Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-02-20
Aumuruns department.
THE OLD MAN WHO SMILED.

One time there was a good old man living
in Detroit. His back was bent, his step was
slow, and men who gazed upon his snowy locks
and wrinkled face whispered to each other
"He is good old man, who has not long
to live"
The old man had been we'll off in his day,
but when he found himself on the shady side
of life, wife dead and home broken up, he
said to his only SON
"Here, William, take all I have, and let
your home be my home until die.
The son took the papers, and the father
was given cosy corner, a big chair, and a
corn-cob pipe. All went we'll for year or
so, and then the son and the sons wife began
to make it uncomfortable for the nice old man
in the corner. They threw out hints, de-
prived him of his comforts, and one cold day
in winter he was told he had better 60 to
Halifax-Nova Scotia.
The old mans heart was sore as he went
out into the world to battle against hunger
and cold, and when night came he covered
in doorway and wept like child.
"Who is making that chin.music up there p
called reporter, whose steps had been arres.
ted by the sobs and he went up the steps,
patted the old man on the head, and by-and.
by the story was told. s'-
"Come down to the station with me,
said the reporter, taking the old mans arm.
"Your son is first. cousin to the man who pre-
ferred buzzard to lamb, and I'll help fix him. v
Next morning one of the daily papers con.
tained an item to the effect that an old gen.
tleman named Goodheart had been found
wandering the streets at night, and that when
taken to the station $4,000 worth of United
States bonds were found on him. The old
man read it over three times, slapped his leg
as he saw the point, and a beautiful smile
covered his face and climbed up through his
hair. In about an hour his son William
rushed into the station and called out:
"Father, dear father, come home! All of
us were crying all night long, and my wife
is now lying in comatose state on your
accountw
The old man went home with him, wink
ing at the lamp-posts and smiling as he turn
ed the corners. He had all the comforts
back, and the son bought him a costly pipe
and pair of box-toed boots that very day.
Well, as time went on the son ventured to
suggest that the bonds had better be turned
over to him, and every time he said "bonds"
the old man would smile and turn the subject
to patent milk-cans or the necessity of coun-
terfeiters taking more pains with their lead
nickels. The other day the father went to
bed to die, and he smiled oftener than before
as he lay waiting for the summons. The son
said his heart was breaking, and then went
through the old mans clothes to find the
bonds. He didn't find any. He searched
the barn and the garret and the cellar, and
finally, when he saw that death was very near,
ne leaned over the bed and whispered:
"Father do you know me7"
20, yes-I know you like book" replied
the dying man.
"And, father, don't you see that this thing
is almost killing me?"
"Yes, William, l see it."
"And, father-those-those- bonds, you
know. / suppose you want them used to
purchase you monument?"
Correct, William" whispered the father.
winking ghastly wink, and the same old
smile covered his face az death came to take
him to better home.
When evening fell, and the son and the
sons wife were wildly searching the straw
bed to get their hands on those bonds, a
reporter stood under the gas lamp across the
street, and, with his thumb on his nose, he
sweetly called out:
"sold agin and got the tin-next 6lial son
step forward!'