The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-02-25


and wife were kneeling at their bedside in
prayer. The man with uplifted head and
closed eyes, uttering an earnest supplication,
his wife beside him, and one arm passed
affectionately through one of his, and her
head resting against his breast. They were
kneeling at the side of the bed opposite me,
| and bis face was plainly visible. Its calm
and pious expression at the moment was
| a sufficient rebuke to my unjust suspicious.
| l began to listen in time to hear him say;
| pardon, o merciful father, not only the sins
| of thy humble servant and his household,
| but turn the hearts of those who have done
| evil unto him, who have wished him injury,
| and who have harbered unjust suspicious OF
| him. Bless such, o Lord, and preserve them
| In order that they may turn from their ways
| and seek the path of righteousness"
| His serious, earnest and manly voice struck
| cord in my heart, not only in sympathy
with the honest and tender supplication that
! was passing from his lips, but of contritiou
| for the wrong / had done him by my
suspicious. / Involuntary compared him,
whatever were his good or bad deeds, at
| least an humble penitent before his God,
| with the wretch that / had decided but a
| few moments ago to make of myself, by the
| misrepresentation of my employers money,
and still, however, by the relief it could
| obtain for me, would not quite give way to
l. the IeelllR Ol repentance WHICH WIS huOCh-
| ing for admittance at my breast. had half
decided to turn away and drive these better
thoughts from my mind, when / observed
| something moving in small crib that was
placed at the side and toward the foot of
their bed. Its occupant, agrandchild, whose
parents they had informed me were dead,
awakened probaly by its grandfather voice,
rose up, looked around and settled down upon
its knees, and clasping its little hands as its
grandfather's were clasped, and looking up
ward, out through the window at the moon,
whose bright light fell full upon its darling
face, began moving its lips as If trying to
repeat the words.
Nothing so like an angel ever met my
sight The grandfather began the Lord S
prayer. The little fellow seemed to have
this by heart. He repeated it word for
word, his tiny, silvery voice sounding in
sweet accord. could not turn away, nor
no longer resist the better emotions which
| / had hitherto kept down. A rush of
| repentant feeling passed through me with
| anseffect that shook every fiber. fell upon
my knees, and with tears streaming from
my eyes, joined in the concluding words of
| the prayer.
need not say changed my mind with
regard to the money. passed quiet night
and rose early, fastening away toward my
| journeys end, 80 as to give myself the least
| possible time or opportunity for changing
my new-formed resolution. In handing the
| package to the agent said to him, that
as there was money in it, 1t might as well be
opened in my presence to see that it was all
| correct, etc. He, of course, discovered the
| error and handed me back the amount that
was over with which | returned home and
delivered it up to its proper owners in due
time.
1t was fortunate for me IN every way, that
| I pursued the course l had adopted. 1t
/ appeared that the money had been obtained
| from the bank after bank hours, in the
4 absenceof the teller, from one of the officers.
There were no loose notes on hand of the
i larger denominations, but there were sheets
of thousands and five hundreds signed by
/ the president and cashier. Either two
sheets were picked up in mistake for one, OF
the wrong batch of sheets selected from
| that is, thousands were taken instead oil
/ five hundreds. The notes were hurriedly
| clipped, strapped and Endorsed "$5, 000'
| without recounting, and so enveloped, and
handed over to me. The bank had discover
ed the error, and no doubt was entertained
| but that the missing money was with me.
| Whether should have had the face to with.
| stand the imputation, even with the apparent
/ ly undisturbed condition of the ,enveIope in
1 my favor, is more than / can say, but Idoubt
| it.
| " But the notes in pursuance of precaution
| still in use in some banks, were payable to
| the order of one of the clerks and had not
been Endorsed by him. / could not, there
fore have used them, or,if SO, they could
| have been traced back to me. I found also
| that the numbers had been carefully ascer-
tanned of all had taken with me, and thus
| another chance of detection existed. What
an escape!
| Upon returning and entering the count
| ing room handed the surplus back to my
! senior, with feeling. somewhat Of pride,
but mixed up with other feelings not easily
described.
MY precaution of having the money open
| ed by the agent in my presence, was highly
| commended, and the possibility of his
misappropriating the undue amount, as very
little personal knowledge of him was pos
| sessed by the firm, was duly discussed.
| What was said on this point brought bushes
| to my own cheeks.
| In course of time my senior accountant
| was taken into the firm. I was put in his
/ position, and with his salary, saved money,
| finally got into business on my own account,
| and am now, as you know, rich. / never
| forgot my former host nor his grandchild
| but at the death of the former, 1 took charge
| of the boy. Heis now my partner and the
| husband of my daughter.