St. Landry democrat., 1893-05-13

he would throw no more good money
after bad, he said but Stephen, with a
determination that many thought kind
of madness, worked away.
And really, in the fourth year. 1t
looked as if he would succeed. A por-
ton that had been finished produced
such crop as made the farmers round
the craggy hills doubt their own eyes.
| Stephen was jubilant; what could be
done for two acres could be done for two
hundred. He had proved his position,
and was more enthusiastic than ever over
his idea.
But Maggie was almost hopeless. She
was beginning to suffer for very necessi-
ties; strange, hard men came with au,
thority about her home, and Stephen
looked so ill and haggard and was SO IL
ritable that her cup was full of sorrow.
One gloomy afternoon, when it rained so
heavily that work was impossible, she
ventured to try to reason with and COM
fort the gloomy man, looking dolefully
across the empty farm-yard toward the
great, fiat, dreary Moss.
ut will soon be over, my dear Mag
gie," he said. Tomorrow l am going
into Kendall, to get another five hundred
pounds, if can, upon the farm plcnish-
ing and the remnant of the stock. | am
sure, if I get it, to put the whole Moss
under wheat this year, and that will
practically save us. If | don't, | have
lost my estate aud all these years labor,
and we shall leave this place, beggars,
within a month. You know the worst
now, Maggie"
The next day, amid the driving storm.
she watched her husband make his last
desperate effort. She turned and looked
upon the pleasant room, with her three
children playing unconsciously about 1t;
then she fled upstairs, and, falling down
upon her knees, poured out all her heart
in passionate, pleading prayer. As she
rose, with streaming eyes, Unole Joseph,s
last words flashed across her mind.
Somehow, they held new meaning for
her. She unlocked her drawer, and lifted
the old brass bound book carefully and
tenderly out.
at has comforted my fathers and
mothers for many generation,' she said
softly. II will see what it will do for
me-" And she uuclasped it with
prayer: II was brought low, and He
helped me-"
They were good words, and she read
the whole psalm through4aud turned the
leaf. A Bank of England bill tor one
hundred pounds fell at her feet. She
lifted it as though it had fallen from
heaven, and commenced to turn, with
eager, trembling fingers, the wellworn
pages. One after another, bills tluttered
into her lap until, from between the
boards of Uncle Joseph's wedding gift,
she had taken eight thousand eight hun
dred pounds.
Can any one guess how she prayed
again, and with what radiant face she
met the cross, wretchcd man that, half
drowned with the storm, walked. about
shutdown, up to the hearthstonef
"Stephen! Stephen."' she cried JOY
ously. Never look sad again! Uncle
Joseph's wedding gift has saved u.s.
And she spread the money before him.
Maggie was right; the money saved
Stephen every way. He bought Thwaites
out; he paid eff all claims on his home;
he restocked his farm, and triumphantly
finished the draining OF Druid's Moss.
Maggie's fortune was oddly given, but
the eccentric old man did not Judge far
amis. Ills wedding gift was blcsse! as
he intended it should be-in two ways
for Maggie and Stephen learned to love
it, not only for the material help it had
brought them i'll their extremity, but also
for the promise Of the far more exceed
ing and abundant riches which it PROM
ses and provides for The Ledger.