The Opelousas courier., 1894-06-30
of my little BARNS dear heads had
been touched on that horrible night.

OF my llIbl0 DHIIus uchI .Aonue Aou
been touched on that horrible night.
The subject o4 the masked robber
was never mentioned until my health
was fully restored. One day ! was in
my boudoir, idly lounging, when my
husband came in and, seating himself
or the sofa by my side, took a small
piece Of paper from his pocket-book:
It looked like the fy-leaf of q book,
and was covered With writing id lead
pencil. He handed it to me; saying,
II think, little woman, you are STRONG
enough to read this"
It was as follows:
az have come here tonight with d
band Of robbers intending to steal and,
if necessary, to murder. While taking
the Jewels from your casket, l came
across a ring. That ring sava3 you:
looked upon your face and q food
Of recollections came over me: You
need never fear. I love you still.
Bed as I am. the thought of your pure
soul has never left me, and although 1
I'm a robber, the memory of you has
kept my hands clean from blood. /
shall always keep watch over you,-
shall always protect you. j. g."
So the mystery was solved, and the
robber, who had robbed me of nothing
val my old lover. Your uncle tried to
search him out but infa'r, AMI it was
not until many years after that,
having been invited to spend a
few days with some relatives of my
husbands, iii the western part of New
York State, / again heard of John
Graham.
One morning, at my cousins sug-
reetiop, we walked over to the
picturesque old churchyard. We
etrolled in and out among the graves;
stopping now and then to read the
quaint inscriptions. A simple gray
stone, on which was hanging a small
wreath of immortelles, attracted my
n%otice. I stopped to see what might
might be written on it, and then I
lead the name sJohn Graham. Died
on the Eve of New Year Day, 18-.
Beloved of the people. God rest his
SOUL" I asked my cousin if she knew
who this John Graham was? And she
told me that some twenty years before
q man with a peddler'a pack had come
into the town. His wares were good,
and he sold a great many. As he trav.
eled from house to house, staying, as
was the custom in those times. first
with one family, then with another,
he became very popular, and was in
duced to take his small eapi.
tai and open a store: He
gave his name as John Gray, and
sae was SO self-denying, and did SO many
deeds of charity, that the country folk
almost canonized him as a saint.
Their shrewd minds soon discovered
in him no common peddler, and when
BIT his death an old envelope was found
next his heart, with the name John
Graham in a woman's hand, and inside,
lock of yellow hair, carefully folded
n paper, on the outside of which is
F~ritten, my guiding star" the curl
(sity Of the good people was at its
eight. Your uncle and / could have
p1ved the problem, but we carefully
uarded the secret, and to this day
be village gossips wonder who John
Eraham" could have been. ] have
ever known how he happened to fall
ito snch a state of degradation as to
ecome a robber, but I firmly believe
nat by his after life he made full
bonement for his sins. A New Year
We never passes but that / think of
ohm Graham, and you will not won
81 that it is SO, for it was a Hateful
me in his sad life. ! felt as though
were almost a supernatural coinci-
ence that it should have been also
he time of his death. Romance.