Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1890-11-01

sol MellI "oA' WY my ~o"i'
have held some money Of yours ovel
twenty years. DID you never hear o
your gold miner
'Never!"
"How strangcl Perhaps your father
forgot it! 1t was just after the war was
over! You were baby, and on the day
you were christened your father gave q
dinner party to some Of his most fnti-
mate friends, all gentlemen. I was
your godfather, and / mentioned to all
the guests the occasion for the dinner.
Gold was very scarce in those days, very
scarce, and held ut high premium. So
we, the gentlemen who were invited to
the dinner, made our choice of gift for
you in gold. Dear! dear! how we'll ]
remember 1t all! Your mother presided
at the dinner. but left US, after the des-
sert, to our wine and cigars. But be-
fore we began to smoke, your father, at
my request, sent for You. You were o
beauty even then, . queen OF babies.
While you sat, rs erect as soldier, in
your fathers arms, we presented you
with silver cup, filled with gold coins,
Ave hundred dollars in all But after
you were taken away the cup still stood
upon the table. and your father asked
me to invest it for you, until you came
Of age. He made some jesting allusion
to my success in business, and exacted
from me promise to hold the money,
turn and twist II, to use his own ex-
preston, and return it to you upon your
twenty-arst birthday. accepted the
trust, taking the gold, and making a
careful entry Of the date upon which 1t
was to be returned. And this Is the
dayv'
Hester's voice trembIed as she said:
This morning, Mr.. Holborne, ]
counted the money that stood between
us and starvation, and 1t was two dol
lars and forty cents. l have tried in
vain to obtain steady employment,
since my fathers death. The mantle
OF his fault" she said, with o ring of
the old bitterness, twas supposed to be
wrapped about me. No one would trust
me. proposed, far more in earnest
than in jest, to invest the forty cents in
charcoal and end the tragedy by o
deeper one. And now you tell me I
have Ave hundred dollars all my own"
''Bless the childp' cried the old
gentleman, does she suppose put the
money in an old stocking and locked it
up? Five hundred dollars! No, no,
my dear! turned and twisted it, as
your father wished, and really, took
quite comical interest in watching it
roll itself up and come out Of every in
vestment with flying colors. l kept it
quite by itself. and have detailed
memorandum TO show you, If you wish,
precisely how your christening present
became thirty thousand dollars"
''You are laughing at me!''
'No. / am quite serious. The last
twenty years have offered great chances
for speculation, and you have been fort
innate. And remember, 1t is yours.
know all. lean speak to you frankly,
and tell you this money is your own,
q gift from friends. Your father never
held it in his hands. From your silver
cup it went into my pocket! Now!
now! to cry over your good fortune!
Poor child! There, cheer up! Bright
days are comingp
But" said Hester, smiling through
her tears, surely the money must be
yours"
mot q dollar, not cent of it! 1t is
yours, honestly and fairly. And now,
tell me more of yourself"
There was long talk, ending in Mr..
Holborne's promise to call upon Mrs.
Wright, and then Hester, with bank
bills that took her breath away, ''just
for present emergencies" her godfather
explained, hurried home.
1t had been Harry who had urged
Wedding, to give him right to care for
Hester, and Hester who resisted, refus-
ing to burden him. But, once estab-
lished in what Mrs Wright tearfully
called "a home Of their own, once more,"
it was Hester who, blushingly but brave
ly, insisted on the ending OF her long en-
gagement; and there was a quiet we'd
ding, at which Mr.. Holborne claimed q
godfather's right to give the bride
away.-Anna Shields, in N. Y. Ledger