The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1882-07-16
BREAD CAST UPON THE WATERS


BREAD CAST UPON THE WATERS.
After threescore years and ten, spent in
accommodating fame and fortune, Col. Vim
ing had lived ten more, to see his fame
thing of the past, and his fortune take to IT.
self wings and fly away. Ten years too
long, said the worldly wise; but not so
thought the great reaper, for he often leaves
his fruit to be melowed by the early frosts,
and in those ten years the ambitious man
became even as a little child. Of the vast
landed estates once his only enough was
left to defray the expenses of his burial.
The friends who had gathered around him
in his day of power had all gone before him
to the spirit land. The grass grew green
over the graves of two noble sons and three
lovely daughters, mud the sole scion OF his
race was Edward Vining Coulac, the son of
his best beloved daughter Margaret. With
her wit and beauty she bad been the pride
of h s heart, but in an evil hour she met
Henri Coulac, an unprincipled adventurer,
and, in spite of the warnings of friends and
the prayers of her father, she trusted her
fate to his keeping. Ere the honeymoon
had waned the man she had sworn to honor
had earned her bitterest contempt, and af-
ter squandering her property and humbling
her pride he deserted her when her condi-
ton would have excited the sympathy even
| of a stranger. few mouths after her re-
turn to her old home a wailing infant was
placed in her arms; she scanned his features
eagerly, then, with a murmured "Thank
| God, he is all NINE" placed him in her
| fathers arms and found for herself the rest
| of the broken-hearted.
Deprived of fathers and mothers love, in
| the midst of poverty and sorrow, the boy yet
throve like the magnolia of his own Southern
swamps, which hides with beauty and fra
| GRANGE the deadly miasmas of its birthplace,
| His ambitious spirit and buoyant temper
cheered the last days of his grandfather ;
when the trembling hand was laid upon his
head in dying bensdiction he felt that he
was indeed blessed, though he turned from
the grave wanderer, for the ancestral home
| was sold by eager creditors ere the days OF
| mourning were at an end. kith or KIN
| there was none in the world to whom he
| could turn, and as he sat in the office bro cd
| ing over his lonely condition his sad face
touched the heart of Maj. Legere.
"Vining," said he, "life in this sleepy
town of ours is rather dull thing for young
fellow like you. How would you like to gel
away and see something of the world %
Like it," said Vining in tone meant t.
| he CHEERFUL, why uoh you aoN iio Nv"
would like ogo to heavenr'
| " don't wish yOu so well away as that
but if You can content Yourself with {
shorter Journey will help you on the way
have business in New York which re
auires personal attention for the coming
year, and there is no one to whom can 81
confidently intrust it as to you. VIII yol
gof'
al should like to go--if '-and Vining'
glance rested sadly upon his rusty clothes
"Then the matter is settled, and eXpec
you to leave here the first of next week
Here is money to defray your present eX
penses, and will give you a letter of credi
to my. banker. Take it," he continued
noticing the doubling curve of the sensitive
lips, " it's a small part of what shall ow'
J you for transacting this business. Hat
your grandfather been man to boast of hi
good deeds you would feel it was your due
for he made man of me. So count on on
friend as long as Bob Legere lives" TIL
lawyers rugged face softened at the recol
lection of the old days when he had cher
ished hopeless passion for the beautiful
Margaret Vining.
At the appointed time the young man
with hearty "God bless you " from Bo
Legere, was speeding northward. Ney
York, with its Babel of tongues, its rush an
, roar of human life, its squalid poverty an
, glittering splendor, was a revelation t
Vining, accustomed as he had been to tn
decaying gentility of Southern town, will
its horror of modern ideas and its devotio
to the traditions of dead past. The indil
nant blood mantled his cheek as he wa
jostled by sable porters, or elbowed by hod
carriers, for the lineal descendant of tn
: Winnings had been person of no small not
in his own sphere. Even Sambo, in the Ell
ljoyment of his newly acquired freedom
never failed to doti his cap to MARS Vii
ing" cause them was folks before the wah
a none of your poor white trash as sprung II
n like jimpsum weed. His folks owned 81
A cullud persons, and ole Mars Edward nev'
A lowed common white man to set down I
v his table"
n At an early day Vining presented him
a self at the bankers, Mr.. McKachn's, an
a was admitted into his private office. III
! low -ceiled room, with the light strugglin
# family through cob-webbed windows, Il
: dying Goals in the crate emitting a feeb
! glare, and the opened letters scatterf
). around on dusty desks, formed fifth
"a frame for the central fgure-a small spa
X man with iron gray hair, erect as porc'
pine quilts, face like withered crab-a
pie and keen blue eyes, in which twinkle
CLEAN of humor, as he caught the critic
glance taking in the appointments OF Il
room, puzzled expression deepened IL
wrinkles in his forehead as he looked fro
the card in his hand to the face of Il
visitor.
"E. V. Coulac," repeated he, as if to hil
self " Excuse my curiosity, sir but yo
face is strangely familiar, though am su
have never heard your name before. VIII
is it in full 7"
A" Edward Vining Coulac."
"Any relation OF Col. Vining, of Bel Air
Z" He was my grandfather, sir" said I
young man, drawing himself up proudly.
The banker grasped his hand eagerly, c
claiming with a tremor in his voice: IN
Coulao, for his sake you are welcome. The
is no human being that was near to him b
has claim on John MCEachin."
Then in brislIer tone than usual, as
ashamed of the emotion into which he hi
been betrayed, he resumed the conveTsati'
ON business topics yet his gaze fingered
most fondly upon the bright face turned
him, and as Vining rose to go he said, "A
Coulao, tomorrow is an anniversary wi
me, and If you will dine with my fam
and few guests will explain to you W
the sound of your grandfather's name, af
lapse of forty years, sets my heart beati
like school-boy's at the mention of his fl
sweetheart"
The invitation was cOurteously accept
and the morrow saw Vining in the banke
parlors. Mr.. McEachin received him G
daily, and, presenting him to his daugh
Flora, said, Mr.. Coulac has special clai
on our hospitality which you will gladly
knowledge after the story tell you to-day