The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-11-06
oged herself to deliver that message

gagged herself to deliver that message
before all Others. Alas not many
friendly greetings were sent TO the poor
convict; but, at all events, that word OF
Amy's was the best of all. 1t did him
good. He was not an entirely dishon-
ored man if that sweet, pure girl con-
sidered him worthy of her remembrance.
Certainly that message sweetened his
life-a life that was not an unworthy
one in spite of his shorn head and blue
uniform. There is in some natures a
capacity and a determined will which
are emphasized all the more distinctly
by failure and disaster. 90 will not be
beaten,' was the cry of Philips soul.
He had run against what Goethe calls
somewhere the iron law of nature. And
nature had dealt him sharp blow in re-
turn. But there was power of rebound
in him. He would prove himself fit to
live yet.
Yes, fit to live. He was by no means
equipped for life yet. But he would
forge the weapons he would require af-
terward right here in his prison. In the
intervals of the labor that was required
of him he did so. He studied and he
read. He acquired Latin and Greek,
and three modern languages. He ac-
quired the profession of the law. NAM
nv Jones was his middle-woman in buy
ing books. The small sum she had
scraped together from the sale of his
household goods befriended him in this.
The 10 long years of his imprisonment
dragged by. They were short years to
Nanny Jones, however. All this time
she was working hard, so that when
4" Mas'r Phil got off :" he and she might
have laid up ga leetle sumthin - on
which to begin housekeeping. She be-
came accustomed to his situation. She
had always looked upon it consistently
as the result of the malice of his enc
mics, and upon himself as an injured
man. 1t was in vain that Philip had
tried to explain matters to her. 4" What's
de use?n she would say. Don't tell
me. You didn't wont ter keep no mon
ey dat warn't yOur'n, honey. You
meant ter pay it back. 1t all dat darned
old Gray's fault in de fust place. Didn't
you throw away fifteen hundred dollar
clar de day arter you war rested? OBJ
curse. Did dat look like you war in need
oh money!"
He had told her of his gift to the Lees.
Poor honest soul! she was his only
friend, and he wanted her to understand
that when he forged his uncle's name he
had done so from ne selfish motives.
"Ob curse,'' Nanny Jones had said.
She was apt to say " lob curse =" whether
things were of course or not.
Philip made up his mind that he would
90 to the far West when his time was
up. He hoped to begin life all over
again there.
He was even more fortunate than he
had expected. Fortune befriended him.
His 10 years of Incarceration had paid
the debt to outraged Law Now he was
permitted to employ the gold he had
coined out of his disgrace. Is there any
proof of a noble mind greater than such
alchemy? Philip deserved the success
which Immediately attended him. He
made his mark without delay. In that
part of the world it is not usual to ques-
ton a mans antecedents. He stands
on his present merits.
Philip devoted himself especially to
professional success. From the time
that he was admitted to the bar he was
considered a lawyer of repute. He
made few acquaintances, however; he
Stunned society. Gradually he acquired
a reputation for misanthropy. But we
are not sure that this did not make him
all the more interesting, especially
among the female portion of his world.
Women love romance. They conjectured
a romance here to account for the indif-
ference of handsome man, still in the
"midday and flourish of his years.
There was nothing of the Lara type, I'M
fortunately, about Philips Saxon good
looks and open face. The mystery, if
mystery there were about him, could
not be a dark one.
In the course of time Philip made
money enough to create for himself a
lovely home. His secret heart still cher
ished an ideal, and in every detail of his
home he consciously or unconsciously
studied Henlen Gray tastes. Helooked
forward to meeting her again. He
must. They belonged together. He did
not long to do more, hope to do more,
than just to touch her hand, to look into
her eyes. In spite of spiritual affinities,
she was the wife of another man.
The meeting decreed by the gods was
deferred, not denied. One day train
carrying a party of eXcursionists to the
Western coast was wrecked within a
mile of Mountain City-Philip's home.
Among those on the train were Helen
Gray and her sister. Helen was also
among the injured. As she was being
carried into the town, Philip recognized
her. He stopped short. Yes, and Amy
too-changed, however, from the girl of
II into a mature and thoughtful woman.
Helen was little altered-perhaps would
have been altered not at all except for
the widows cap she wore.
Philip Immediately rendered his serv-
ices. His instinct had been to do so on
the plea of old acquaintance, but he saw
in a flash that he was not recognized,
and in the same flash he decided that he
would not revive the painful associations
of the past. He remembered what he
had been. The old familiar look of
pride on Helen's face was still there.
1t was a weakness, but he nevertheless
decided that if his present self did not
recall to Helen the convict of the ten
years he had spent in prison, he would
not refresh her memory at that time.
He made his offer of assistance as a
stranger, to be sure, but then there is
an unceremoniousness of good-fellow-
ship about the West with which we of
the East are unfamiliar. The sisters
only protector on the excursion, the
husband of cousin who was also of the
party, had been dangerously wounded.
Philip had it in his power to befriend
them greatly, and he did not fail to do
so. He established them in comforta-
BILE quarters, telegraphed back and