The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-01-16

white, came running to the little gate to meet
him.
''Well, BARNS, is the Judge at homer"
No but me is,n said a little lad about six
years old. go to the house, sir: Jim and !
will take vonr hnoov
He let them take it very gladly, and went to
the house. A pretty woman met him on the
piazza. She needed nc explanations. He was
a stranger wanting food and shelter, and che
gave them with a charming courtesy that al
once put the Deacon at ease.
Il am sorry my husband Is away" she said
with pardonaDle wifely pride, ''but he is a
member of the Legislature, and it is now I'D
session"
Then the children anne back, and the dea
con took to them wonderfully. Children were
q new form Of humanity to him; he knew
nothing about them. But there was an indie
pendence and good fellowship about the little
lad, as he told him all about his animals ano
his adventures, that quite delighted the old
man.
After a little they went to bed in the next
ROOM, and he heard them saying their prayers
to their mother. ''God bless grandpapa!"
How the words smote him. He grew so ner-
yous and restless that when the baby lisped out
the same petition he could no longer sit still.
He walked to the window, where there was q
table and a lamp and some newspapers. Then
he noticed a large bible, and he drew it toward
him. Almost unconsciously he turned to the
family register. alexander McNab, born il
Glasgow, March 30, 49," was the first name
he saw. He made no cutlery; he never moved
His eyes were riveted upon the words and upon
those that followed: "Mary Baylor, born in
Galveston, Janet McNab, David McNab, Mary
McNab, Peter McNab." On the opposite page
He had objected to her bearing her grandmoth-
er's name, and she was in heaven with her.
He opened the door softly and went out or
the piazza. God had led him to his sons
house, and he had eaten at his sons table and
had not known il. His emotions we're incom-
municable, even to the Heavenly Father. He
sat as still in his joy as he had often done in
his grief and opened not his mouth. because
he was SO sure that God had done it.
After a little Alexander's wife came and sat
down beside him, and he encouraged her to talk
of her husband and his prospects. she, al
least, believed IN him sublimeiy. He was the
best and greatest man in Texas-she had not q
doubt about 1t. Peter could have smiled, if he
had not been so full of thought. Finally he
asked her if her husband was born III Texas.
"Oh, no!' she answered, frankly, she was
born in Glasgow, a town in Scotland. | sup
pose you know the city, for you talk like q
Scotchman."
81 haze many friends and business connec-
tons there, ma'am."
She hesitated a few moments and then asked:
'Did you ever know or hear tell of Mr.. Peter
McNab? He is a lawyer"
Il may say / ken him vera weel. I dinna
think much o. him either, ma'am. He's hard
auld man.
"He is my husbands father, SO you must
not say SO here. His son thinks very highly OF
him, and perhaps you may be mistaken. LIZ
business men, even kind men, are often obliged
to be hard" Then she turned the converse.
ton, and the deacon was glad of it
He did not sleep much, and the next morn
ing was on the road to Austin at daybreak He
reached there in the afternoon, and wenttc
Smiths Hotel A few words of inquiry salts
fed him.
The Judge was staying there-he would be
in from the Capitol about 5 o'clock. If the
gentleman had any private business there was
no use going there. The Judge was Chairman
of the committee, and not apt to be on the
floor in the daytime.
But Peter could not sit still. He refreshed
h-mself, and then turned his face to the great
white building standing so loftily at the head
of the beautiful avenue. He soon entered its
halls and gaZed upon such a body of lawmak-
ers as he had never dreamed of seeing, and be
was wonderfully impressed both by the men
and the methods. But he did not find his son,
and after an hours stay he determined to &c
back to the hotel and wait there for him.
As he entered it the landlord said:
'0The judge is in his room, stranger; second
door on your right hand"
He walked straight to it and openedit Alex
ander, who was asleep Upon q sofa, turned his
head, gazed one moment, and then leaped to
his feet.
Gather! My dear, dear fatherin
SAY, ay, my lad, I'm here. A bcnnie-like
journey thou hast brought me, an auld man
like me, too. O, Alexanderi"
And then the old parable which had sent the
father to seek his son was renewed in all its
sweetness and tenderness, and that night the
deacon went up to the Capitol leaning on his
sons arm, and he was proud and happy be-
yond expression
"You made a vera fair speech, Alexander
he said as they returned home. It would haze
been better if there had been fewer steps he
tween your premise and your peroration, but
you'll do in time and Wi mair practice. ]
dinna much wonder your wife sets such store
'eMy wife! Have you seen Nary"
SAY, / stayed at your house last night
She's no as bonnie as some women, but she's
loving and ladylike, and what's mair, she's .
prudent body, and can bath speak and hold
her tongue. Sc she's no an ordinar woman
at a.. And the BARNS are just the MOST inter-
esting BARNS / ever saw. Bath o. the lads ere
a bit like me-, and / would ma wonderi If III haze
a. the comfort out o. little Davie | should haze
had out O his father.
Then Alexander smiled and pressed his IA
theirs arm closer to his side, Tor little Davie
had tanght him some lessons he would have
learned In no other way.
In three months the deacon was back again
on the Glasgow pavements, as brisk and ac-
tive AMI as full Of life and business as he had
been ten years before. He went into his af-
fairs with an exactness and promptitude that
rather astonished the men in whose charge
they had beenleft,
ssYou are very strict about a bawbee, Dea-
CON- said one of them.
'sJust sac, Mr.. Intyre; but my son, Judge
McNab, is coming home to take the business,
and he's no man to put up wi a baubee warng
/ can tell you that.
He had always been very reticent about his
sons long absence. There were none of his
friends that felt at liberty to ask any questions
or to make any remarks to him about his re-
turn except Bailie Scott, who was, perhaps just
q little nettled at Peters air of satisfaction.
sSca you hea found your prodigal at last,
Deacon he ventured to say one afternoon, as
they met in front of the court house.
mae vera hard matter that, Baltic Scott
When a man is a Judge o. a District Court and
a nnarnbor ~ fha II aOisfaf1r and haa p,arriad