The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1905-06-30
HER FATHERS GREAT LOVE.
Nan Patterson's Trial Furnishes
Theme for 8IetcaIrs Pen

Nan Patterson, the EaOrOo IRA glrl
charged with the murder Of Caesar
Young, has been discharged For the
second time a jury has failed to agree
as to her guilt OF innocence, and she
viii not be required 10 undergo an
other trial The prosecution has
doubtless concluded that 1t viii be /
impossible to convict the defendant /
and 50 the state is to be saved add
tiOnal expense, while the public is to /
be spared further recital Of the de- |
tails Of this disgraceful affair
But there was one satisfactory Tea
ture to the long drawn-out trials
That was the devotion displayed by
the distracted father toward his way
ward daughter. When, during her
first trial, Nan Patterson stepped from
the witness stand after having passed
through the ordeal Of a relentless
denomination, the old man put
his arm afectiOnately around his
child and said: You did splendidly,
little girl When the jury returned
with the report that it could nOtagree
the newspaper dispatches say:
The father Of the accused, who
has been by her side ever since the
trial began and whose tender care and
devotion to her has been the most
touching Of the trial, tried to comfort
her, but his saddened face and
mournful expression robbed the words
he uttered Of force and meaning as
he said: Don't worry, little girl; it
Will come out all right, yet
Someone has said that the true test
Of love is the willingness to endure
and suffer for another: that il is the
suffering element that measures love,
and that characters that are great
If he oh
shall be willing, patient and strong to
endure for others; that to hold our
nature in the willing service Of an
other is the divine IDEA Of manhood
UnquestiOnably the average parent
would successfully meet the test, even
as it was met by the father Of Nan
Patterson. Children seldom appre-
ciate the parents love. Doubtless Nan
Patterson has learned to appreciate
it, just as many other wayward girls
have learned it in the past, just as
many other girls will learn it in the
future
No human pen can accurately de-
scribe that love. 1t is wonderfully
elastic, and as child after child is
born into the family covers them all,
/ giving the same portion to the new
| born, while lesSening none OF that en-
| jOyed by the others The good moth
/ er who, when asked which Of her
| children she loved best, said, The
| one who is sick" pointed out in a
/ happy way the only difference a par
| ent can feel in his attitude toward his
| children. We love best the one who
! is sick" we love best the one who is
/ crippled in body; we love best the one
/ who has some weakness, for which he
i is not entirely responsible; we love
/ best the one who has fallen even
/ though he fell as Nan Patterson fell,
| even though the doors Of society be
| closed against him, even though all
but the hope Of heaven has been de-
MED him
Don't IVORY, little girl, it will come
out all right yet said Nan Patterson's
father; and with all Of her faults,
/ she was his little girl then, she is
his little girl now, and she viii be
| his little girl until the end. That
/ faithful father best remembers his
/ daughter as she was when indeed a
/ little girl Although she has grown
into wORanhOOd there is always in
| the fathers mind a portrait Of the
/ little girl in frOcks; there is always
a picture Of the little innocent playing
| or praying-at the mothers knee
That little girl may have met the
world and been conquered by the
| world; her friends one by one may
have turned from her; she may have
| fallen even as Nan Patterson fell; but
| at the critical moment the majesty
| Of parental love asserts itself; the di-
/ vine idea Of InaanOod' Is manifested.
/ At the critical moment the love Of
/ the parent for the child is supreme
and arm in arm the devoted father
/ and the hayward daughter face a
/ frOwning world and walk together
| through the dark valley, the one low
/ ing as he always loved, the other ap-
| preciative Of that majestic affection
/ perhaps for the first time in her life.
/ All the world loves q lover; il
I smiles at the sweethearts gathered at
/ the trysting place; it mods approval
when the husband and wife grow day
/ by day into a fOnder and holier IN
/ ion; II admires the manly devotion Of
| brother to sister; il respects the affec-
ton OF friend for friend; it IS in
spired by the lOvelight in the mothers
eyes when she bends over the cradle
OF her babe. It must stand uncOv-
cred in the presence Of that parental
love exemplifed in the Nan Patterson
case; for that is the true reflection
Of the love shown by. the Savior Of
men-that is the spirit which hover
ed over the manger at Bethlehem,
made Gethsemane endurable and Cal
vary IDSSADAE- NTEedLCL 1--we LIAelA LlllS
hath no mani
Painters have sought to paint love
upon canvas; poets have tried to pic
ture il in verse; dramatists have en-
deavOred to describe # in play. But
it is not a thing to be shown in pic
ture or in words 1t was manifested
in all its majesty when the Nazarene
cried: 1T is not finished and since
then IL has been shown in the palaces
Of the rich and in the novels Of the
poor wherever a good parents love
for his child has been put to the test.
It is a pity that old man Patter-
sons little girl FELL It is a pity that
the hearts Of her parents were brOk-
en-; it is a pity that the happiness Of
a good wife was wrecked by the folly
Of Caesar Young and the weakness Of
the girl who yielded; it is a pity that
the public must be inflicted with the
details Of such q case But it would
be worth all the tears and all the
grief and all the toll and trouble IL
the plain moral presented throughout
this affair could be written fndelibly
upon the heart OF every other mans
little girl in all this wide, wide
world