The Plymouth Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1878-1901, 1901-06-27

Vi ldcefdJlnS Ills sore nodfU.
He waited eagerly for a chance
to get pen and ink and paper but
all in vain until one day Mr.
Floyd was away, John was at
school, the house keeper was at
work in 9. distant part of the
house and for the first time he
was alone with Jessie Floyd.
With childish eloquence Angus
told the girl the pathetic story
of his abduction and the suffer
ing he had endured and begged
her to write a letter for him to
his mother, but the girl was
afraid of her father and though
she wept with Angus in sympa-
thy she could see no way to help
him. He continued to plead for
mercy with all the earnestness
of his soul and overcame one OBJ
lection after another until she
could no longer withstand him
and at last agreed to write the
letter, the postage to be paid out
of the money the captain of the
brig had given Angus. She took
the address of the Scotch farmer
and a memorandum of what An
gus desired her to write and he
gave her his little hoard of coin,
none of which he had yet spent,
and returned to his work, hap
pier than he had been in many
long day. To his young mind it
appeared certain that his father,
on learning the sad case of his
child, would hurry without de-
lay to the rescue and he welcOm-
ed each new day as leading him
that much nearer to restora-
tion to his home.
Now in those days the writing
Of letters was not as common a
practice as it is in these later
times. Jessie Floyd had never
written or received letter in her
life and she had no idea how to
get one started on its journey.
She spent several days compos-
ing the one she had undertaken
for the little apprentice and
finally it was completed, queer
production in stiff and stiited
phrase it would be considered
now, and she began to cast about
for the means of mailing it.
After revolving the matter in her
mind for several more days she
presently realized that she must
confde in some one older than
herself. so she timidly sought
the advice of the housekeeper
and this sour dame. taking pos
session of the letter and the
money, straightway carried them
to Mr.. Floyd and told him how
she had obtained them. The
master was very angry and you
may oe sure soundly rated his
daughter for what he was
pleased to call her infamous
treachery to an indulgent father,
but the weight of his wrath fell
most heavily on the head of the
miserable slave.
The boy could endure the
abuse, he was accustomed to
that. though his disappointment
over the miscarriage of his hope
full plan was more bitter, he
thought, than any he had yet
suffered. but a fresh torture was
now devised by the cruel master
and the proud spirit of the hon
est Scotch lad was stung more
sharply than it had ever been.
He was accused of having stolen
the money that he had given
Jessie for the postage. In just
| ice to Mr.. Floyd it must be said
that he did not know of the cap
tain's gift to Angus and he had
supposed the boy was penniless,
and furthermore small sums of
money had for a long period
been disappearing from his desk
from time to time. But, on the
other hand, he should have con-
sidered that the apprentices en-
ployment lay far from the count
ing room and did not give him
access to the Office except when
the merchant himself was there,
and then only for moment at a
time and not sufficient to make
him familiar with the place
where the money was kept, Be-
sides, it was brutally cruel to
make such an accusation without
any evidence whatever to sus-
tain it. The fact was, as it de-
veloped later, that the merchants
son John had found the secret of
the money drawer and was keep
ing himself in pocket money
which his parsimonious father
denied him.
Unjustly accused and in, dis
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