall soothe the melan-
choly" of the wretch who bears upon
his soul the purpose of defrauding the
trustful editor!
CHAPTER AT last, deserted by all
but his faithful dog (who has been kept
in ignorance of the facts of the case), our
delinquent resolves to end his bitter
existence by suicide. owe suggest to the
previously-mentioned skillful pen that
the scene here should be very gloomy
dark cliffs, stormy sea, blood-red sun,
etc. Just as he is about to drain the
fatal draught (or shoot the fatal shot. or
stab the fatal stab-we also leave this to
the taste of the filler-in)-the spirit of
mercy, willing to give the old man an
other chance, inspires within him the
thought" Suppose l pay the printer,
and all may yet be weil!h Seizing the
idea with avidity. and the dog by the
collar, he hies him to the neighboring
town. Realizing there thirteen dollars
| from the sale of this faithful animal, he
repairs to the editorial sanctum, pays his
| arrears and for a year in advance, and
has enough left to "set 'em up all
around" His atOnement is complete,
and he walks forth once more "a man
among his fellow-men." (The EDITORS
astonishment and JOY at being the pos
SCISSOR of eleven dollars all at one time
should be artistically pictured)
CHAPTER 3 shows the inevitably happy
result of this Christian action. Fortune
smiles broadly upon him once more-his
wife withdraws her divorce suit and re-
turns to his arms; the clipping lightning
rod peddler turns out a wealthy Russian
| count in disguise, and restores to our
| farmer the lost broad acres; the son
abandons political life and becomes once
more n respectable citizen; his kline wax
fat, and his wheat fields yield some sixty
and some a hundred-fold. The scene
closes with a bright picture of the
prompt-paying subscribers happy fire
side.
If the above sketch, graphically de-
lineated and broadly published, does not
rouse many delinquent conscience into
action, then is all moral suasion vain,
and the butt end of the law our only re-
course.-PrtnterS' Register.