The Press., 1889-02-21
A GUARDIAN ANGEL.

It Is said that every new born cblld has guardian angel appointed expressly to attend 1t during all it's earthly life, and to do whatever such angelic ministry can ac the white-winged company in the great never visible to our eyes, and their pres ence doha not kindle in our hearts very warm glow of!.love for their timely help, even iu the hour of our greatest need l But we have seen some ministering spirits, wearing the flesh and blood of the race, in whom the angel was not all concealed; and it has occurred to us that it might be a pleasant introduction to present one of thes c to our readers.
 David. w illiams was Welsh mechanic, many years in this country, great respect CT of folklore and homely superstitions, a little easy going in his industrial habits, and altogether too fond of what is known in the internal revenue law as distilled spirits.' His wife Jane, whose father was countryman of her husband, inherited 1 from. her Scotch mother stern and un- compromising intolerance of anything ap- preaching to shiftlessness, and sharp way of using her tongue that was apt to leave a little sting in her speech. David had his dreams and his omens, and would stay away from his work whole hours in the morning, when warned by either of these that the day was not suited to in. dustry. The interval was not passed, however, at home, but in the neigtlboring saloon, where much of his hard earnings were worse than wasted over the too famA
 jar bar.
 If Jane had been tender and whining she might have done more than she did,
 perhaps, to correct this vice in her hus-
 band, but her stinging rebuke al d angry prodding, only made the matter wors-.
 David was n rare workman, and before he
 indulged so freely had come to be forem; n
 in one room of the shop where lie was em-
 ployed but this evil habit made it only a
 question of time when he would lose that . promotion. One night he had seen in his
 slumbers snake and goose together,
 and the union was too foreboding for his
 philosophy so the next morning he went
 to the saloon instead of the shop. His
 wife suspected this, and, with her usual
 resolution, she put on her bonnet and
 shawl and followed to the liquor sellers in search of him. When she found him, glass in hand and not little inebriated
 she beratsd both him and the saloon
 keeper sorely. To escape her bitter speech
 poor David fled to the shop. He was in
 no condition to work, and as soon as he
 made his i'll advised appearance his doom
 was sealed. The senior of Piper x Co.,
 had seen him staggering in, and, calling
 him to the counting house, told him in
 plain terms that man who had no contro
 over himself was not fit to control others
 and he was therefore discharged on the
 spot.
 The wife secretly blamed herself some
 what for this result of her morning raid or
 the saloon, and succeeded in having hel
 husband accepted as common workman,
 but under new fore man. David's spirit
 chafed at. this, and his visits to the. saloon
 were more and more frequent. The wife
 would try to control his earnings, but
 when he had no money he would get the
 liquor on trust, and altogether his affairs
 were growing worse and wore. Just here we will introduce to our readers sweet
 thoughtful face,. very pale, but with 2 winsome look about the mouth, and in the
 dark blue eyes, as we saw it framed in the
 window of that cottage home. She was
 the only child of the house-called Jamie
 after her mother-and had then slight
 thin form for girl of II years.
 What she had done or essayed to do te
 stay her fathers downward course up tc
 this time we cannot say, for we never knew
 her before this sad hour, when her'mothel
 Try dead after only few hours illness
 and she was at the window watching fol { his returning footsteps. He was not him.
 self when he came in, but she led him uI
 to the bed, and the sight of the lifeless
 face on the pillow quite sobered him. Af
 ter the funeral he would go to work, an6
 asked Jamie, who was now his little house
 keeper, to put up his dinner for him. '']
 will bring it to you, was her quiet answer
 He looked inquiringly into the dark blue
 eyes fixed on his face, and he. saw all that
 was meant in this quiet answer. She
 knew how he had spent his s'noonings,
 and as: far as she could help it, there was
 to be no more of such miserable waste. ] When he was ready to go she had hel little hat ill her hand too, and to his ques : tiop, "Where to now, lassie 2" she pleaded
 in answer, ''Let me go with you, father : to the shop!" He could not say her nay
 but as they neared the saloon where he al ways took his morning dram, David paused a moment and said, "Run on, Jamie, an6 I will overtake you at the corner, to wf1ict the little girl, clasping his rough browr hands tightly with both hers, and twinine the:wee fingers around his, replied loving ly, ".We are all alone in the world now papa; don't go anywhere you would be ashamed to have me go with you!" He took step or two onward and said, irreso flutely, "I am afraid can't go by, am SC
 used to going in." But she would no |yield, and only answered, "Hold harder te my hand and don't mind it it will be evel so much easier next time D.. She saw him safely into the shop, anc when the dinner hour came, if he haG cherished a thought of a noon visit to tho old haunt, it was too late, for she was a the door of the work room waiting for him How deftly she set out in the shady nool selected for the occasion the little array O nice things she had brought him. And a' he ate, she took out of her pocket the Sunday school paper she had brought witt her, the only literature upon which sht could lay her hands at home, and read hin the little stories printed for the children He seemed to be child once more, learn ing hymns and hearing Bible histories a his mothers knee; and the intermissior seemed all too short when the bell sum moned him again to work.
 He was not surprised, we think, to set her again at the door when evening came and it was easier, as she had said, to go by the saloon than it had been in the morn ing. After supper he insisted on taking hold to help the washing of the dishes ant putting away the things; and then sh' hro1oht ont the Rihlo ojvon him Inv hi