The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-12-11
HIS DAY OF FREEDOM.

So thoroughly had the dull discipline
of the saddlery shop been imbedded
into their beings that not one of the
others looked up when the messenger
came in, and, after saluting the guard
standing at his lighthouse-lke desk, APP
preached and tapped STAB on the shout
der and beckoned him to follow. But
he knew. The convict understood. 1t
was liberty at last. For % years he
had awaited it. And although the mes
Eenger's summons might have meant
a thousand different things to any
other of the saddlery workers, it meant
to him only that the pardon had final
" come. He felt as he followed the
Messenger, doglike in his docile sub
mission, that this was the last time he
would cross the threshold of the sad
dlery shop.
Twenty-Five yearsl
The time had passed in such sullen,
leaden fashion, that after the first year
or two he had become uncertain as to
whether he had counted the day once
of twice. He had not cared to inquire
of the guard, for the sweet puzzle of try
month of May or July was an occupa-
ton for his mind, and it would have
been distress if he had been set right
at the time that he mistook Thanks
giving day for Christmas, for, SO long
as he was not positive of the point,
he had the somber satisfaction of cele-
brating both. The only continuity of
thought WHICH lived to support him was
the thouglE that certainly at some
time his innocence would be shown and
he would be discharged.
He steadily thought of that Sun
day afternoon when he had lain on the
bed and had danced the two-year-old
bow and had allowed him to climb re-
Ientlessly over him, even the pressure
of the baby shoes upon his cheek hav-
ing, as he often remembered, been
sweet to him. lie recalled that the
careful wife had spread red comfort
er over the white counterpane, so that
the latter might not be disordered i'll
the rough play. How many times had
he remembered that! In the solitude
of his cell he had dwelt upon that Sun
day afternoon when he had played with
the baby, until every detail-every
crack of the wallpaper, which showed
that the new house was settling, every
figure of the design of the ceiling up
to which he had looked-was as plain
to him as though now before his eyes
he was called upon to describe it.
And now the time had come. The
time for which he had waited so long
aDd so patiently. He had yearned for
Sf1IdVinU over the
DecuIiarities of the crime with the com
mission of which he had been charged,
he had been confident that after years
the robber whom he had surprised in an
assault upon his own especial enemy
would be discovered, and it would be
shown that, although he had openly
hated the man who he had found
dead at his feet, still he was not that
mans murderer. 1t would be known
al last that this sentence OF his to life
Imprisonment was monstrous MUS
tice. and he would be set free again.
He would be permitted to go back, and
from an incognito point of view see
his boy The boy, growing. could have
known nothing Of him, OF course. The
mother who, he sometimes nor
ribly thought, half believed him
guilty, would have safeguarded
from the child the dreaded
secret. He knew that, for he had in
sisted upon this course himself on the
day before the party of convicts, OF
which he was member, were taken
down tqe the train, prison-bound. lie
had pledged her to silence in this re-
gard. and ranked by the bitter thought
that she herself wavered concerning
his guilt, ne had supplemented the OBJ
LEGATION by demanding that not by visit
or letter or other communication
should any risk be run OF the child
learning the real wherea bouts of his
parent.
HE will be bright boy" he said,
sand it is possible he will be ten years
old before am released. If you com
municate with me he will find it out
and be ashamed. Do not even write.
/ will remember you both, and it may
be that | can the better deceive myself
into the delusion that you believe me
innocent if you do not come down to
see me-"
And with this compact they had sep
srateo. and the next day, manacled to a
lcgrO burglar. ne nau gone on 'li"'
s.sarvinc ionrncr
lie had schooled himself to expect
no miracle in his behalf. No inme-
date or early liberation was part OF
his hope But truth by very force OF
gravity would reach his case at some
future time. He took an interest III
the negro burglar, as they were in the
same department. That black man was
the. last link between himself and The
world. He was foul-looking, thsck'
Tipped, SCARED creature, but the maj
sentenced to life imprisonment bull
mantle of association and memory
around the evil African which con-
ce,sled the wickedness of his appear
-