Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1881-07-25

ANYBODY to be delivered from 1t, said
his wife.
''Yes, if they were successful in max
ing him believe he had any such fault"
laughed Mary 'but we two, who love
him best, have never dared to let him
know we saw it. so he would not be cas-
lily convinced"
"He's good man, Mary, good
Christian man, honest as the light"
| "And cross as bear, and"
"Mary!"
"Motherl'' and Mary's eyes twinkled.
81 never knew you to speak so of
your father"
"But wish I had spoken long ago,
and I'm going to speak now. I'm going
to tell him what think about it all.
/ Think what doleful, forlorn Christmas
we had"
"But your father never kept Christ
mas. When he was young the people
! thought more Of the first day of the New
Year, and l doubt if he ever had a pres
ent in his life; and when your brother
used to want to hang up his stocking he
would tell him what hard times he had
as a child; that he was glad to get
enough to eat, without asking for pres
ents. Of course, when had saved up
a few sixpences to buy the child gift.
such remark took the pleasure out of
it; SO as he grew older, we said nothing
about it to his father, but | used to
manage to slip new handkerchief, OF a
necktie, or pair of mittens, in his
drawer"
"Yes, | understand it, mother, for
even now. if he looks at me when l have
on a new dress, feel suddenly guilty
and as if the old one ought to have serv-
ed another year"
| "Well. he has great many cares,
child, and he cannot help being angry
when he is in debt. He's growing old,
daughter, and we mustn't mind his
ways. Tonight he was especially anx-
ious to get off early, and everything
went wrong. You know he is never late
to church" added the loyal wife, anx-
ious to say all possible good.
"All that may be true, mother, and
out in the world he bears things like a
man and Christian. I've no doubt
that he will give good testimony to
the mercies of the past years as any one
in the meeting tonight, but he will fret
just as quickly if the breakfast is two
minutes late tomorrow morning. l don't
want his kind of religion, mother. A
faith that won't help man keep his
temper isn't worth having And the
girls face flushed with the energy of her
words.
"Stop. stop, my child You don't
know what you are saying Your broth
er said that before he went away.
Dent let me hear it from another child
There's no fault in the faith. There's
no fault in the precious Christmas gift,
sent US from God. If we take so SPAR
ingly and use so blindly that is every
Christian heritage, the fault is not in
the Giver or the Gift. Your fathers
faith is your mothers, Mary, and she
tells you it has been her only strength
and comfort and delight. You will
come to know it sometime yourself, and
l believe my boy. if he lives, will come
to know it too.''
Seeing her mothers agitation, the
girl said no more, but gently led her on
to talk of her brother who had left home
at the age of sixteen, and had never
been heard from since. At the time of
his departure, Mary, now on the verge
of womanhood, was four years old, and
all through her childhood and youth her
: Imagination played around her faint
, memories of him. catching eagerly at
; whatever her mother could tell. Her
} father never spoke of him except to up
braid his desertion of his parents and
his duty. Whatever had been his Of
fence, the deacon had never forgiven
him. but Mary knew how her mother
} heart yearned and watched and waited
r for her boy, and she understood what
secret spring of sorrow was draining her
[ mothers strength. He had left them
on the last night Of the old year and
as the years, one after another, crept
: onward, Mary always felt the feverish,
faint hope in her mothers heart, and
. this night of all nights she did not like
e to leave her alone. But as the evening
wore on, and the mother and daughter
] sat in the freight. talking over all the
story of the boys young life, Mrs. Frost
! grew restless. She arose and went to
+ the window, and looking up and down
: the white road over which bent the
: boughs of naked trees. and away across
the snowy fields, she seemed to ask the
! earth, which somewhere held his grave
or felt his footstep, and the stars that
must have seen his wanderings. for ii
4 dings of her boy. AS she stood there
< the clock in the tower struck eleven.
"There,s only one hour more in this
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