Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-01-28

II should almost have liked to live in
those days. 1t is easier to die for holy
cause than to find ones way along
through life. | have found it pretty
hard, sir-pretty hard-and I hope my
day Of peace is nearly come
How could | shatter his delusion and
thunder in his ear that this hope was a
| Iies
Il had Il happy time Of it, he con-
,inued, "till after my Ellen's birth, and
[ ought to be thankful for that. | had
my dear wife and hosts Of friends-so
thought them. To be sure | spent too
much money, and sometimes had rather
too gay an evening over the claret at my
Did oak dining table. But that was
4 harmless pleasure, sir. was always a
1 kind landlord. | never could turn ont a
4 tenant nor arrest a poacher. suppose
4 | was too kind. | might better have
saved some of the money | gave to my
people in beef and beer on holidays. But
4 it made them happy. like to see every
body happy That was my chief pleas
ure The people were very poor in Eng
I land then, sir-not that they are not poor
now and used to be very glad when d
I good 9ld English holiday or a birthday
4 gave me a chance to EiYe them little
festival"
4 could imagine him the gentle, genial
& host Fate should have left him there III
the old hall. dispensing frank hospitality
all his sunny days and bland seasons
through, lunching young poets, and
showing his Vandylzes with proper pride
to strangers. His story carried truth on
its face. In fact, the man was all the
4 while an illustration of his own tale.
Every tone and phrase convicted him Of
his own character
1T sometimes makes me little mel
ancholy,'' he continued, ito speak Of
those happy days. Not that / regret the
result have 1t last attained All, no.
+ But the process was hard one. | have
suffered, sir, suffered greatly on my way
to the peace and confidence have at
tainedn
You have attained these l said.
"Yes; thank God and this Latter-day
revelation Of his truth! used to think
A rather carelessly Of religion in those
times. suppose it is only the contact
with sin and sorrow that teaches q man
to look from the transitory to the eter-
nal. Shade makes light precious, as an
artist would say. I was brought up, you
know, sir, in the Church of England, but
\ when | began to think its Journalism
wearied me I could not understand
4 what seemed TO me then the complex
machinery Of its theology. thought,
sir, as no doubt many people of the
I poetic temperament and little experienced
think, that God deals with men without
4 go betweensi that he acts directly on the
character by tile facts Of nature and the
! thoughts in every soul.
ut was not until | grew old and
sad that | began to feel the need
Of something distinct and tangible
4 to rest my faith upon, and even
4 then, sir, | was skeptical OF the
need Of revelations and Messiahs
and miracles, until l learned through
the testimony Of living witnesses
yes, ef living witnesses-that such
things have come in the I14ftef-day.
I Yes, sir, the facts Of what you call Nor
monisn, its miracles, its revelations.
which do not cease, and its new Mes
siah, have proved to me the necessity Of
other like supernatural systems in the
past and given me faith in their eYi- 7
I dences, which before seemed scanty.n
'.Ahl old Mother Churchof Englandr'
I thought, could you do no better by
your son than thiss Whose fault is this
credulity? How is it that he needs phe-
nomena to give him faith in TRUTH
s.But ] have not told you" the old
gentleman went on, 'iabout my disas-
tiers. Perhaps you are getting tired of
my prattle, sir-my old mans talk.
am really not SO very old, if my hair is
thin and nay beard gray-barely fifty,
and after this journey / expect to be
quite a boy again. suppose you were
surprised this afternoon when spoke Of
having worked in coal mine, were you
not?n
The old man seemed to have some lit
tie pride in this singularity Of fortune.
expressed the proper interest in such
change Of destiny.
''You shall hear how it happened, he
said. You re1nember-no, you are too
young to remember, but you have heard
how we all went mad about mills and
mines in Lancashire some twenty years
ago
Yes said J, lit was then that steam
and cotton began to understand each
other, aud coal and negroes became i'm
I portant,
What panic Of speculation we all
( rushed into in Lancashirer' said the old
gentleman We all felt, we gentlemen.
that we vera mere idlers, not doing oul
I duty, as England expects every man to
do, unless we We're building chimneys
\ or digging pits. We were all either
4 grubbing down in the bowels OF the
earth for coal or rearing great chimneys
\ up in tile ;iir 10 burn it. / really think
I most of Us began to Ike smoke better
4 than blue sky; certili it tasted sweeter
X to US than our gooI VI 7 English fog.
'.Well, sir, Z continuel he, Il was like
4 my neighbors muStdabble in milling
/ and mining. l was willing to be richer
\ Indeed. as soon as began to speculate ]
thought myself richer. | spent more
money. went deeper into my opera
tious. One can throw great treasure
+ into coal mine without seeing any re-
turn. and can send a great volume Of
smoke up chimney before the mill be-
gins to pay 1t is an old story. win
not tire you with it. was all at once a
ruined man..
He paused 4 moment and looked about
the dim, starlit prairie, with the white
wagons and the low fors in the distance
"Well, said he, in the careless, airy
manner which seemed his characteristic
one, IF | had not been ruined should
have staid stupidity at home and never
worked in a coal mine, or travelled on
the plains, cr had the pleasure Of meet
ing you and your friend here. 1t is all
fresh and novel. II il We're not for my
daughter and my duties to the church,
should take my adventures as lightly as
\ you dowhen your gun misses fire and
you lose dinner.
'The thing that troubled me most at
lhe time Of my disasters lie resumed,
was being defeated for parliament.
There had always been a Clitheroe there.
When my father died | took his seat.
used to spend freely on elections, but
thought they sent me because they liked
$40, r.. yITt.1..