Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1885-10-08
ALetteran and Telegram.

L uOu hSNCA "ooNO VOsNSt S@'N
old Mr.. Brown, in hard, drying
voice, land / hain't good at letter-wri-
tin, but reckon this'n will cut ~
"It's q pity you writ it so hard, faith
err" sald his young daughter, trem'
bling "it'll hurt her to the heart
she didn't never mean to borry that
$500, and then cheat you out OF It."
''She didn't, ell =? Then why hain't
the money back in my pocket, safe and
sound | It's a year last Christmas
since she pestered me about it, and
hain't 81 en- hide nor hair ont yet il
that hain't clear case OF cheatin'
Fanny, III like to know what ye call
itn'
The girl stopped churning moment,
aud wiped a surreptious tear from her
eyelid before SHE answered
"Call it nothing, father, but had luck
when Sister Mary borryed that money
to lift the mortgage, she expected to
pay 1t back but you know as how
Brother John he was took with the
rheumatics, aud the overflow came, and
the crop was ruint and then she
couldn't pay ; that's all, and God
knows It's enough ~
'Twasn't my rault," snapped her
father, 6ercely, as he pounded on the
kitchen table to give vent to his anger.
sI never put it In the agreement to
low for overfows, and rheumatics. and
sich like, and I never would ha' lent
her the $500 IL it hadn't been for your
sniffin' aad pesserin'. And now ye
hear gal. not anuther dime o. my
.earnins shall they ever smell, and I'll
never forgive"
The girl sprang up from the churn,
crying, mo, father, don't say it
don't. don't say it, father /; you'll be
sorry some day when it's too late be.
sides you're % church member, you
know 10
"You're right bout that, "..said MIR.
Brown. perversely "I'm church
member, and don't owe nary q person
q red cent, and the Bible says, IAN eye
for an eye, and tooth for tooth, 'and
I'm going to have 1t P'
He pounded the table again with
his fists, after D fashion he had OF want
ing to pound something or somebody
when be felt particularly aggressive.
But the sound of his voice had scarcely
died away, when there came knock
at the door, and one Of those ominous,
yellow envelopes, marked with the i'm.
press of the Western Union Telegraph
Company, was handed in. Mr.. Brown
took it, and looked it over in helpless
kind of fashion before breaking the
seal. SHOW much to pay" he asked
the boy, and passed over to him the
change with trembling hand though
it was Characteristic of the man that
even then, with the knowledge that
the telegram must contain terrible
news, he was careful to count the
dimes as they dropped back into his
pocket. Oh, those cruel kilograms
Do the company ever remorsefully
count the breaking hearts that are left
In the wake or their messengers ? Mr..
Brown was hard man, and loved his
money-bags oyer well. but somewhere
beneath the rough outward crusts
there was an abiding affection for his
children that needed something like
the stirring of the soil around the Yio-
Iet-beds, to loosen the selfish bonds, and
give his love a human voice. And
when he read these words, "Mary died
this evening come at once" great,
sudden anguish filed his breast. and 81.
lently handing the dispatch to Fanny,
he walked from the kitchen and shut
himself up i'm his own room. whers
years before death had made suncEy
visits. He did not cry out or fall, or
make any sign that he was grief-strick-
en-, but he was hurt 10 the soul, and a
great remorse made him sick and faint.
He had meyer put it in the agreement
about sickness, overdows, and bad
crops, as he had just said neither had
he ''put it" that Mary, in her young
blooming matronhood days, should die
his first born ? How could he bear
itp and 1t was all the harder because
of the cruel words he had uttered while
she lay dead at home. Did he say he
| would never forgive her-did he really
really say that ? Fanny had tried to
stop him, and brought II to his mind
that he was s'church member" and a
Christian. AS IL father ought to be
merely Christian to his own child.
Why hadn't he given her the money Z
| Might have done 30 Ave times over and
never missed it. And the old man
groaned remorsefully. as with these
thoughts in his heart, his gaze waDder-
| ed over the great fields where the cot.
| ton would soon be sbimmering, fleecy
sea, bringing new treasures to biz
boarded gains. and making no hearts