The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1880-07-21
THREE GIFTS.
BY cHARLEs n. TERRY, JR.


him with age, for In his boyhood he
saved all his half-pence, end never ate
his apples until they were soft and spot
ted with long keeping. And when ne
was quite young man he was known as
Donald the miser. His little sheaIing
was full of odds and ends, which he
had picked up In his wanderings, and
could never bring himself to part with,
although they seemed to be of very little
use, and he would go far out of his way to
pick up q rusty nail or a crooked pin.
The children called him a witch, and
hooted at him as he passed
through tie village in his queer, high
crowned hat and long tailed blue coat
He never exchanged pleasant greet
ing with living mortal, but went his way,
guarding his pockets as though each
man he met was thief, with his eye
upon their contents. Alone old Don
aid lived, and slept, and ate. and when
night c2D1e on, and the shutters were
barred, the old man would sit down
upon his lnoldy floor, and, lifting q NOV
able plank beneath the window, take ont
his wOrshiped pot of money, boarded
for long years, and count it over and
over again with groan for every piece
as it clinked against its nei.shbcr.
One night, as he sat Tins telling his
gold and silver, and never fearing inter
ruption-for a terrible tempest ragged
without, aud few ever came to old Don
AIDS cottage even in pleasant weather.
low, hurried knocking fell upon the
paCels of his door, and made him hide
ms treasure with the greatest oeIerity.
Who can it bep he muttered, as he
scrambled to his feet, Heaven protect
us, an what If it was a thafe of rob-
ber?" And he dragged an old chest
over the loose board, and locked the
closet whose shelves held a slice of
bread and broken bit of cheese, before
ne totteFed to the door, and inquired,
Nth a trembling voice, Who's with
out, md what nay ye be afther want
ing?9
1t is friend, Donald" answered
soft voice. open the door, for Tn
standing here in the rain"
A woman, anyhow" muttered the
miser.
well, well, I'll just peep out at her
and send her away
And with these words he drew the
door aiar, and thrust his bead out into
the storm.
There. upon the doorstep, stood tall,
fair woman, dressed in white garments.
and, before he could prevent her, she
had slipped in, and sat drying her
raiment before the blaze OF the light
wood which cracked in the fireplace.
Donald looked at her in anlazement.
"Might 1 be so bold as to ask what
{ va cr9fI 4 81 L,
Yes, Donald McDee," answered the
Give me shilling out of your hoard of
silver, and you'll be rewarded here and
hereafter"
al give ye shillingl" howled the
miser. " I'm the poorest man in Ire
land. Go to the great folks. I'm beg
gar myself. Would ye have me starve
in me ould age? 1 haven't got it to
give"
"Donald, Donaldlo said the woman,
think what ye're saying. There's fear
full need of the gift, where you least
think of it. Give a sixpence, Donald
McDee."
@sixpencei I'd die in tks ooor-house
If did" shTieked the miser. at would
keep me a week. SixpenneI Sure,
you're gone mad, woErSR."
"Then a penny" pleaded the woman,
only penny, to save life. For the
sake of your soul, give me penny, Don
aid McDee."
"I haven't it to give, and if had I'd
keep it to have q mass said with, and
save me sowl, without spending it till 1
died" replied the man. "Go, go that's
a good woman, and don't be tormentin'
a poor man SO. If ye'd been saving
ye'd have it yourself. Go, go!"
But the woman stopped before the
fireplace, and, picking up a charred
piece of plank, said slowly, "If yoau
give me nothing else, let me take this;
and remember, I ask it again for the
sake of your soul"
THAT boardl" gasped Donald; why,
it's three feet long. Three feet of good
board, Just little charred at the end.
What are We thinking OFF,"
- ssDonald McDee, perhaps it will save
some poor soul from freezing this bit
ssr night, said the woman. "Out of
all you have, can you not spare this for
the poor, and for the sake of your own
soul?"
There was something so solemn in
shuddered involuntarily.
q "There, there" he said, "take it, take
t., and go away-take it, or I can't help
snatching it from ye. Three feet Of
good board I'm spendthrift in my
old age. Go-qHicki y
81 And before he could finish speaking
the woman was gone, so softly and rap
idIy that he could not tell the moment
of her exit. That's a way to be of
after such a gift, muttered Donald. |
"Well, WE'LL its a great thing to be
charitable, so the priest says, and j
giving three feet of good board isn't
charity, what would be-to All unknown
woman, too? ALL I'm afraid I'm get /
ting childish" And Donald McDee
ecraped his fire together, and went to
bed, wheRshe dreamed of beggar women
who carried away his treasury, and
awoke with fearful. screams for help,
which no one heard.
AS time passed on, the old man be-
came even more penurious, if that was
possible. The consciousness of one
weakness steeled HIS heart against all
other beggaTs, and no one ever received
SO much as a pm from his avaricious
hands.
z ,Three years from the day on which
he had first received the fair wOman's
visit, Donald was crouched once more
IN the corner, and counting his glitter
ing hoard. It had increased with time,
and as he counted it he muttered:
well, well, that board was worth pen
ny-a whole penny, at the least. Not
that I begrudge it, for it's great thing
. to be charitable, butts penny isa penny,
nevertheless"
just as he spoke another knock came
upon the door-such rap as the woman
herself bad given three years before.
5 alft IFb073e it's NOT herself aqaiD NUT