The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-02-17
anything, must make dividin' line."

IL llc was dCIuhiiJ enjoying tnc Cruue Dut
honest ideas of his companion. The trap
per hesitated moment before he spoke,
| then he said:--
IL conceit that the Judgment be always
gon' on. It's court that never a,ijourns,
| and tho desertcrs and the knavcs and tho
disobedicnt III the regiment be always on
trial. But l conceit that there comes Q
day to every man, good and bad, when the
record of his deeds be looked over from tha
start, and the good and the bad counted
up and III that day he gifts the final icdg-
mcnt whether it be for or agin him. And
now, boy" continued the old man SOL
cmnly: with touch of Infinite tenderness
in the vibrations Of his voice, eye be nigh
the Judgment day, ycrsclf, and the deeds
ye have did, both the good and the bad,
will be passed in review"
81 reckon there isn't much chance for
ne If your view is sound, John Norton"
| And for the first time, his tone lost its
cheerful rccklcssncss.
''The court be court of marcy; and
| the jcdgc looks upon 'em that comes up for
! trial as cf he was their father"
''Ihat ends 1t, old man." answered the
gambler. "My father never Showed me
any mercy when was boy. If he had,
l shouldn't have been here now. If l did
wrong deed, got it to the last inch of
the lash," and the words were more in
tcnsely bitter because spoken so quietly
''The fathers of the 'arth boy, be not
like the father of heaven, for | have seed
'cm correct their children beyond reason,
and without marcy. They whipped in
their rage, and not in their wisdom; they
whipped, because they were strong, and
not because of their love they whipped,
when they should have forgiven, and got
what they 'arnt-thc hatred OF their chill
dren. But the father Of heaven be differ
cnt, boy. He knows that mon be weak,
as well as wicked. lie knows that half OF
'cm havnn't had a fair chance, and 50 he
overlOoks much and when he can't over
look 1t, conccit he sorter forgivcs in Il
lump. 1is, he subtracts all he can from
the evil we have did boy, and cf that isn't
enough to satisfy his fcclin's toward man
that might have ben different ef he'd had a
fair start; he jest wipes the whole row of
tigurs clean out at the askin'."
cat the asking2" said the gambler
"thars mighty quick game. Did you
ever pray. John Norton r"
''Sartin, sartin, ! be prayln' man"
| said the trappcr, sturdily.
cat the askingl" murmured the gam
oler, softly.
"Sartin, boy" answered the trappcr,
"that' s the line the trail takes, yc can de-
pend Oh it; and it will bring ye to the ccnd
Of the great clcarln' in peace"
Its quick DEAL" said the gambler,
speaking to himself, utterly unconscious OF
the incongruity Of his speech to his thought.
''It's quick deal, but l can sec that it
| might end as he says, if the feeling was
right"
For moment nothing was said. The
trapper stood looking steadfastly at the
young man Oh the moss, as he lay with his
quiet face turned up to the sky, to whose
| color bad already come the first shade of
the awful whiteness.
Up the mountain rifle cracked. Neither
stirred. a red squirrel ran out upon the
limb, twenty feet above the gamblers
head, and shook the silence into fragments
| with his chattcrlng; then sat gazing with
startled eyes at the two men underneath.
''Can you pray, old MANI" asked the
gambler, quietly.
"Sartmly," answered the trappcr.
'Can you pray in words?" asked the
gambler again.
For a moment the trappcr hcsitatcd.
Then he said: 81 can't say that can. No,
l sartinly can't say that could undertake
it with reasonable chance of gittin
through: leastwise, it wouldn't be IN a way
to help man any,
els there any way, old man, III which
we can 60 partners Z" asked the gambler,
the vocabulary of whose profession still
clungto him in the solemn counscling.
II was thinkin' of that" answered the
trappcr; "yis, l was thinkin' cf we couldn't
sortcr jine works, and each help the other
by doin' his own part himself. Yis," con-
tinued the old man, after q moments re-
Election, 'thc plans a good un--ye pray
for yersclf, and I'll play for myself-and
ef l can git i'll anything that seems likely to
do ye saryice, yc can count on it, as yc can
on groovcd barrel"
"And now, boy" said the trappcr, with
sweetly solemn enthusiasm, such as faith
might give TO supplicating nt,--which
lighted his features until his countenance
fairly shonc with light which came out of
it, rather than upon it from the sun over
head-'now, boy, remember that the Lord
is Lord Of the woods, as well as of the
cities, and that he heareth the prayin' of
the poor hunter under the pines, rs well as
the great preachers III the pulpits, and that
when sins be heavy and death be nigh, His
car and His heart be both OPEN"
The trapper knelt on the moss at the
gamblers feet. He claspcd the fingers of
his great hands until they intcrlaccd, and
lifted his wrinklcd face upward. lie said
not word; but the strongly chiselcd lips,
| scanned with age, moved and twitchcd now
and then, and as the silent prayer went on,
two great tears left the protection of the
| closed lids and rolled down his rugged
check. The gambler also closed his eyes !;
then his hands quietly stole one into the
other, and, AVOIDING the bloody stain. rested
on his breast and thus, the old man who
had lived beyond the limit of mans day,
and the yonng one, cut down at the thrcsh-
old Of mature hfc--thc one knccling on the
MOSES, with his face lifted to Heaven, the
other lying on the MOSES, with his face
turned toward the same sky, without word
or uttered spccch-prayrd to the divine
mercy which beyond the heaven and the
sky saw the two men underneath the pines,
and met, we may not doubt, with needed
answer the silent upgoing prayer.
| The two opened their ewes nearly at the