The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-04-12

"Its beautiful exclaimed the
dreamer, enthusiastically.
wei. did old Dexter ever do such
a thing::"
Il don't remember" said the dreanl'
or considering a little, that he ever
did
IT'S worth doing, is it not?'
81 should say it was. Listen to the
little chaps"
1T seems to please you
TT dses.'
WHY" asked the cloaked nsu,-,
ssdid old Dexter never indulge in q
pleasure so cheaply purchased?'
Now yer mention it," replied the
dreamer. Il suppose it is because rs
never thought of it,
Not a young man, this Dexter:' +
mot at all"
."How old, should you say"
."Oh. 1 know. having lived with htA'
so long. He's ffty-five.7
"Fifty-fve! And never thought OF
doing a charitable action
Perhaps he didn't have time" plead
ed the dreamer.
Not in all those ffty-fve years? A
large family of his wv to occupy him,
perhaps?"
No" said the dreamer, with some
thing like a sigh, "he has no family
NO wife,"
'"No. Here. I say" cried the dream
er, excitedly. as the phantom Of Polly
Cleaver 'glided past. 'What are you
doing here? l thought you was Dead
ITO whom are you ~speaking"
ITO one who was my wife for about
a month. There b ls-no' snes
gone"
Dead to .you?'
..Dead to every one, so far as I
know"
And left no child behind her:"?
"None that I ever heard Of"
$50 you stand alone, without n hu-
man link of love to bind you to the
world. without sympathy, without
charity. without a spark of kind feel
ing for the suffering and helpless.
Farewell"
In the utterance of this word the
children and the birds faded from his
sight, and the dreamer found himself
alone with the figure in the gray cloak,
which was slowly moving away.
But I,say, old boy" cried the dream
er you are rather hard on old DeX-
ter. He isn't at all q bad sort OF feF
low. Upon my soul, he isn't"
He caught hold of the cloak, which
fell from the figure, and the dreamer
saw before him the form of q man
shaped in ice, and on the region OF the
heart were inscribed the words, "Old
Dexter's Charity"
The dreamer laid his hand upon b
inscription, and shivered as lie muir
INJURED: ..
Precious cold, upon my soul"
Then everything vanished and Thorn
as Dexter enjoyed a dreamless sleep OF
several hours.
lie WAS dIOcSco W
a postman's knock at the street door.
He jumped out Of bed and shuffied
into his shop, where he saw the letter
drop through q slit.
ON the floor there were two or three
other letters and three copies OF a daily
newspaper, which the postman poked
every morning under the door.
He gathered the newspapers and
looked at the dates.
why" he muttered in wonder. 1--WE
been asleep for three days and nights.
I've been i'll. I suppose. I feel better
now. but still a bit shaky. What's
that noise:".
1t was q noise Of voices in The street,
followed by a cracking at the door,
which betokened that people were Try
ing to force an entrance.
Hold hardr' he cried. What do
yer want?'
In respons he heard voices eIclain-
ing:
ITS old De1ter's voice"
1T amt; it's his ghosts"
"It's somebody robbing the place!
Break it in, policeman; break II inn
To avert the destruction Thomas
Dexter hastily unlocked the Goor and
threw it open
And there he stood, clad Only in his
shirt. confronting quite q number OF
persons, most of them ~neighbors, who.
alarmed at the shutters being up and
at Dexter not making his appearance
for three days, had prevailed upon the
policeman to effect an entrance into
the shop.
All Of them fell back at his appear
ance, and d few ran away as fast as
if Old Nick himself were at their heels,
and when they were at a safe distance
spread a report that Dexter was dead
and his ghost was coming that way.
Those who remained were soon con-
WINGED that Thomas Dexter was alive
by the abuse he hurled at them for
their kindly interest in his behalf.
Go be Continued.)
h Khedive's C~leverness.