Weekly commercial herald., 1885-07-10
CHAPTER XVII.
THE SWEETS OF LIBERTY.

20 Liberty! thou goddess heavenly
bright! ProfuSe of bliss and pregnant with
delight" Every bard has sung the joys ol
Liberty; every writer has said his say upon
her glories Patriots have died for her, and
statesmen-modarn ones especially
made her convenient stalking horse. The
subject being such stock one, and apt
quotations so plentiful, there is no need tc
dilate upon the frame of mind in which Mrs
Miller's acquaintance, Mr.. Maurice Hervey
late No 1850, found himself, when Portland
prison at length discontinued its ungrudgine
and machine-lko hospitality and restored
him to the outer world, free man save fol
the formality Of once mcnth reporting him
self to the police, and that general suspicious
surveillance which is SO irksone to the
lsually modest and retiring nature Of
ticket-of-leave man.
The ''goddess heavenly bright" showed her
face, the first time for some years, 10 Mau.
rico Hervey on the very day when Miss
Clauscn and Sylvanus Mordle went to Black.
town
Mrs. Miller, who had manifested SO keer
an interest in the feloa's enlargement, re-
manned in complete ignorance of the happy
event. This vns due to no omission on hel
part. She had written twice to the governor
Of Portland, begging that the date of the
convict's release might be made known tc
her. The letters were dated not from Oak.
bury, but from some place in London. The
first letter was duly acknowledged, and the
information vouchsafed that the date could
not be exactly fixed. To TIE second letter
she received no reply. The reason for such
apparent discourtasy was this:
The day Of tho mans emancipation was
drawing very near, SO he was told that his
friend had written, and be was asked if he
wished to be sent to LGAdon to meet her.
He cast down his eyes and in respectful
way stated that be was sorry to say that he
attributed his present shameful position to
certain evil counsel which the writer had
given him, and which he had followed. He
did wish to be sent to London, but would
rather avoid this woman than seek her
After this avowal Mrs Millers letter re-
manned unanswered.
He was On educated villain, who had been
sentenced to five years penal servituds for
uttering forged bills. Like most such men,
who are sent into seclusion for tho good Of
the community, Maurice Hervey was able &c
realize, without such severe treatment as
was needed to convince the Apostle Paul,
that kicking against pricks is foolishness.
Hc had been ordered TO pay certain debt.
Llisbehavior meant that the debt would be
exacted to the uttermost farthing; whereas
good conduct would in time tighten the obli-
gation and induce bis creditor to accept q
handsome composition. So he did to the
best of his ability such work as was al
lotted to him He was too clever to attempt
the elbow-wcvn trick of interesting the
chaplain by d pretended conversion. He
sagely reflected that chaplains must by thi:
time kave grown wide awake. But he wore
a contented, inofTensive look, spoke civilly *
his jailers, complained Of nothing, and gave
no trouble. It was only in the seclusion Of
his circumscribed cell of corrugated iror
that No 1880 scowled, grated his teeth anC
cienchsd his hands, It was only there tina
while his heart craved for personal freedom
his lips noiselessly framed bitter curses an,
vows Of vengeance,
20 u II that If upon his return to freedom
Alr. Hergey had given his experiences Q
penal servitude to tbs daily papers, bis dt
scriptioh OF the punishment Of bread an
water diet, dark cells. and that huniliatin
exercise with the crank known as "erint