The record-union., 1897-06-25

the pilgrims who went on the Quaker
City expedition some twenty eight
years ago, I am the only surviving one
that has remained innocent.
In fact, that title The Innocents
Abroad could only be strictly applied
to two even at the time it was writ
ten, and the other is dead"
When do you expect the survivor
to appear?"
"Oh, about Christmas" said Mark
Twain. Christmas is a good time to
bring out a book Everybody is think
ing about Christmas presents. and the
pious are praying that Divine Provi-
dence may give them some clew as to
what to give for a present, and the
book, if it comes just at the right time
is about as good thing as one could
desire It must come just at the right
time though In other words, the OPP
portunity to secure the present must
happen just at the moment when the
impulse to give one is felt
A PATHETIC STORY TOLD.
ut is a strange thing" he went on
| to say. "how much more charity there
would be in this world If opportunity
only conceded with impulse. 1t is years
ago since a lecturer anu litiSSlOiAohJ
came to Hartford. He had had a vast
amount of experience among the city
poor-among the worthy poor, L mean,
! for there are many more poor than
there are worthy. And one night L
went off to hear about the misery and
distress he had seen. L remember L
had four 800 bills in my pocket, with
some small change, just enough for the
sake Of appearance when the plate
| came round.
We'll, he began to tell us about suf-
| fering in the city slums, and about a
husband with his logged courage,
striving and fighting to make both ends
meet, and about the little Wife, with
her brave smile, choking down the
| lump that rose in her throat, and about
the children crying for bread. And as
he went on 1 felt my enthusiasm for
| his cause rising higher and higher, and
I said to myself. I'll give one of those
| bills when that plate comes round. But
he continued, and told about how work
| failed, and the husband came home
with a white, despairing face, and the
little wife looked up at him still cheer
| lily smiling, while her heart was break
| ing, and how the children pined and
wasted away for lack of nourishment.
| oh, it was terriblei 1t was heartrend-
| ing, And it so played on my feelings
that thought. I cannot bear this any
more I must help them. I'll spare
| two of those bills
And then he told how sickness came
and how the brave wife at last lay dead
and the husband sat by her side with
his heart broken and his brain reeling,
| holding her dead hand in his while
| Sheriffs took the bed upon which she
had laid And the children were hud
died in a corner, crying softly and af
frighted, and my feelings were wrought
up to such a high pitch that I said to
myself, For Gods sake, send that plate
round, so that I can pour my sympa-
thy into it. I'll give those four bills.
and If l can get a piece of paper, I'll
write a check for something more. I
| can very well spare a little money for
a cause like that
But the lecturer went on talking and
talking, and as he talked my enthusi-
asm calmed and calmed, and the red
4 flush of my sympathy became paler
and paler And when he had been
| talking about half an hour 1 had saved
one of those bills. and when he had
| talked five minutes more two of those
had been talking an hour I had won
all four back, and, by gosh. when he
| finally did send that plate round 1 bor-
rowed 10 cents out of 1t to pay my
! car fare home"