The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1880-12-25
% listen wien LOVING appreciation to her

to listen with loving appreciation to her
brothers exposition OF the sacred text.
And as she listened she forgot the
scantily filled pews, the nlischievous,
restless children in the seats opposite,
even the proud, beautiful woman who
had occupied her thoughts 30 short o
time before, and something that was
almost sob rose from her warm sensi-
tive heart as, with tender solemnity
that might have touched far less i'm
pressible nature than hers, the preacher
made his closing appeal:
LET us bury to-day, beneath the man
ger at Bethleham, every hardness that
has made our own lives unloveiy and the
life of our neighbor miserable, and may
this blessed Christmas be to our hearts
the burial stone of all past wrongs and
grudges, the resting-place of those white
robbed angels of peace and good will,
who shall proclaim to our enlightened
souls the joyful tidings that the Merciful
yet lives to bless and aid his merciful
children"
Perhaps" mused the conscientious
little woman, 81 haven't been quite as
cordial to Miss Peabody since she ac-
cused me Of meddling too much in par
ish matters, but I'll call there tomorrow
and carry her jar of my raspberry jam.
she'll like it, know" and having forti-
fed herself with this laudable resolu-
ton, she found time to glance at the
face of Miss Thornleigh, while with a
little natural pride she measured the
effect of her brothers eloquenco upon
that lady's mind.
And as she looked, she wondered, in
voluntarily, how some people could call
the beautiful heiress cold and naughty
looking.
The proud eyes were meekly down
cast, now, and tremulous color had
crept into the usually unruffisd cheek,
while all the hardness seemed to have
slipped away from the disturbed and
qniyering mouth, leaving only smile,
at once so tender and thoughtful, that
the most timid supplicant would have
taken courage from its very gracious
ness.
1t was not the first time that Helen
Thornleighs soul had been forced to ac-
knowledge the claims of a nobler, broad
er charity than the old narrow "eye for
an eye" creed, but to day the words of
the preacher, commonplace and simple
as they might seem to others, had for
her strange and almost irresistible
power, and as she bowed her forehead in
mute reverence during the closing bene-
diction, wave from the unforgotten
past swept broadly over her soul, bring
ing with it food OF bitter sweet mem
cries of those other days, when with
unchildish devotion she had invariably
yielded her own way and wishes, in great
as in little things, to the elder sister, who
was, in her girlish Imagination, para
gon of beauty, grace and virtue, until,
as the years slipped by, to her o simple
daised chain, and with girlhood's open
ing roses came that wonderful awakening
of heart and brain that only loves touch
can compass, il was that sisters hand
that stole the cup of Joy from her very
lips, wounded to the death both her love
and her pride, and with the selfish arro-
gance of an INDUCED and pampered ma
ture, set herself, IN fit of jealous pique,
to win to her own side the promised hus-
band of another, and that other her own
sister.
1t was no secret; the very loafers at
the street corners could tell the story of
that bridal night, with its missing bride
groom and bridesmaid; the cruelty in
sulting message that the morning tele-
graph brought to those at home; the
sternly, silently-borne suffering of the
deserted and deceived one; and later
still, as the years went by, the rumors of
suffering, poverty and widowLood, that
made fit sequel to the shameful tals,
came to them through various channels,
unheeded and unquestioned heretofore,
but noU-
The proud head bent still lower, and
tears of tender pity glistened between
the dainty meshes of the lace that fell
Ike shadow across her agitated face.
Father, help me to forgive !" she
prayed. and as in moment the rims of
years melted from about her heart. and
something of the old, glad trustfulness
of other days stole in with each throb of
that forgiving love that, once harborsd,
soon makes heaven of the heart that
yields itself to its blessed influence.
Even the faces of the "orphans," plain
and commonplace as they had appeared
to her unsympathetic vision, seemed sud
denly transfigured by their partnership
OF a common childishness with the Babe
of Bethlehem, and her heart turned ten
derly toward them in spite of their un-
attractive exterior, as, the services ended,
she watched them file hurriedly down
the aisle, their eager little faces scarcely
veiled under the prescribed look of hum
BILE decorum that could not completely
hide all their glad anticipation of the
coming Christmas feast.
Those shawls are thin and scanty;
they shall have some new ones before
next Sabbath" wrote Loves finger on
the secret tablet of her heart; and with
an answering ned and smile to the mod
est SALVATION of the minister's sister, she
was about to pass through the door into
the crisp outer air, when cloud of
faded black drapery barred the way, and
a hand, small, pinched and bare, caught
tremb blingly at the fringe of her mantle,
while voice, broken and weak, yet with
an only too well remem bered thrill in its
tones, whispered the timid inquiry,
Helen, sister, don't you know me?"
An hour before, Helen Thornleigh
would have torn her garments from that
woman's grasp, and with coldly unre-
cognizing eyes have passed silently on
her way, but now gentler mood swayed
her, and trembling from head to foot,
with thrill of womanly tenderness, she
looked down into the wan, sunken face,
from which all the old fatal beauty had
long since faded out, the once 1.-the and
graceful form now bowed and angular
with suffering and want, and the mean,
scant garments that scarce kept out the
winters cold; and never was music
sweeter or more in harmony with the
blessed spirit of the day than her words:
"Come home with me" And as she saw
the look of painful uncertainty upon the
wanderers face, she added, with closer
clasp Of the trembling fingers within her
own softly gloved palm: ''The past-our
past-is dead, sepulchred bsyond resur-
rection, and now let this day of universal
love and goodwill be the sealed
stone at its tomb's mouth, that neither of
US shall ever seek to roll aside"
A rush of grateful tears was her only
answer; but it was enough, and the re-
united pair, for the first time, perhaps,
in their lives, thoroughly comprehended
and understood each other
There were no wordy protestations of
repentance, no well-rounded sentences
expressive of forgiveness and mag
nanimous overlooking of past sins and
treacheries. The past, with its bitter,
bitter harvest, was literally and truly
dead and buried, and never, by word or
look, did the reconciled sisters, now
happy and content in their chastened,
wise-directed lives. ever refer to that
darkened blank whose heart pangs God
alone may know.
And Parson Soulbridge still prepares
his annual Christmas sermon with the
same prayerful care, the same scholarly
research, the same earnest faith in its
possible usefulness, that even the thinly-
filed pews that still meet his now failing
vision cannot dim; for who knoweth
uhich shall nrosner-tha late or early