The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-01-21

had failed.
81 recalled, as well as l could, the cir.
cuI1stances in which nc first came to ME,
ana | said, in a short letter, what l could
do to his advantage, in order that he might
use my recommendation, so far as 1t went,
in his application, and then l went on with
my other letters.
81 had finished the whole correspond
ence when something which I 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 at the letter which l had
written TO the Pension Bureau. Clearly, l
had done all he asked me for, and folded
both envelopes again and sealed them.
went on with my other work. Still, was
haunted with the feeling that this thing
was left unfinished and | opened both the
letters once more. read his letter again,
| read my letter to the Pension Bureau, and
| read the note which had written to him.
This time, after reading his letter to me
and mine 10 him once and again, inclosed
in my envelope to him some money, without
saying why, for indeed l did not know.
This finally finished my correspondence
as / supposed l sealed the letter again,
and, finding that could do nothing in my
Office, put on my coat, took all the letters
had been writing, passed from my private
room through the counting room, and left
the letters for the mail.
"But was not permitted to leave the
door Of the office. In obedience to the i'm
pulse which | had now obeyed twice,
went back to the mailing box, took out my
letter to him again, went back to my
private Office and read it once more; read
his 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. asked Sharp to be good enough to
find him, to find what his condition was.
and that of his family, and if he found
that they needed any help, to render it to
them at my expense, if it should be neces-
sary. l sealed and stamped this letter.
added it to my mail, and this time / was
permitted to leave my office and go TO my
home
1--WE had a nightly mail, at that time,
from Heres to Abydos, which was the city
in which he was living and, as l learned
afterward, my letter to him arrived the
next morning. 1t will save trouble if l
give you name for him. We will call him
''Thirly-six hours after l had written,
received his reply. have it now, and
will show it to you at some time. 1t was a
most modest and simple narrative of the
steady decline of his fortunes, since the
accident which Ihave described. 1t seemed
he had wife and four or five children, of
whom he spoke with pride and confidence.
But he had been educated as sailor, and
ha In mr. arta ht,t pf l.
had no way of earning 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 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 a proper appearance there. 1t
was under such circumstances that, need
ing his pension, of course he had written
to me the modest letter which l 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 immedi-
atcly followed the afternoon OF my writing
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 sure that brighter
bp hn utiII
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 well
as they knew how, and she believed that
God would carry them through. She had
no ground for this belief excepting her GER
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 te bed, the earlier because
they had moi hing 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 moth
ing to do and nothing to eat. But they did
rise, though late, and were reminding tn
the door and brought in the letter which
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 the letter, as 1t 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 me
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, l
was reminded of a phrase of my friend Mr..
Naylor, 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 that the crisp
greenback which had been inclosed 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.
A skilful child was at once dispatched
to buy the materials for breakfast, and
they were well engaged in the first meal
which they had eaten for several days,
when another party appeared upon the
stage. This time 1t was not the postmau
1t was Colonel Sharp, to whom General
Glover's fourth letter had been written.
] wish | could give the reader an idea of
General Glover's description of Colonel
Sharp's methods. He sat, cheering all
parties by his lively talk-I wish l were
toIly inn and yhn In