Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1897-05-06

- W hlli g'fiS VI IlNil'lIt bllSS lOl L u
: ter As for him. he simply worship
ed the ground on which his wife walk
: eded. Mary had a younger sister of
whom she was inOrdnately proud,
who was IL gUverness in gentleman'S
family. She was, according to Mary,
quite the lady" and would. so Mary
thought. consider it degradation to
visit 50 humble home rs the Dunns'
which showed that poor Mrs Dmn's
standards of good breeding We're as
erroneous as her standards of other
things. Therefore. though Mary some
times went to see the beloved Amy,
Amy never was allowed to come to
ChelilUn OF 10 De brought into contact
with that excellent man. her brother
in-law. Probably, had she come. Amy
would have despised Peter as much as
Mary did, for not to every one is it
given to see the deeper meanings and
to hear the hidden music in the COM
mon things of life-least of all to such
frivolous little souls as those of the
sisters Mills.
After Mary had been dead for some
| years general feeling spread through
| Cheriton that the man that married
Mary was becoming miser. He made
Il very good income, and as there were
no children, had only himself to sup
port now that Mary was gone. and vet
he saved and screwed at every point.
which brought him into dsrepute at
Cheriton. The char woman who clean
ed his house told thrilling tales of
tin box, securely locked, which had its
abode under Peters chest of drawers.
and into this box the Imagination of
Cheriton transferred all the savings
which Peter so carefully boarded.
one day the rect0r's eldest son, Jack,
now at Oxford, rushed into his fathers
study, crying:
Il say, dad. what do you think? The
man that married Mary has been rob-
bed of all his savings"
The rector pushed up his spectacles
and gazed benignly at Jack from un-
der them
Dear me, dear me, what sad
thing. he murmured. How much
money has been stolenY
Nobody knows. But the tin box out
of his bedroom has gone and the poor
man is demented."
NO WONDER" said the kind old rect
or.
The thief evidently climbed through
the window while Dunn was out. rs
the door was locked"
Did he take anything besides the
tin boNI' asked the rector.
No. answered Jack, "for the very
good reason that there was nothing
else inside the house worth the car
riage. There must be pretty Dot
of money in that box, dad: for never a
pipe in the whole village bursts with
out the man that married Mary being
well paid for mending it, and he is re-
mmerated for his pew-opening du-
ties, too; and yet he hardly has enough
to eat, | hear and there is nothing in
his house worth half-crown piece.
The savings in that old tin box must
tot mp to pretty sum-"
Dear me. dear me. 1t Is very sad
Jack, my boy. when the love of money
thus takes hold of man-vcry sad.
indeed"
We'll, the old boy is punished for it
now, anyway" said Jack, with the un-
tempered justice of the very young
and inexperienced, "and am glad of
it,"
I'm not" sighed the rector. 81 SUD-
pose punishments do good, but l am al
ways sorry when there is necessity
for them, If poor Mary had lived
Dunn would never have got into these
mean ways; she was such bright,
pretty, superior girl"
Which remark showed that the dis
pcnsations of providence are wiser
after all than the reasoning of the
most charitable old rectors.
Later on in the day Jack Levett
caught sight of n dark object lying
in ditch. He pulled it out and found
1t to be II tin box, with the lock pried
open. In 1t there was nothing but n
packet of letters in Mary Dunn's pret-
ty old-fashioned writing and some fad
ed roses, brown and crisp with age.
The former he was too much of n gen.
teman to read, but he concluded they
were love letters, as they were address
ed to Peter Dunn, but as there was no
money in the box he conjectured that
the thief had taken what was valu.
able and thrown the rubbish away. So
he took 1t straight to Dunn, with many
condolences.
81 have found this box of yours in
ditch, Dunn" he said, but l fear all
the valuables have been taken out of
it."
Peter seized the box and examined
Its contents.