The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-03-17

! 'QOnC lalk ike ClaC, GelCn!
''He sat on the box-seat along o. me" "
said George. "He'd come out here to
look arter the San Jaguelo mine. So he
told me. He'd powerful gift of the
CAB, and many questions to ask, for he
hadn't never been this away before. 1t
seemed he'd son come out here spell
ago, and they bought claim together.
| And the son he got married oil of sud-
den-like, and then he up and died.
"And SO this old sinner, mind you,
Mrs. Chebburn, he mistrusts that the
sons wife don't understand business; so
he has come on to pocket the whole con-
Germ, profits and all--for the San Jaguelo
mine, don't ye know, is trebled and
quadrupled in value since they first be-
gan to work it.
":Ain't i, you goin' shares with the
woman2' says I.
" sAin't the papers all in my name7'
says he, with leer. I've al'ays heerd,
says he, that you Western people was
sharp on business
"Not that kind O. business says I.
4 sw'ar,' says I, 'ef I hain't the biggest
mind ever had in my life to pitch you
off the box into the bed of the creek be-
lown
s'And, sure as you live, it wasn't fifteen
minutes afore the lurch came, and over
we all went together Most like jedg-
ment, now amt it? And I declare I'm
most sorry he wasn't killed outright"
Mrs. Chebburn was busy spreading q
luscious cream meringue over the top of
pineapple pudding ng-for the desserts
served by the lady of the Redwood
house have acquired quite local celeb
rity-but she looked quickly up.
''Didn't say what his name was, did
ye?" said she.
sNo," said Geith; "because I don't
know myself. Grasp, I should reckon
or Gripe, or Grind. or some such thing"
And he chuckled at the clumsy joke as
he made haste to obey the summons to
supper.
It was late in the night before the
stage was righted and relay of horses
supplied, so that the tide of travel could
once more flow onward: and the clock
struck twelve when Mrs. Chebburn
went up stairs with the candle in her
hand
"Who's that talkin'?" she asked, as she
stopped on the threshold of the i'm
promptu hospital ward.
ssIt's the sick man," said Alice. "The
doctor said he would be more or less de-
lirious for day or two. Do you know,
cousin Chebburn, he keeps talking all the
time about 'Joshuar And look at the
color of his eyes, and the way his hair
grows down on his forehead"
eyes" said Mrs. Chebburn. glancing
keenly from the restless head that rolled
to and fro on the pillow to the pale,
startled face above it.
81 know who it is" cried Alice,
wringing her hands-''it's Joshua's
father!'
"Hush!" said Mrs. Chebborn. "Tkind
O. suspicioned it was. Now, don't cry!
A sick room amt no place to get excited
in. Keep cool-keep calm, and jest let
Providence work out its own salvation"
Near-y two weeks elapsed before old
Sewell Main recovered-two weeks OF
pain and suffering; two weeks during
which he looked grim death full in the
face.
''Who are you?" he sharply asked,
when first he became conscious that gen.
tie hand was ministering to him day by
day:
answered.
Hclosed his weary eyes, and asked no
more. But he thought of many things.
sTshould have died if it hadn't been for
YOU, shouldn't II" was his next abrupt
question. But how does it happen?
Joshua's widow here, taking care of mel"
"Hush!" soothed Alice. "Don't try
to talk now. Don't even try to think"
But he put out his skeleton hand to
find hers.
ssForgive mel" said he, in choked
voice. "Only say that you forgive me-"
''For what?" she asked, in amazement.
"For all that was in my heart" said
he. "For all that I might have done, if
God had not stayed my sinful hand!
Alice-they called you Alice, didn't
they?"
eyes"
ssYou have been like an angel to me.
Henceforward, nothing shall ever part
US. Will you 60 back to the East with
me, Alice9"
And Alice went, only too happy that
Joshua's father had learned to love her.
She never knew aught of the darker
side of his character. Stage-driver
Geith never came that way nowadays,
and Mrs. Chebburn was one of the few
women who can keep their own counsel.
"He's good to the child now," said
she. "They're as happy together as if
they were own father and daughter. Why
should interfere2"
And so the San Jaguelo mine made lit
tie Alice rich in her Eastern home, and
old Sewell Main treasured her as if she
were rare tropical flower. While every
year there came some loving token of re-
membrance across the Sierras to Mrs.
Chebburn, who still presided over the
Redwood Houses and kept the peace,
with ever-increasing difficulty, between
Aunty Felicia and the two sons OF the
sun.
''The child doesn't forget me-" said
Mrs Chebburn, with smile and tear.
Helen Forrest Graves-
Fuel of the Future.
The house of the near future, the Bos-
ton Journal of Commerce thinks, will have