The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1905-12-28

THE CRADLE.
lions justly due you pay but one kind.
You pay in money, and upon every 9th
cr reckoning you are bankrupt.
Il was dependent upon you when |
was Il child. Your father took me into
his house, If l was not there by right
| should not have been there at all |
was not Old enough to decide He was
the judge. When you came into your
inheritance you found Inc under your
roof You should have sent me away
or have done your duty by me. There
was no middle course
"YOUr duty was to teach me honor
/ and honesty. You taught me dishonor
and fraud. You should have shown
Christs world to me, where love and
Kindness and sympathy are current
coin You showed me only the temple
of the money changers before the Mas
ter drove them out, and you taught me
| by act and word that this was the true
holy of holics where all good men wOr-
SHIPPED"
She then lays bare the sordid life she
led with him. For all the outpourng
of her mind and heart he paid her only
in dross. All his thoughts were of
money; al his moral judgments were
rendered in terms of money He could
talk Of nothing else think of nothing
else and hope for nothing higher.
When their son was born Sir Robert
was relieved of terrible mental strain
He had feared the child might be a girl
and worthless for money making. and he
had never kept this anxiety secret from
her His sole ambition for his son was
that he should follow in his fathers foot
steps ard win the respect of banks. Sir
Robert acclaimed business principles over
the child's cradle and undoubtedly drove
his wife into a species of insanity by UNI
ceasng rciteration of his low aims and
sordid plans for their child
Her determination that the boy should
| never give a compromising ear to his
/ fathers instruction was undoubtedly the
leading motive for Sylvias conduct. 1t is
| true also that she had learned to under
stand the fraud that had been practfced
upon her in regard to Arthur Tyrrel as
/ the following passage in the letter proves:
You would not have forged a deed Of
! Arthur TyrrelPs property and offered it to
me for sale. but you did not scruple to
forge character for him and pass it up
on me for genuine. You ruined him
through Il partnership with swindlers
and every act of yours throughout that
time was shaped upon the basest and
most sordid self interest"
Probably this reference to Tyrrell led
Sir Robert to believe that Sylvia had fed
to him. Tyrrell was supposed to be in
America, and Sir Robert crossed the
ocean, yOwing vengeance. Tyrren, who
was really in England, heard of these oc-
currences and promptly followed Sir Rob
ert, but neither of them ever saw Sylvia
again or ever saw England, for Sir Rob-
ert became involved in business enter
prises in the new world and grew much
richer here, while Tyrrell died soon after
reaching these shores.
AS for Sylvia, she lived q quiet life and
earned her own bread and her sons. The
boy had a childhood full of love, a youth
made beautiful by increasing helpfulness
10 her and d manhood rich in honors. He
was not in the least like his father; but
alas for the sad miracle of the pertinacity
of sin, his son was unpleasantly reminis-
cent OF Sir Robert, the banker of Bar
lock, with whom l quarrel once a year,
l said in the beginning.
Why do l quarrel with a man who died
so long before | was born? Because he
L Ntto ny II ttl-5 dIuldlleI, lIle rascal!
None of his actual wealth descended to
me, but perhaps l owe my money to him
just the same. l have been in the banking
business now for twenty-five years, and
it seems to suit me. l understand credits.
l judge men by their capacity to pay
what they owe on the day when it is due,
though l can't help knowing that some
of them are a long way behind with their
more important obligations.
In order to get the better of wretched
old Sir Robert, who dwels within me, l
make it a practice on the first day of
the year to forgive the debt owed to me
by DELIGHTFULLY."- irresponsible nephew of
mine, and it is the more fun because he
always thinks I'm not going to do it. He
accumulates Indebtedness during the year
and comes to me in great distress at the
end Of 1t. Then rises up old Sir Robert to
tell me that this youth can't be honest or
he would pay his debts, and / have to
call upon the gentle spirit of Sylvia
Mayne to set me right. The boy is hon
est enough, but he doesn't understand
money; that's all. Perhaps I've spoiled
him by lending htGl so much. In that
! case | owe him reparatlon. l must make
4 the young rascal a sufficient annual al
/ lowance and thus pay my debt to him.