The Colfax chronicle., 1896-11-28
Is,m in ri, arms, and sprinkled the holy

water on his miniature rosy Vlsage.
How proud the young mother looked
| as she tried to hush his shrill cries! My
parents were so highly edited by the
spectacle that they took me out on
glorious mousing expedition that very
night in the farmyard which lies to the
right of the village pond, and which has
since been one of my favorite haunts.
All, we'll, time crept on, and the little
babe whom had last seen and heard in
his christening robe no longer detained
his mother at home, but grew old
enough to accompany her and his IA
ther to church.
At the beginning we entertained
every hope that the boy would prove
blessing to the fond parents, to whom
he was SO evidently all in all. But, alas!
I was the fret to note that as the child
ish precocity quickened and developed
within him the evil instinct seemed to
predominant, and was ever ready to
extinguish the good.
He used to turn round during the
service and make faces at the school
I children, then he would take his mar
bles out of his pocket and count them
6 over when his parents were not looking.
The dear old hymns, that my owls al
t ways delighted to hear, possessed for
him not an atom of attraction. Not
: withstanding that he had learned to
t read at the village school, he did not
even trouble to follow the words.
d though / doubt not that through con-
stantly hearing them some of the lines
y must have entered and, perhaps un-
,r consciously, become engraved on his
: brain.
'e After few years had thus elapsed,
his parents came one Sunday alone, and
ID I ascertained that the boy, developing
"A taste for book learning, had been ap-
prenticed to a bookseller in the neigh
a boring town. Occasionally he returned
:. home for short holiday and accom-
panied his parents as usual to the OLD
pew on Sunday morning. But, alas.
his behavior was even less excusable
7 than of yore. He would either sleeT
through the sermon, or, on the sly, diT
into book which he held concealed
H. with dirty yellow cover.
or After this, owing to many sad family
III losses, my mind was too much dis
sc tracted by personal sorrow to occup,
as itself with the misfortunes of others
to First, my father died of asthma; ant
'h my poor mother, heartbroken at hi
III loss, did not long survive him. Thel
my only brother was unfortunatei!
caught in a trap, placed in the church
OF 1 believe, by some rural naturalist. Un
nd able to release the poor fellow, VIII
ny screamed most piteously, I had II
to silence to behold strange looking mai
ny come and carry him away, and hav
re- never succeeded in obtaining the small
ie' est tidings of him since.
ne Still solitary bachelor, having bee
ed always too difficult to please in m
"a. choice of mate, I now became subjec
'7 to such deep depression of spirits tina
ay my health began to give way. L
TX short, / must have eventually sue
gn cumbed had it not been for the kind
Dy ness of a friend, who persuaded me
lrd go and pay long deferred visit to hi
me home in hollow tree on the adjoinin
lor estate. Thither / accompanied hin
riy and owing to his sympathy and genis
companionship became gradually re-
ng onciled to life as it was, instead of 9
! it might be.
oo' 1t is lesson we have most of us
WI learn, my friend, even we owls; and
ns it only helps us grow more loving, MOI
'ur humble, and more thankful for what W
have, why, then, come what may, "
'er shall be in the right spirit to receive
reu But 1 am DEPRESSING from my story, an
iu must not weary you.
When 1 returned at length to the o.
l haunt all my former interests revive
~. within me, and anxiously, when SUI
day arrived, did I scan the famili;
faces and note the changes that tin
.s had effected during my long absence.
~ The light in our church, as You ms
"a have observed, is always subdued OF
~ partly owing to the dark glass wi
-, dow there above the altar-so that
frequently moving the nictitatiI
membrane of the eye am enabled
10 observe what passes pretty clearly.
yes Well, to my surprise, the old pc
He about which am telling you remains
,ar- that day empty; and rememberil
,ed their previous regularity / grew mo
er,s and more apprehensive as to VIII
might have befallen its joint occupan
However, on the following Sund
in. morning soon discovered that my
ora vorites were there. But, alas, he
to,, altered from the blithe and ligf
.vo- hearted young couple whom can ev
For yet recall! Clothed in black, and wi
heavy, downcast eyes, their lined a
harassed faces bore evidence to sol
bitter anguish within.
at once conjectured that their s
must be dead. But, no, Twas mistake
From some scraps of talk let fall
the sexton in the vestry l gather