The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-04-04

The consequent anxiety eventualIv ZEN
| dered them both i'll. Destitute and siek.,
there was no refuge for them excent the
public hospital. Here they were denigdi
the poor comfort of being together. With,
this last humiliation and grief, hone and
| faith in God seemed utterly crushed omit
| of their hearts. The man was The IrS,re
| despairing of the two, and after some time
had elapsed he made a solemn resolution to
end his own life, as soon as no could be-
| come possessed of any means to accom-
plish the deed. When he was so weak as
scarcely to be able to write, he feebly,
! traced these lines of farewell:
| Ny Poor SUFFERING WIFE when vo,, road
| these words | shall be beyond the reach of
| earthly pain and sorrow, but do moi take
| my life in my own hand with the cowardly
| idea of escaping from misery, and leaving
| you to bear it alone. | have delberately
| come to the cOncluSiOn'that fate is arainst
! me, that can never make your life ANYTHING
! but continual trial of privation and anxiety.
and so the best course is to die for Won. In
| the old happy days / have often told Won that
| | would die for You. | said it unthnkinqly
| then, but | mean it now.
1 could have borne your death-there is
| peace in sorrow for the dead-but TO live on
! perhaps for years, to be always standing in
| your light, to be a dead weight dragging YOU
| down to deeper depths of misery, this could
| not endure. You are still young and beauti-
| full, o, my darling, il were to see you again,
| | should not have the strength to 90 away
| and leave you! Life may be bright for YOU
yet; so far it has only been horror of desc,
lGtion, and hoped to make you so happy
want You TO see all the beauties of the world
| intended to render your existence dream
OF poetry music and romance; and | could
do nothing except to love you, and that
have done, God only knows how madly.
Forgive me, my darling, for the sorrow
| cause you now. If others think me cowarly
and selfish, YOU viii understand If there is
! loving Ruler of the universe as | haveOe-
licVed in happier days. He, too, viii unCfr-
| stand that He had laid upon me heavier
burdens than could bear, and may He tses
| forgive. -
Tomorrow is Faster Day. We ne7crlEeS6'
| so poor before that | could not brinsI you
! flowers, and little presents: to-day | anfpow-
erless to give you the slightest pleasure. [
| know that the very thought Of me is only
! an agony.
! am writing too much, but in closing this
letter feel that am saying my last words
to YOu-Again, forgive me-and may tho
peace and comfort that | was powerless to
give, bless your future life.
YOUR LOVING HUSBAND.
While this desparing letter was writing,
Gertrude was INDUCING in gloomy reyery.
| saying sadly to herself "There are 10
more festival days for u.s." Then she sang
softly to herself two verses of a song that
she had not recalled for years before:
'It was the eve of Easter day,
Her heart within was sad.
They have taken my Lord away she said,
And how should l be glad?
I see the thorns, the cross. the grave,
! The dead hands wounded sore;
But the risen form of the Cructfed
Is lost foreyermOre.'
The light of Easter dawned ON the city,
over spires in which bells were Ginning
gladly, over happy homes, over prisons
| and hospitals. The desoiation of the dav
| i'm the oraat hOSnitol yya- briuhfapa5 l1r
service of song, conducted by some visitors
who were anxious that the sick should
participate in the Easter rejoicing. One
of the singers fingered after the service
and passed from cot to cot talking to the
patients. Gertrude felt that mysterious
attraction toward her that sometimes
draws us to strangers. Her PRAYER book
was lying on the pillow, and the lady
picked it up, when a relic of better days in
the form of a visiting card fell to the floor
and she involuntarily read the name:
'Mrs. Frederick Vernon, New York"
Her face flushed with pleasure as she
eagerly inquired, "Do you know Mrs. Yer.
nom"
That is myname," Gertrude answered.
And did you live in New York, and did
you get the Governor of Michigan to par
don a prisoner some years ago?"
81 think did," Gertrude answered, in
| bewilderment, though | don't understand
| how you know anything about it,"
why, | am Mrs. Eaton, Jim Eaton's
wife, and | have written and written I'd
you, and tried to find you, and now | am sd
| glad; but don't understand how you cong
to be in such a place as this. And wit5@v
is your husbaud?"
at is a long story Of misfortune and sor-
row." Gertrude answered. We were
without q dollar in the world when we
We're both taken sick and brought here
! but they could not let US be together"
- am 50 glad / have found you'll And
almost glad that you are in trouble, that
may have the chance of Offering comfort
/ We have blessed you every day for your
| one great deed Of Kindness"
/ A few hours later Mr.. and Mrs. Vernon
| were installed as honOred guests in the
| home of the cations. The strangers whom
| they had once beiriended could now repay
the obligation ten-fold. Easter was fGs-
! tival day after all. The turn in the long
! lane had come at last.
! With beautiful surroundings and two de.
4 voted nurses Mr. and Mrs. Vernon would
| have been very ungrateful not to recover.
| During these days of convalescence, ac-
counts of mutual experience were ex-
| changed till all was told. Prison life had
| proved blessing in disguise. In his soil
tary hours the convict had invented
| piece of machinery that had already en-
1 AcitSNN iAAAil' anu W do iON uSdu VI
large manufactury, employing hum
| dreds Of wOrkmen. To share all
their good fortune with their bene-
| factors of long ago afforded these
| grateful people the most intense delight.
| A few months later the two women in
! stftuted the Charity already described. So,
| through their affection came comfort for
hundreds of the poor, the SICK the sorrow
| full. They were neither Of them willing to
restrict their ministrations to any one class,
| but they said: 80 far as we can we will
help those in need"
AS Easter had brought them great bless
| lngs they observe the time as a kind Of
memorial, making special efforts to bestow'
| happiness on all their benficiaries. Last
| year on Easter evening when Gertrude and
| her husband were reviewing the past she
| said:
II am quite content, dear, to have had
my life just what il has been, for it is only
| by passing through great trials that we
can understand the needs and wants of
| others, and be patient with all their fail
| ings. l was much touched by an idea in
| the sermon to-day, something like this;
In the account of the Great Day, when the
| multitude of the redeemed stand before the
| Judge of all the earth, only one throng II
| specified: These are they which came out
of great tribulation.' ''-FTdaciS H. CORal.t
| IN chicago 1dGdRce.
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