St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1897-12-04
JUST IN TIME.
BY ANNA SHIELDS.

TITE HAD been telling storiess as
wv we sat in the moonlight on the
porch of the old homestead. Itwas but
q summer resort then, left to the care OF
servants in the winter; but well filled
with our friends In the hot, dry months.
StSries of adventure, Of personal dis
asters, of land, Of sea, had filled the
evening; but it was still too early to
retire, when Elsie, putting her pretty
golden head down on my shoulder, said:
'sIell the story, father, OF the day
you were Just in time"
The only romance Of my hum-dru1n
lifeL was willing enough and this
is the story: Ten years before, while I
was stiI in business as a carriage build
er in the small town of Bolton, I had In
my employ young man named Hart
ley, who was more to me, having no son
of my own, than merely one of the
'thands." e 4 .s
He was the SON Of John Hartley, who
was one Of the meanest, close-fsted men
In the world. and thoroughly disliked
by the entire population OF Bolton. "A
dealer IN real estate, he was known as
one who insisted upon the payment OF
his rents, even H 1t took the food from
the mouths Of his tenants. or the beds
from under the sick, to pay him.
When young George Hartley first
came to me to seek employment he was
q handsome lad of 16, with a bright.
frank face, shadowed at that time by
the recent death of his mother. Itwas
understood that the wages, George be-
ing q minor, were to be paid to John
Hartley, and he was punctually at the
desk on pay day.
Knowing that the lad had been good
scholar, his mothers influence having
kept him at the Bolton school during
her life, lent him books and invited
him often to my house, where Elsie
would play and sing for him. or read
with him. He studied in every leisure
moment, but was good workman,
never shirking the manual labor that
was really too much drt1dgery for a boy
of his ability. With my knowledge he
went through a course Of bookkeeping
under my own head clerk. and here be-
gins my story.
I had had in my employ a young man
as assistant bookkeeper who had left
me for what he thought O. better posi-
tion, and entered into an engagement
withs George Hartley, who was to do
his work, after hours, receiving from
me Ave dollars week in addition to
his regular wages, which sum paid DO
him, unknown to his father. II 1t was
defrauding that worthy man OF his
right to his sons brains and industry,
why, I so defrauded him.
BY my advice the money was deposit
ed In the Bolton bank, and for nearly
four years 1t accumulated there, until
there was more than 5000, some OF. the
money having been spent In keeping
the lad decently clothed.
He was 20 years old when John
Hartley married his second wife, an old
maid, who was one of his tenants, and
who had property Of her own. From the
day when she entered the house Mrs.
Hartley commenced series Of petty
prosecutions of her stepson, pin-thrusts
to make his life miserable, but seeming
~ too trihing for a man to notice. She
hated him because he had tried to pre-
vent the marriage, solely for love of hia
dead mother.
It was in April when my physicians
ordered me 10 take sea trip for q.
chronic complaint that was troubling
me and I made my Preparations TO go
In a schooner from KevDoPf 4ha g,aaY.
est seaport town to Bolton, and some
80 miles east of 1t. There Yves q train
from Boston that passed through Bol-
ton at ten o'clock In the evening and
connected with the stage at Keyport.
It was a New York train, but not ex-
press, stopping at many of the way
stations; but it was the only one by
which connection could be made with
Keyport, the New York express pass
ing Bolton ab midnight.
] had sent my baggage to the sta