The Winslow mail., 1897-07-17

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 it's
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 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
thingr' 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, as
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 pot
of money in that box, dad; for never u
pipe in the whole village bursts with
out the man that married Mary being
well paid for mending 1t, 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 pretty sum-"
Dear me, dear me! It Is very sad,
Jack, my boy, when the love Of money
thus takes hold Of man-very sad,
indeed"
"Well, the old boy is punished for it
now, anyway" said Jack, with the un-
tempered justice of the very young
and inexperienced, "and l am glad Of
It,"
I'm not" sighed the rector. 81 sup
pose punishments do good, but 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 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 hi the day Jack Levett
caught sight Of dark object lying
in ditch. He pulled it out and found
1t to be tin box, with the lock pried
open. In 1t 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 gen.
tleman 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 it straight to Dunn, with many
condolences.
81 have found this box Of yours in a
ditch, Dunn" he said, but l fear all
the valuables have been taken out of
it,"
Peter seized the box and examined
it's contents.
"No, it's all right, Master Jack" he
cried with excitement; Fifteen letters
and ten roses and not one missing. o,
how can l thank you enough, sir, for
restoring them to me? 1 shall never
forget your kindness as long as liye!"
Jack looked puzzled. But wasn't
there anything else in the box?" he
asked.
"No, sir; this Is ali, and It Is all 1
have on earth that Is of any value to
me. Fifteen letters that my Mary
wrote to me while we were counting,
and ten roses that she gave me at diff
ferent times. And to think that they
are all safe, and not one missing! l
shall never cease to bless you, Master
JUN, lOI w udI yON nav oOhS LA AhC
this day-neyer."
II thought there must have been
money in the box, you seemed in such
a way about It,"
"Bless you, sir, 1 shouldn't have
made all that fuss If 1t had only been
money. But you see, these letters are
all that l have left Of my Mary, and
| read them over and over again. She
was rare scholar, my Mary was"
"And so pretty, too," said Jack, kind
ly.
GAY, Master Jack, she was that; and
the sweetest way with her. Why,
could tell you the history of each Of
them ten roses, and where we were
standing, and what she said when she
gave 1t to me; only should feel some
how as Mary mightn't like it. But
l say her dear words over and over to
myself, and never forget them, though
1t would seem irreverent-like to repeat
them TO another person, even to one
of the quality like yourself"
"Of course, of course" said Jack
hastily, feeling queer, uncomfortable
lump in his throat; and then they went
on to talk of other things. So the man
that married Mary was comforted, and
the hiding-place of his savings remain
ed q mystery.
A year or two after this, Jack Leyett