Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1888-01-25

Office, telling them when action would be
taken on his claim. He remembered that
! was the person who originally introduced
him into the navy, and he thought letter
from me might obtain an answer where he
had failed.
II recalled, 40 well 40 I could, the cir.
cumstances in which no first came to me-,
and said, In . short lett or, what could
do to his advantage, In order that he might
use my recommendation, so far Rs it went,
in his application, and then went on with
my other letters. @
II had finished the whole correspond
ence, when !. something which do not
understand, and you do not understand,
made me take this letter to him out from
the pile / opened it, looked at his letter
again, and looked ut the letter which had
written to tho Pepsion Bureau. Clearly, /
had done all he asked me Tor, and l folded
both envelopes again and sealed them. l
went on with my other work. Still, was
haunted with the feeling that this thing
was left untinished. and ! opened both the
letters once more / read his letter again,
read my letter to the Pension Bureau, and
read the, note which I had written to him
This time, after reading his letter to me
and mine to him once and again, inclosed
in my envelope to him some money, withou,
saying why, for indeed 1, did not know.
THIS finally finished my correspondence,
as supposed; sealed the letter again,
and, finding that could do nothing in my
othcesput on my coat, took all the letters l
had been writing, passed from my private
room through the counting room, and left
the letters for the mail. r.,
"But was not permitted to leave the
door Of the Office. In obedience to the i'm.
pulse which I had now obeyed twice, I
went back to the mailing box, took out my
letter to him again, went back to nv
private office and read it once. more; read
his letter now for the third or fourth time,
and this time wrote new letter to my old
friend Colonel Sharp, who lived in the
town from which the officer had written to
me. asked Sharp to be good enough to
find him, to find what his condition was.
and that of his family, aud it he found
that they needed any help, to render it to
them at my expense, II it should be neces-
sary. I sealed and stamped this letter,
added it to my mail, and this time l was
permitted to leave my Office and go to my
home. N
I'VE had q nightly mail, at that time,
from Xeres to Abydos, which was the CITY
in which he was living, and, as learned
afterward, my letter to him arrived the
next morning. It will save trouble il l
give you name for him. We will call him
Needles, though that is not his name.
"Thirty-six hours after I had written, I
received his reply. have it now, and l
win show it to you at some time It was a
most modest and simple narrative Of the
steady decline of his fortunes, since the
accident which Ihave described. It seemed
he had wife aud four or five children, of
whom he spoke with pride and confidence,
But he had been educated as sailor, and
he knew no arts but those of q sailor; he
had no way Of earning living now that
he could not 60 to sea, and he had gone
through all the misery of sickness, On
forced idleness, Of his income becoming
less and less until it was nothing.
He and his wife had sold every article
OF property and dress which they could sell,
for the food and clothing OF their children.
They had been obliged to withdraw their
children from school, because they could
not present proper appearance there. It
was under such circumstances that, need
to me the modest letter which I had re-
ceived, asking for my assistance in hasten
ing the decision on it.
''On the night before his present writing
that Is, on the evening which im,nedi-
ately followed the afternoon of my writing
to him-he and his wife and children we're
covering around the little stove which
warmed their lodging. The fire in it was
maintained by Goals and cinders which the
children had picked up in the street. He
had not cent to pay for any article of
food, and he and the children were all
hungry. They reviewed the position as
well as they could, and it was then that his
wife said that she was sur, elat brighter
times must be before them For she still
believed that God did not mean that people
should perish who had not Intentionally Of
Tended Him, or fought against His law. She
knew that they had done their duty as we'll
as they knew how, and she believed that
God would carry them through. She had
no ground for this belief excepting her cer-
tainty that neither she nor her husband nor
her children had Intentionally done what
was wrong. With such comfort as they
could get from such expressions as hers,
they all went to bed, the earlier because
they had nothing to eat, and perhaps be-
cause the fire was not very satisfactory.
"For the same reason they slept, or
stayed in bed late in the morning. One is
not tempted to rise early when he has noth=
ing to do and nothing to eat. But they did
rise, though late, and were reminding tn
fire, think, when the postman stopped at
the .door'and brought in tho letter which l
had three times opened, and in which had
finally inclosed the money.
''Needles wrote to me that when the bill
fell to the ground from tho letter, as it did,
he felt. as he should have felt if it had
dropped from the hand of an angel He
had not asked me for money; he had not
asked anybody for money. He asked mo
for my influence in the Pension Bureau.
Without asking, the money had come. He
felt, and his wife felt, as If it had come in
answer to their prayer"
AS General Glover told ME this story, 1
was reminded of a phrase OF my friend Mr..
Nayior, who used to say. that there was no
condition in human life in which check
on New York would not answer most pur.
poses. 1t was clear enough Ahat the crisp
green back which.had been Enclosed in Gen,
eral Glover's letter had been quite as valu-
able workman in that starving family as
Aladdin's slave OF the ring would have
been. ~ r# 49,. 5.ss.3 - 49, s.Glssss 3
"A skillful child was at once dispatched
tn huv tina matarials for hraakfaat and