The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1881-10-20

me to exchange with him, which was
very glad to do.
Not long after, a chest of drawers
that was my grandfather's found its
way back to its old place, together with
the quaint, b1ass-mounted mirror that
always hung over it. So that at last the
room locked very much as it did before
we arranged it with so much care and
labor.
John and had quiet laugh over it,
but so long as it suited its present occu-
pant we did not mind, and it seemed to
suit him completely. He spent much of
/ his time in reading. No one called to
seeIhim, or wrote to him, though he re-
ceived quantities of papers and maga-
zines.
| It was Margie who first suggested that
| we invite him to take tea with US one
day, when we bad some unusual delica-
cy-early strawberries, think.
ssHe must be very lonely, poor man ~
said my gentle-hearted sister.
"Perhaps he doesn't have enough to
eat? He spoke about being poor, you
| know"
After this, he dropped ia occasionally
evenings, bringing some new magazine
or paper, and reading to US as we sat at
work. Finally, it became an estab-
|
with us twice and sometimes three times
! a week; frequently inviting himself,
though we always knew he was coming
by the advent of the market boy with
liberal supply of provisions, all of the
best quality.
This troL bled Margie's tender con-
science, and she demonstrated with him
one day.
'It is wrong" he said with grave
shake of the head. "Im poor man,
| and ought to be more prudent"
But he continued on the same way ; and
we finally got so used to his oddities OF
speech and action as to think little OF
them.
He and John ere, apparently, on the
best of terms, and yet he was always
| finding fault with him to me.
"To think of his taking entire charge
of his mother, when she has other chill
dren, aud sending money to his BROTH
| er's widow, besides !" He said to me
one day. "He is poor man and al
ways will be"
snow, 1 could never endure the
slightest reflection upon John, and
defended him with spirit and indigna-
ton that seemed to amuse Mr.. Thomas
not little.
"With thy pretty face and ways, thee
ought to do better, Ruth" he resumed, ,
when pause for want of breath. lot
| but what John is good, but he Is poor.
L have heard that thee refused Mr.. Hart,
who is worth thousands. What made
thee do such foolish thing as that, my
child?"
ssBecause 1 didn't love Mr.. Hart; and
L do love john"
The silence that followed made me
glance up at my companion, who had
turned towards the door. 1t was grow
| ing dusk, and the face was partially
averted, but l was almost sure that his
eyes were full of tears.
Mr.. Thomas generally used plain Ian
guage, almost invariably so when speak
| ing to me or Margie, and until l saw
| that he was a regular attendant as ST.
Luke's, supposed him to be Quaker.
When alluded to this impression, he
said:
sI was brought up in that faith; and
it comes back to me now that L am
growing old and the end is near"
1t was nearer than thought. He had
been feeble all the winter, though 1t
seemed more like the gradual loss OF
Strength than the actual disease. In
the early spring he was knocked down
by a runaway horse, sustaining some in
! ternal injury from which he never re-
covered. John and 1 took turns in
nursing him; it was pleasant, after
wards, to remember that he wanted for
nothing.
John, Margie and were there. He
had been lying in stupor for some
hours; now he reused himself and be-
gan to talk, startling us not a little by
his strange expressions and illusions
"I was born in this room, he said
glancing around, "and shall die here y
Thinking his mind wes wandering,
laid my hand gently on his.
He smiled as he looked at me.
"Thee hast my mothers name, Ruth
and her kind heart as well, but thy
eyes are like thy fathers. He has beer
here thanking me for providing Tor MS
orphan girls. This was our room wher
we were boys, thee knows. Dear ole
Joel before the dawning of another
day we shall meet"
John and 1 looked at each other II
wondering ave. Two years ago stoot
by my fathers dying bed; was 1t the
same mysterious shadow that made
their face look so strangely like?
The dying man continued, "Ihy Ia
ther and l were brothers. Did he nevel
speak to thee Of his brother Tom, whit
forsook home and country because
girl, as false as fair, broke her plighSet
troth to wed richer suitor? You haY'
, both been very kind to the old man tina
came to you as stranger. L have no
forgotten it, as the papers in my desl
will show.
An examination of the papers sllude'
to not only proved that my poor uncl
t spoke truly, but, that he died in the pos
session of bonds and stocks to tn
) amount of five thousand pounds; "to b
, divided equally"-=so ran the few line
that comprised his will-"between hi
two nieces, Ruth and Margaret Gray.
j OF course John and Margie live wit
t us, and happier home it would be har
. | tn find