Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1886-08-25


to be able to feel, like n man, tho
whole breadth and depth Of his distin-
guished friends misfortune and need.
Hc walked up and down the streets,
thinking, weeping, praying, invcnting,
hoping. Eight o'clock rang from the
city stecples. The mass-meeting
would assemble In an hour Maurice's
resolution was taken. He made his
way rapidly to Mr.. Scvcrance's house
and rang at the door. The servant
said that no person had been admitted
since he (Maurice) had gone out that
morning. But Maurice was not to be
baked. A little eloquent Irish per-
suasion, and pleading very important
errand, gained him an entrance. With
fluttcring heart, Maurice mounted the
winding stairs of the silent house.
Upon the second floor Inc met a lady's
maid who recognized him. From her
he learned that Mr.. Severance vas sit
ting entirely secluded In his own cham
Der, and that he had given the strict
est orders that no one should disturb
him.
Maurice passed on as II he had not
heard. The maid stared. The lad,
confident and resolutc, knocked at the
door of the chamber. No answer He
knocked twice. He was hidden to en-
ter by voice so hoarse and deep that
it seemed to issue from q tomb. Re-
Numbering the unhappy gentleman's
mood, and his orders to be left undis.
turbed, we naturally expect stern re-
buke for his abrupt visitor and sum-
mary dismissal. But it was not so.
Long in that shut and joyless room
sounded young voice in low and pas
sionate pleading. A noble and gifted
boy was plying all his powers to tender
appeal and cxhausting the rhetoric of
real affection to rouse and save
stricken man. That his simple elo-
quence had gained q hearing it is
scarcely necessary to say.
"An' what If the sthory is thrue-or
the worst of IL, rs We sayp Didn't We
suffer yer pinalty, an isn't it thrue that
you lived n good man for forty years,
an made livery body love We like q
feytherp o yer Honor, 60 down to
'em, beg, an face livery mothers son
OF 'em there that's turned agin We, an
that dares to spake light of We now!
Go down to the City Hall, where
they're barkin' like hounds an confiss
that when you was boy you thripped,
and then AK 'em to tell you II you've
ever thripped in their service! Ak 'em
if 1t bent sweeter to forget than to de-
sthroy! AK 'cm if they would pull We
down in the dust for q thrick you did
before their city had three houses in It!
Tell 'em that you want nothing from
their hands, but every thing from their
hearts--tcll 'em, yer Honor, that you're
CROWN oul1, and that love an RESPECT
is sweet to We, and AK if they would
take it from We now-hould the Bible
up in their faces an say to 'em how
the good Lord bids us to take the hand
of the penitent an to keep it like
brothers. o yer Honor, ye can ex-
plain every thing-yc can spake bet
ter n any body can make words for ye!
Go down to 'em an'-tcil them alt--and
they'll raise the roof wild their cheers.
They're aching ter see We, but If ye
hide away, like man of shame, they'll
take We at yer word! o yer Honor,
listen to one who'd give his life to help
yev'
By the timo he had finished, a great
change had overspread the grand face
of his patron. Bruce was encouraged
by the efforts Of a spider; Hawk-Eye
was deferred from taking vengeance
by the smile of an infant in its sleep;
Pompey's Pillar was saved from de-
struction by the utterance of ono word
Aqua" Washington's doubling gen.
erals saved the army because they
found him praying in the woods, and
it gave them courage to believe that he
depended upon God. The warm APP
peal from the supplemented boy re-
freshed the great spirit that was cast
upon the earth, and il arose again.
One Of the most impressive things in
the world is the silence of a great hui
man throng. Such a scene-such
silence-was witnessed in the city hall
Of D ~ a quarter past nine o'clock
that night. Every head was uncov-
cred Upon the high platform sat the
chairman Of the meeting and several
assistants. Beside him, at small
table. stood the tall, broad, dignified
figure of the man who at the hands of a
political rival had received the cruel
blow that SO nearly broke his heart.
He had come in, nerved by the earnest
words of Maurice O'Neil to shake off
the weakness of his first anguish, and
the multitude, held as under O spell
between their desire to welcome him
and their eager wonder as TO what he
could say to clear himself, waited al.
most breathless as he came forward on
the platform. His face was pale, but
there was a mingled pride and gentle
ness in his look that gave him even
more than characteristic dignity.
For a moment Mr.. Severance could
not command his voice, but when he
finally spoke his tones were strong and
steady.
"Mr. Chairman and fellow-citizens,
the charge that have been an inmate
of State prison for the crime of
forgery when young man of twenty
one, and the particulars that l have
seen in print in regard to the crime are
substantially true. No one knows how
I have suffered in mind for that error
of my youth, but years ago I found
pardon of God, and have tried so to
live for forty years as to receive the
pardon Of men,"
He came to q pause. There was
dead-an awful silence. II lasted fully
quarter of minute.
Then a powerful, hearty, Western
voice cried:
"Rayther guess you've wiped that
out with us, sir!'
That homely response broke the
spell. The multitude recovered from
their establishment, and in an instant
the pent-up feeling of all exploded In
an cxultant shout. The raw Hoosicr
had struck the keynote of their real
sentiment. Eager to forgive, quick to
understand, full of rough, strong
sense of justice, they hailed this quick
method of taking back to their hearts
their honored representative. with a
| Joy that knew no bounds. There was
no need of another word-of the