Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1881-04-18
John tainted. DIR. Blair rang his

John tainted. DIR. Blair rang his
bell.
Sam, fetch a spoonful of brandy,
quick then send round the carriage
And when John was able to be taken
home, the doctor carried him there in
his coupe, and helped him up the stairs.
Garry was shocked to see him. What
ever love her small heart held for him
awoke now, and alarmed her. She put
him on the sofa tenderly enough, and
made cup of tea. But she thought
the faintness and weakness he still
showed would pass away, for the doctor
had not time to stop and explain the
case, and Johu could not, In his deep
love for her, bring himself yet to tell
her of his sentence. He had loved her
with all the strength of his nature, but
the love had shown itself in deeds in
stead of words and caresses, and she
had entertained the angel unaware.
Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his
friends" and in his weak, human meas
ure John had indeed laid down his life
without being conscious of his utter sac
rifce. He lay there half awake, not
thinking now of Garry or his money
her money, rather. Through his mind
ran the perfect cadence, "Rest in the
Lord" In the grasp of fatal disease,
ignorant yet that it vas fatal, the stray
Ing child came back to his Father. Old
words thronged his mind, old prayers
stirred his pale lips, the prodigal''s hum
BILE utterance, the cry of the publican,
the agonized outcry of the sinking dis
ciple,-all these he whispered. so softly
no mortal ear could hear. Then a
dream of peace seemed to steal upon
his weariness sense of rest and re-
lief relaxed ali his tense nerves, and
soothed his whirling brain; he smiled
and put his hand out, cropping for One
invisible, and fell asleep. When Garry
came to rouse him at bed time, he was
dead.
Now she had plenty of money John
had insured his life heavily, and paid
his premiums so punctually and so long
that even the insurance companies dar-
ed not try to contest payment; then
they had both put their savings into
good investments by advice, and doubled
their capital over and over. Mrs. John
Manners was worth at least sixty thou
sand dollars, owing to her husbands s
death and the rise in stocks recently.
But where was John? ? She knew now
how he had given up home and peace
and pleasure, all that makes life sweet
to man, in order to satisfy her eager,
wretched hunger for wealth she had
made herself loveless and friendless in
her devotion to the muck rake, and the
crown over her head had been so long
unseen, unvalued, it was at last taken
away. Where now was her omnipotent
money. 1t could not bring back John.
She had herself helped him surely and
steadily into his grave. for the doctor
told her frankly and sharply that he
had worked himself to death. Sixty
thousand pangs of remorse and regret
lay in her boarded dollars, and could
not be evaded. She must take up her
desolate life, her irreparable loss, her
tormenting money, and carry them all
out of the city she could no longer en-
dure, back to the home she now dread.
ed. One more awful lesson to the hun
gerer for this worlds goods, that now,
as of old. "there is that maketh himself
rich, yet hath nothing"