Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1882-04-12

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my sight, The grandfather began the
Lords prayer, The little fellow scene
cd to have this by heart, lie repeated
II word for word, his tiny, sllyery
voice sounding IN sweet accord, !
could not turn away nor any longer
resist the better emotions which ! had
hitherto kept down, A rush of re'
pentant feeling passed through me with
an effect that shook every fiber. | fell
upon my knees, aud with tears stream
Ing from my eyes Joined In the con-
Guiding words of tho prayer.
need not say ] changed my mind
with regard to the money. lpassed a
quiet night aud 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 II, itmight
as well be opened in my presence to
sec that il was all correct, etc. lie, OF
course, discovered the error and hand
cd me back the amount that was over,
with which | returned home aud de-
livcred it up to its proper owners in
due time,
II was fortunate for me in every
way that ! pursued the course ! had
adopted. 1t appeared that the money
had been obtained from the bank after
bank hours, in the absence Of the
teller, from one of tho officers. There
were no loose notes on hand OF the
larger denominations, but there were
sheets of thousands and five hundreds
signed by the president and cashicr.--
Either two sheets were picked up in
mistake for one, or the wrong batch OF
sheets selected from-that is, thou
sands were taken instead Of five hum
drcds. The notes were hurricdly
clipped, strapped and indorsed $4,000,
without recounting, and so enveloped
and handed over to me. The bank
had discovered the error, and no doubt
was entertained but that the missing
money was with me. Whether l
should have had the face to withstand
the imputation, even with the appar-
ontlv und;sturhod condition of the en-
velope in my favor, is more than Ian
say, but l doubt it.
But the notes, in pursuance OF pre-
caution still in use in some banks, were
payable to the order Of one of the
clerks and had not been indorsed by
him. | could not, therefore, have used
them, or if so they could have been
traced back to me. ] found also that
the numbers had been carefully ascer-
tanned of all had taken with me, and
thus another chance of detection ex-
listed. What an escape!
Upon returning and entering the
coupting.room | handed the surplus
back to my senior, with feeling some-
what of pride, but mixed up with other
feelings not easily described.
My precaution of having the money
opened by the agent in my presence
was highly commended, and the prossi'
bility of his misappropriating the un-
due amount, as very little personal
knowledge of him was possessed by the
firm, was duly discussed. What was
said on this point brought bushes to
my own cheeks.
In course of time my senior account
ant was taken into the firm. l was
put in his position, and with his salary
l saved money. finally got into busi-
ness on my own account, and am now,
as you know, rich. I never forgot my
former host and his grandchild; but at
the death of the former l took charge
of the boy. He is now my partner
and the husband of my daughter.