The Red Cloud chief., 1888-01-27

from me might obtain an answer where he
had failed.
Il recalled. a. well as I could, the cir
cuNstanceS IN which he first came to NE,
shd said, In q short letter, what I could
10 70 ms advantage. in order tina: he nigh,
cso my recommendation, so far as It went,
Ii MS application, and then l went on with
Liy other let,ers.
Il had finished the whole correspond
ence, when something which I do not
understand, and you do not understand,
Naoe me take this letter to him out from
Tie pile. lopened it, looked at his letter
again, and looked at the letter which I had
written TO the Pension Bureau. Clearly, l
hsd do1e all he asked me for, and | folded
1otn envelopes again and sealed them. l
vent On with my other work. Still, I was
Laun.es with the feeling that this thing
was lett unfinished. n 1 opened both the
letters once more. read his letter again,
1 read my letter to the Pension Bureau, and
1 read the note which l had written to him.
ms time, after reading his letter to me
anu NINE 10 him once and again, l inciosed
III my envelope 10 him some money. without
saying why, for indeed l did not know.
Inns iinal!y finished my correspondence.
as L supposed; ! sealed the letter again.
and. fadInS That | could do nothing in nv
once. put on my coat, took all the letters /
mao been writing, passed from my private
room through the counting room, and left
the letters for the mail.
"But l was not permitted to leave the
door OF the Office. In obedience 10 the I'M
pulse which l had now obeyed twice, /
Went bach to the mailing box, took out my
iet'er TO him again, went back to my
private Office ard read it once more: read
MS letter now for the third or fourth time,
and this time wrote a new letter to my old
friend Colonel Sharp. who lived in the
town from which the officer had written to
me- l asked Sharp to be good enough to
md him, TO find what his condition was.
and that OF his family. and if he found
mat they needed any help, to render il 10
them at my expense, if it should be neces-
sary. l sealed and stamped this letter.
added 1t to my mail. and this time l was
permitted to leave my office and 60 10 nv
home.
had a nightly mail. at that time.
from Heres to AhydOs, which was the citv
IN which he was living, and, as l learned
afterward, my letter TO him arrived the
next morning. II Will save trouble if
give you a name for him. We will call him
Needles, though that is not his name.
"Th.riy-siX hours after l had written, !
received his reply. l have it now, and i
Will show 1t TO You at some time. 1t was a
most modest and simple narrative OF the
steady decline of his fortunes. since the
accident which Ih2vedescribed. 1. seemed
be had a wife and four or five children. of
whom he spoke with pride and confidence.
Bat he had been educated as a sailor. and
he knew no arts bat those OF a sailor: he
had no way OF earning a living now that
he could not GO to sea, and he had gone
through all the misery of sickness. en-
forced idleness. Of his income becoming
less and less until it was nothing.
He n his wife had. sod everv article
Of properly and dress which they could sell.
for the food and clothing of their children. |
They had been obliged to withdraw their |
from school, because they could
not present a proper appearance there. II
wa under such circumstances that. need |
ing h.: pension, Of course. he had written |
TO me the modest letter which l had re-
ceived. asking for my assistance in hasten
the decision To- it.
ION the nigh: before his present writing
that is, on the eveu;cg which imrnedi-
ately followed the afternoon of my writing
20 him-he and mis- wife ano children were
towering aroun the little stove which
their lodging. The h-e in it was
maintained by Goals and cinders which the
children had picked up in the street. He
mad not = cent to pay for any article OF
food. and he and the children were all
They reviewed the position as
we'll as they could, and il was then thai his
wife said that she was sure that brighter
imcs must be before them. Tor she still,
that God did not mean that people
should perish who had not Intentionally Of
'ended Him. or Tough: against His law. She
Knew that they had done their duty as We'll
Is they knew how, aud she believed that
jod would carry them through. She had
10 ground for this belief excepting her cor
that neither b nor her husband nor
Ter children had intentionally done what
vas wrong. With such comfort as they
'ould get from such expressions as hers,
hev all went te bed. the earlier because
hey mad nothing 10 eat, and perhaps be-
,ause the fire was not very satisfactory.
.'For the same reason they slept. or
tayed in bed late in the morning. One is
lot tempted to rise early when he has moth
ng TO do and nothing TO eat. But they did
Use, though late, and were reminding tn
i tilNn. "lcI III piSt III SlpEDtu dl |
door and brought in tho letter which /
ad three times opened, aud in which l had
inallv inciosed the money.
Needles wrote 10 me that when the bill
ell To the ground from the letter. AS 1t did.
Ie fel; as he should have felt if it had
.ropped from the hand Of an angel. He
ad not asked me for money: he had no,
sked anybody for money. He asked me
or my influence in the Pension Bureau.
Without asking, the money had come. He
ell, and his wife felt, as If it had cone in
nswer 10 their prayer"
AS General Glover told me this story. !
ras reminded OF a phrase Of my friend Mr..
taylor, who used TO say that there was no
in numan life in which q check
n New York would not answer most pUr
oses. 1t was clear enouS h that the crisp
reenbaclz which had been inc!osed in Gen
raj Glover's letter had been quite rs valu-
bic "A workman in that starving family as
.laddin's slave OF b ring would have
cen.
A skillful child was at once dispatched
, buy the materials for breakfast, and I
new were well engaged in the first meal
hitch they had eaten for several days,
hen another party appeared upon the
age. This time 1t was not the postman:
was Colonel Sharp, to whom General
ln-o~sc fn,rfh letter hod haop v~rittop l..