The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1905-04-28
eautiful" exclaimed the

Tfs beautiful exclaimed the
dreamer, enthusiastically.
well, did old Dexter ever do such
a thing;"
II don't remember" said the dream.
er, considering little, that he ever
did"
It's worth doing, is II nOtT'
II should say 1t was. Listen Ia the
little chaps.
1T seems to please you
"It does"
why" asked the cloak.d ..m-,
"did old Dexter never indulge in a
| pleasure so cbeaply purchasedF
Now yer mention IT," replied the
dreamer, IL suppose il Is because lie
never thought OF it,"
"Not a young man, this DexterY -
mot At all"
How old, should you say"
"Oh, l know, having lived with h.,.
50 long He's hfty-fve."
"Flfty-fye. And never thought Of
doing n charitable action"
perhaps he didn't have time" plead
c0 lDc uTedlncI.
"Not in all those ffty-Gve years? 4
large family Of his own 10 occupy him,
pcrhapsE
40" said the dreamer, with some
thing like q sigh, "he has no family"
40 wife,"
"No. Here, I say" cried the dream
or. cxcitcdly, as the phantom o. Polly
Clcavcr glidcd past. What are you
doing here? ! thought you was dead
"To whom are you speaking"
"To one who was my wife for about
month. There she is-nO, she's
gone"
Dead 20 yOuW
Dead to every one, so Ear as
know
And left no child behind her."
"NOne that ever heard o."
$50 you stand alone, without one hui
man link OF love 20 bind you 20 the
world, without sympathy, without
charity. without spark Of kind feel
ing for the suffering and helpless.
Farewell
In the uttcrance 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 / say, old boy" cried the dream
or you are rather hard on old DeS-
ter. He isn't at all bad sort of fell
low. Upon my soul he isn't
lie caught hold Of the CLOAK which
fell from the figure, and the dreamer
saw before him the form Of man
shaped in ice and ON the region OF the
heart were inscribed the words, "Old
Dcxtcr's Charity"
The dreamer laid his hand upon the
inscription. and shycred as lie muir
INJURED:
Precious cold, upon my soul"'
Then everything vanished and Thom-
ns Dexter enjoyed dreamlcss sleep OF
several hours.
lie was aroused 10 consciousness by
n postman's knock at the street door
lie jumped out Of bed and shufllcd
into his shop. where he saw the letter
drop through slit.
ON the floor there were two or three
other letters and three copies of 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 "Ive
been asleep for three days and nights.
I've been i'll. | suppose. | feel better
A. at IL =
that noise"
II was a noise Of voices in .hc street,
followed by q cracking at the door,
which bctokencd that people were try
Ing 10 force an entrance.
Hold hardw he cried. what DO
yer WANT
In response he heard voices cxclalm-
ing:
ITS old Dextcrs voice"
"It amt: it's his ghosts"
ITS somebody robbing the place.
Break ii in, policeman, break il in!'
TO avert the destruction Thomas
Dexter hastily unlocked the door and
threw il open.
And there he stood, clad only in his
shirt, confronting quite Il number or
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 10 effect an entrance into
the shop.
All of them fell back az his appear
aucc. ana a few ran away as fast as
! If Old Nick himself were NJ their heels,
and when they were at safe distance
spread report that Dexter was dead
and his ghost was coming that way.
Those who remained were soon con-
viuccd that Thomas Dexter was alive
| 10y the abuse he hurled at them for
! their kindly interest in his behalf.
ITO he Continucdl
The Khcdivs's CleVcrucss.
! rho Il ID1iNn ~ E,~Npt lnS "a saving