Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1892-09-09

tencc is understOod you need not tell it.
/ knew it was coming. Matthew wrote me
about it all when he was away for ten days.
and you were so unhappy; but has he told
you everything of his past life? God re-
claims many a burning brand. There are
callings which through temptation lead to
sin. Had only your poor mother been
alive
FEATHER, Matthew has told me all about
his life his early misery, his education in
an orphanage, where he was harshly treated.
There he was the musical prodigy, the
show boy of the school. A strolling com
pany lured him away. Tagged beyond his
/ powers of endurance, he was thrown
among the worst associations. In time he
freed himself from the clutches of these
men. His mechanical instincts seem
/ early to have shown him way to live.
There is nothing he need be ashamed of.
"'And Mary, you loved him after he
/ had told his story9
''No, before, before, and Mary hid her
/ face from me.
Mary, the Austin blood is good. and
/ those who bear that name have been most
/ ly patient, plodding people. Sometimes
am afraid your Matthew wants tenacity of
purpose. He astonishes me at times. ]
/ live in a sober world. lie flies into space
l try to follow him, as would a heavy
winged bird. and he scars and circles far
above me. Hobbs likes him, but is shy of
him in business sense. Experiments,
says Hobbs, "other chaps may pay for, "
but Hobbs confessed that the rule of thumb
didn't always hold good in bell casting
Hobbs is close-tisted and honest. There
was a bell to be cast, the biggest Job Hobbs
has vet made, and Matthew wanted "A GER
tain mixture OF metal and a particular
form for the casting, and he backed up his
argument with a row of algebraiC signs.
"What do ! know about these here figures,
| Mr. Austin?' said Hobbs, when he showed
them to me. "Quite as much as | do.
| Brother Hobbs, / replied. Then | agreed
| TO refer the calculations to a great profess
sor of physics at Cambridge. You know,
/ Mary, | mentioned his name with awe at
times, but he. with that patent lawyer. are
old friends. These figures expressed an
acoustic equivalent. SO came the answer
from that blessed professor and that great
scientific authority called me his dear Old
Oliver and he said that Matt Gaines's
principle was sound and that it could only
come from some one who had his Helm
hotz or Mayer at his finger end.
"'And Matthew was right?
Perfectly so. So / questioned Mat
thew, having looked up in the village libra
ry all | could find about the science of
sound, and Matthew will forget more than
l ever will know about these subjects for,
Mary, your father is a perfect uumskull
about such things
"There were some happy days in store
for us. and pleasantly sounded the organ
on Sundays, and how sweetly Mary sang,
When my girl was TO be married was not
he Ia. q. ID.
saving and had $500 put aside Mary had
been delicate, but now was ali abloom with
happiness Those were blessed evenings
we spent together. When December came
and the first logs cracked on the hearth
seated in my chair / would read the old
books | loved. Now. Matthew had made
some Improvements on the sounding board
OF piano. Ii was about that sounding
board | wrote TO you, on which Matthew
had secured a patent. An instrument
maker in New \ ork sent TO him piano
to work on. and he had put it in our little
room. He would sit at the piano by the
hour and would play for Mary. She would
sing al times. | thought her sweet voice
had never been better attuned. but some
how Matthew would never let her sing long
for him. Occasionally the choir would
come, and. dear me. how carefully he
drilled them He wrote some chorals
for our children, and they sounded ever SO
fine.
"One night there was a bowling storm
outside, the wind soughlng. and Matt had
been playing some old anthems. when,
quick as a flash. lac ratified off a wild dance.
Then Mary looked at him with wide-open-
ing eyes, and asked him what had disturb
ed him. l heard him say. That gallop-
ade, Mary, l played once on Just such a
wild night as this when | was barely fiji
teen years old. 1t happened in a horrible
cellar, while men and women, the Off
scourings OF a city, danced and hOwled
around me. My master, who was crazy
with drink. wanted to ply me with liquor.
| reached forward to seize the proftercd
glass. when a woman, her face abaze with
paint. struck the tumbler from my hand.
~ on shall not ruin this little beguar 80
she cried. and she sat near me and cried
over me and kissed me. and whether she
, was maudlin or not she had a good heart.
have often thought about her and pray
, that God may have saved that poor soul.
p Il had heard him tell il ALL and when
he had finished. / rose from my chair and
! went on my knees and asked forgiveness
T for that poor lost woman. and for all our
, sins. thought ! knew Matthew better
now. and felt he had true charity.
1T had been arranged between them
2 that early in the spring they were to be
II welded. The two We're TO live with me.
Matthews prospects We're good for Hobbs
a knew what help his foreman gave him.
o. one day Matthew came in with a letter.
1t was an offer 10 90 TO New \ Ork state 10
r. superintend the building of a shop where
= bel-founding was to bee the leading bust
v ness. A good monthly salary was to be
4 paid. Ii was not preiudicial TO Hobbs. for
Hobbs had given Matthew his consent Ia
superintend the new work, and if things
/ looked well Hobbs proposed taking some
o interest in the enterprise.
] 81 could not say yea or nay 1t did
D seem to me fair scheme and likely 10 adj
n vance Matthew's interests. So Matthew
S left us, and ! babe him godspeed Mary
a was cheerful and held up bravely. While
3 away Matt wrote frequently. He was well
b, and full of his work and hopeful of sue
cess. But my poor Mary somehow
p there came on her sudden change. Be
r. fore ! was conscious OF il she iell ILL.,
j. was enthusiastically anXious-about her
70 Like her mother, she was fast fading away