Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1884-11-01
elpthinR.,

elpthing.'
" felt the rebuke.
"Well,' said / there Is Deacon Rich
l mink be paid me Q note twice. Thu
hrst time he paid 1t we were transacting
other business, and by some mistake the
note wasn't DESTROYED. found 1t among
my papers afterwards. Twas q good des
excited, and lay awake more than one
night, thinking what / ought TO do about
It. The deacon was hard man, I con
sidered, and took advantage OF people
when he could he had driven more than
one hard bargain with me-
The Deacon, who was present. and
heard these illusions to himself, WINGED,
and coughed uneasily. Captain Bali
went on, however, without appearing to
mind him.
So said to the minister, Il con-
cluded would serve the Deacon as he
would probably have served me under the
circumstances. kept the note by me q
good while. and when thought the par
ticu,ars OF our settlement had shipped bis
mind, ! said TO him one day, maybe he
would like to take up that note which had
been due then considerable time. He
was unprecedented excited and angry
said he had paid Land held out stoutly
for while; but there was the note. There
was no proof that 1t had ever been paid,
and fnall, he took out his pocket book
and, with some pretty hard words, paid 1t
over again, with Interest,"
nd now said the minister, what
are you going to do about itp
i suppose, said l., the money must
be paid back
30 ] went to the Deacon the next day,
and told him that, on reflection, l was
convinced that he was right and / was
wrong about the first payment of the note
And returned the m0ney-one hundred
ana thirteen dollars-a good deal to his
establishment.
The Deacon coughed and wiped bis
forehead.
Hoped then all WAS right continued
Captain Ball. tried to satisfy my con.
science that it was. But was afraid to
go back to the minister, he has such a
way OF stirring up the conscience, and
finding mud at the bottom, when we fat
ter ourselves that because 1t Is out of
sight, there Is no impurity there. And
knew that as long as dreaded 70 sec the
minister, something must BIZ wrong and
on looking carefully into my heart, I found
the little matter OF q mortgage which
had foreclOsed on q poor man, and got
away his farm, when be had NO suspicion
but would give him time to redeem It.
By that means Ihad got into my posses
sion property worth two thousand dollars,
Tor which did not actually pay, and for
which Isaac Dorr never actually realized
more than half that amount But the
proceeding was entirely legal, and so l
! tried to excuse myself. But my awaken
Ing conscience kept saying You have
taken . poor mans land without giving
him Just return the law of God con-
dennis you, although the law of man
sanctions the wrong. You shall have no
peace OF soul-your heart will burn you
until with justice you wipe out your own
injustice " him and to all others whom
you have wronged.
Against the decree of my conscience
l rebelled long time. TWAS hard for
me to raise thousand dollars, together
with the interest due from the time the
mortgage was foreclosed and it was like
taking portion OF my lie to be obliged
to subtract so much money from my
gains, and give it to man who had nc
legal claim upon me. groaned and
mourned over 1t in secret, and tried tc
pray-but that mortgage csme right w
tetween my prayer and God, and HEAVIER
looked dark aud frowEing through it.
At last could not resist the appeals O.
conscience any longer, and went agair
to the minister. told him my trouble
and asked him what should do.
There Is simple test, said he. ID,
you love your neighbor as YOURSELF l
you do you will be just to him, If it take
from you the last dollar you have In TIT
world
( That was terrible sentence. l wen
out staggering from It Is If had received
blow. 20 Godr said, how can I b,
Christian 2 But / had help beyond
myself, otherwise l could never have end
ed that struggle. knelt before God,
aid solemnly vowed for his sake, for the
sake ofhis pardon and love, l would moi
only do Justly to the poor man l had
, wronged, but would give up, II need be,
all I had In the world, SO that might
find peace in him. A strange, soothing
influence came over my soul, and voice
seemed to say, though you lose all you
have, God and Christ, aud the blessings
of heart pure and at peace, shall be left
yeu-the best and only true source OF
happiness and life And in the solemn
night time, after gave up the struggle,
that comfort seemed to me so great and
precious that felt willing, II it would
only stay with me, to accept poverty, and
to go into the world poor and despised
hugging that priceless blessing In my
heart. The rext day l was as light as II
had wings. Nothing could keep me
from going to see Isaac Dorr, with cou-
pie of hundred dollars in my pocket, and
a note for the remainder of what owed
him.
Well, said the narrator, with tears
running down his cheeks, :" only wish
he could have seen the Dorr family when
i visited them, and made known my err
rand. Poor Isaac had grown discourage
ed, and had just made up his mind to
quit his wife and children, and go to
California His children were crying,
aud his wife was in an extremity of dis
tress and despair. She received me
geeat deal better than l anticipated /; l
had acted according to law, she said, and
Isaac, careless and improv.dent,w was great
Nv to blame.
- Yes said Isaac, with the firmuess
of desperate man, 1T was savage game
you played me butt was a fool ever to
get into deLt as did, and then fancy
that any man would not take an advan-
tige when the law permits it. am
ruined in consequence (; and here you see
this woman and these babies
&" The poor fellow broke down as he
looked at them, and cried like child.
90 Isaac, said l, rs soon as could
speak, have come to show you that q
man can be honest even when the law
doesn't compel him to be. want to do
right because God commands it, and
have come to tell you that you needn't
leave your wife and babies yet, unless you
prefer to-
"'Prefer togo Off into strange coun-
try, and leave them here to suffera,' he
cried and caught the children In his