The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-02-17
time of the preat failure in Pbi,adelphia

Tune OF me great failure In fhnaQelpnla
by which you were so heavy a loser"
"Yes, recollect the affair."" replied
Mr.. Thorne, who appeared TO be suffer
ing:
tor, "what became of the poor devil,
and yet I-should like to know"
"Should youP' said l, laughing,
then,let me crafty your curiosity. l.
Arthur Wallace, am that poor devil,
doctor; saved from ruin and despair by
my benefactor here" And then l rela-
ted all the events of the last fifteen years.
The doctor sprang to his feet and
grasped his old friend hand.
"Well and generously doner' said
he, but Mr.. Thorne interrupted him.
II am not WELL" he said. family.
al suffer greatly-let me go to my
room"
The next day he sent for me to his
private office. / found him looking pale
and haggard.
"Sit down, my dear Arthur" said
he, in a low voice, "and listen to me-
For long time have had q confession
to make to you, one that weighs on me
SO heavily that / must ease my con-
science Of its load. 1 can better bear
to do so now, that have in measure
made some amends for the trouble
once caused you"
"The trouble you caused me" cried
l. "You have been the most generous
of men to ME. 1t is through your kind
ness occupy my present position, it is
to you owe my happiness, and, more
than all, my honor"
Mr.. Thorne opened his desk and took
from it a pOcketbOok.
"Do you remember thisp" said he,
as he placed it in my hand.
"Yes," replied !, sit is the one l
lost; but how"
Icould not finish my question. The
truth stared me in the face. sprang
to my feet in dismay.
"Great heavensr' 1 cried, "you
found the money"
"Aye! and kept it." he groaned,
with anguish in his voice. "But, oh!
do not condemn without hearing me.
Yesterday you heard DIR. Ponard allude
to the great losses had sustained by
the failure in Philadelphia. l did not
dare to make my embarrassments
known, as that would have hastened
my ruin-my ruin! God knows it was
not for myself that I cared, but for
Alice, my darling child. 1t was on the
14th of December that you lost the
money. Oh! shall never forget the
date. 1t was on that day that medi-
tated suicide. l was short $4,000 to
meet my liabilities, maturing on
the 18th. was overwhelmed with de-
spair; the air of the Office seemed to
stifie me and / rushed into the street.
I had hardly gone ten yards when my
foot struck something. 1t was your
pocketbook. 1 opened it and the sight
turned me giddy and faint. Then COM
menced within nv breast one of
those moral struggles which, even to
conquer. is fearful, but in which,
alas! was miserably vsnquished. The
next day satisfied all claims upon me.
To the world 1 was George Thorne, an
honest, upright man; to myself was
nothing better than a malefactor. You
know the rest. Through my guilt you
passed two weeks of indescribable an
guish. 1 have since endeavored to
make reparation for this misery 1
caused; but I also suffered. Moral
atonements are the most cruel, be-
cause they are eternal. have known
and yet feel the bitterness of expia-
tion. Say, my son, can you forgive my
crime?"
Could 1 forgive? 1 looked at the
pallid face, anguished eyes. What were
my sufferings of those two terrible
weeks compared to the secret pain and
shame this man had borne for yearsp
This man, the victim of one solitary
deviation from rectitude, so upright in
all else, and whose life since had been
one long atonement. l grasped his
hand; tears filled my eyes.
Father" cried. "Alice' father and
mine, all is forgiven, forgotten. Do l
not owe all the happiness of my life to
that same lost Observation-Disclosures
Paper.