The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1897-05-21

/ Sietlloh Oh 10 pe Drought INTO contact
with that excellent man. her brother
| in-law. Probably. had she come. Amy
would have despised Peter rs 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
1 frivolous little souls as those of the
/ sisters Mills.
After Mary had been dead for some
years a general feeling spread through
| Cheriton that the man that married
Mary was becoming Il miser. He made
a very good income, and as there We're
no children, had only himself to sup
port now that Mary was gone, and yet
he saved and screwed at every point.
which brought him into disrepute at
Cheriton. The char-woman who clean
ed his house told thrilling tales of a
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 rector'S eldest son. Jack,
now ut Oxford, rushed into his fathers
study, crying:
Il say, dad, what do you think: q 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 stolen:"
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 box?' 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 Il
pipe in the whole village bursts with
out the man that married Mary being
we'll paid for mending it, and he is re-
munerated 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 UP to a pretty sum-
Dear me, dear me. 1t is very sad.
Jack. my boy, when the love of money
thus takes hold of man-yery sad.
indeed
Well, the old boy is punished for it
now, anyway" said Jack, with the I'M
tempered justice of the very young
and inexperienced, "and am glad Of
it,"
I'm not sighed the rector. 81 sup
pose punishments do good. but l am al
ways sorry when there is a necessity
for them. If poor Mary had lived
Dunn would never have got into these
mean ways; she was such a bright.
pretty, superior girl"
Which remark showed that the dis
pensations 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 dark object lying
in a ditch. He pulled it out and found
it to be tin box. with the lock pried
open. In it there was nothing but a
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 a gen
tleman to read, but he concluded they
We're love letters, as they were address
ed to Peter Dunn, but as there was no
money in the box he coniectured that
the thief had taken what was yalu-
able and thrown the rubbish away. So
he took it straight to Dunn. with many
condolences.
Il 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.
No, its all right. Master Jack" he
cried with excitement; fifteen letters
and ten roses and not one missing. O.
how can I thank you enough, sir. for
restoring them to me? 1 shall never
forget your Kindness as long as 1 livev'
Jack looked puzzled But wasn't
there anything else in the box?" he
asked.
NO, sir; this is all, and 1t is all
have on earth that is of any value to
me. Fifteen letters that my Mary
wrote to me while we were courting,
and ten roses that she gave me at diff
ferent times. And to think that they
are all safe, and not one missing!
shall never cease to bless you, Master
Jack, for what you have done for me
this day-neyer."
Il thought there must have been
money in the box, you seemed in such
way about it,"
'Bless you, sir. l shouldn't have
made all that fuss if it had only been
money. But, you see, these letters are
all that have left of my Mary, and
l read them over and over again. She
was rare scholar, my Mary was"
and so pretty, too,' said Jack, kind