The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1903-09-10

| Hapgood, lis an aristocrat He's got
the best blood in the land in him. He
told me once that the old Puritan fellow
in the frame was his great-great-uncle
and the most famous preacher in the
land. But artistocracy and ancestry
don't count when you're IS and amt
| got no money"
! The old man disappeared around the
corner of the street. Hapgood, with a
/ curious light in his eyes, went quickly
/ across the roadway and entered the ram
| shackle old mansion which Edgars had
/ just left. He went straight to the up
stairs room where he had seen the open
/ trunk. Entering he took a curious
| shaped key from his pocket and sprung
| the clasp of the paddock, throwing back
| the lid CT the trunk. With nervous
| haste he picked out letter. 1t was the
/ one which the old man had been read
ing the day before. Hapgood read the
/ letter through, and a smile of salts
faction. came into his face. Then
/ he locked the trunk and came away
| That night Jim Hapgood scraped to-
| gether all the money he could and left
/ for New York city. Thence he went
to Newport. In three days time he was
back at his home with the light of an
almost fierce joy in his eyes.
| The day after Jim Hapgood's depart
ure Hezekiah Edgars missed the daily
visit which this rough fellow had been
/ in the habit of paying. He liked Hap
| good despite his roughness and his
| drunkenness, for the fellow in his way
had been kind to the old man. Edgars
! in his loneliness turned TO the trunk.
| He unlocked it and took out several of
/ the letters. He did not detect the alb
sence of one. He went over them one
at a time, while the stern face in the
/ portrait above looked down on him.
The great part of the letters were adj
/ dressed to Aaron Burrage, the grand
son of the man who was looking down
/ from the frame on the wall and the
cousin Of the father of the old man who
was bending over the trunk Hezekiah
Edgars knew the names that were
signed to these letters. They were the
names of women, famous women in
NAAo'A NNJ u SNAAbuig dSOllCs anu DcIlto
/ still borne by people whom the world
knew for their wealth and their po-
! sition. Hezekiah Edgars half shud-
dered as he read the letters and thought
| of the power for evil of his long dead
| kinsman.
why were these never destroyed"
he asked himself, before they came
] int h., MI.
! trunk and locked it.
Three days later Jim Hapgood en-
tered the old mans apartment Mr.
! Edgars," he said, Il did something
mean, but | guess you won't be sorry
when you know what come of it.
took letter out of that horsehair
trunk the other day, and I've beel to
New York and Newport, and | showed
it where it did the most good The
women who wrote those letters have
descendants. | seen a few of 'em
while | was away. That trunk, with
whats in it, delivered in New York
city Monday of next week, is WORTH
$4,000 cold cash. There's 81 900 Of
it for me and $4,000 of it for you,
and you won't go to no poorhouse
yet awhile Now, don't you look like
that, for the letters won hurt no.
body and wont get published They're
! goin' to the descendants of the writers,
and they'll burn EN- up q lex. You
just think over it till tomorrow, and
I'll come again"
The old mans hands were trembling.
When Hapgood left he rose unsteadily
and looked about him. The room SEEM
ingly was barer than ever. The words
forty thousand dollars" went buzzing
through his brain. Then he put the
thought of the money from him, and
quickly came the vision of that awful
place on the outskirts of the town where
the aged paupers went.
Hezekiah Edgars' eyes went to the
face in the picture. With all it's Sc
verify it was a noble face that looked
down upon him. The old man studied it
and thought of his father and his fa-
theirs father. 'They were honorable
men, came the thought, "and l have
been an honorable man to this day."
He dragged the trunk from the corner
to the fireplace. He unlocked it and
took out the letters in armfuls with a
sort of delight in his face and threw
them on the hearth.
He had emptied the trunk He lighted
match and touched the flame to the
pile of paper. He watched the flames
lick up the letters. In a moment or two
| there was nothing but gray ashes on
the hearth.
The old man turned and looked square,
ly and proudly into the eyes of the face
on the wall
Jim Hapgood went to that room the
next day. The old man was on his bed,
with smile lighting up his dead face
Chicago Record Herald
A NEW FOOD PLANT.