St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-11-20


to find a sick boy in bed, but no Ton
was to be seen. The disordered con.
ditiOn of the room, rummaged bureau
drawers, and the absence of his best
clothes and valise revealed the fact OF
his flight. How crushed was that
mothers spirit as she retreated to the
dining-rOOm to make known to the
family the painful discovery that Tom,
the eldest son, the pride and hope OF
all, had run away.
The father traced him TO the great
city, but there lost track of him, al
though he spared no pains or expense
to recover his lost son. With heavy
burden and mourning heart, the moth
er went on with her domestic duties,
and the father continued in his daily
occupation. Weeks heightened out
into months, and no word came from
absent Tom, until they gave up all
hope of ever seeing him again. Mean
while another child was added to the
flock, and the poor mother had long
and dangerous illness. caused by her
anxiety and motherly love for the alb
sent first born. The fathers hairs
rapidly whitened and his shoulders
painfully stopped, although he could
assign no cane for it, yet if the truth
were known it was caused by the alb
sence of Tom.
Meanwhile how Jared it with Tom ?
Did he Tevel in exnltation and roll in
wealth as he expected from being a
"tough"9 Did he find the pleasure
and success he anticipated from imi-
tating the rohberies of the James
brothers After he reached New
York city by the ''owl train" he took
the prccautiOn to change his name and
clothes and appear in sailors cos
tune. He met disappointment at ev-
cry turn, was unable TO get job at
any honest employment, and the
"toughs" he fell in with were so vile
and blasphemOus that he turned from
them with loathing, and finally kept
from them entirely, and his little stock
of money was rapidly vanishing. Driv-
en- to desperation and too proud to re-
turn home and meet the tears of moth
er, the frOwns of father and the ieers of
John, he became errand boy in a small
grocery store in Brooklyn. His work
was of the most mental drudgery, and
often did he think longingly of the
good home and kind parents he had
loft built out over stagnant marsh
and threw his weary frame upon the
hard bed which had been assigned him,
he would childishly cry himself to
sleep, thinking of the snug, bright,
clean healthy chamber that was his
under his fathers roof.
Under the unremitting drudgery of
such life, the tyrannical rule of a
hard master, who spared not curses
and blows to suit his varying wbims,
and the malarious location of his lodr-
ing place, Toms health began to give
way, his ruddy cheeks grew pale, his
| elastic step became unsteady and his
buoyant spirit broke down. This was
pretty tough time surely, without
his gaining any fame or money i'm be-
ing IA ''tough" at all. He then began
to drink lager beer to stay his failing
strength, but to no purpose. After he
found himself really sick, with no one
to care for him and his employer ready
to turn him away, he resolved, like the
prodigal son, to leave the unsatisfying
husks of the swine, and to arise and go
to his fathers house, where there was
enough, not merely of bread to spare,
but love and kindness and good cheer.
One evening when the family was Mt
the suppcr-tablc the door opened and
i'll walked Tom ''the tough" The
poor, sick boy found himself speedily
forgiven, washed and put to bed with
IL burning fever within, but delicious
consciousness that he was safe at home.
Surely ''there is no place like home"
Symptoms of typhoid set in, and for
al IA nj l,n
lowered between life and the grave,
but the favorable crisis came and he
began to mend.
When he awoke from that doze dur
ing that pastoral visit he seemed sin
cerely repentant and feIvently prom
ised to remain by his parents and not
to leave home again without their cou-
sent. He bewailed his folly and blind
ness in running away to encounter
snch misery and bring such distress
upon the family and such needless
disgrace to his previous good name.
How he abhOrred all such fiashy, SEN
sational reading and wished it all at
the bottom of the sea, where it could
not lead other unsOphisticated BOYS
astray. He had also acquired a thirst
for liquor which would he very hard to
battle with successfully. and had let
the fangs Of vice get hold of him,
which would also he hard to subdue
unto final victory. Now with consti-
tuition broken SO that it will be long,
weary months before he can apply
himself to work or study, he has plen-
ty of time TO recount the fearful cost
and realize the ''way of transgressors
is hard.n
Boys, girls, beware of this bad read
ing which is flooding the land. Let it
alone. Total abstinence from it is the
only safe course, or the great risk is a
tainted imagination, false views of life,
discomfort, and then pursuing a gilt
tering phantom and radiant bubble to
final, lalnentable collapse and ruin.
Beware ! Rev. ii. Martin Kellogg, in
New York Observer.