Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-09-25

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from the pensioner, who aiscoruscd iii.
cessantly on the iniquity of the 60
ermint' and whose farewell re.narl;
dealt with the attempt to rob him OF -
hundred gowlden sov'rins."
Decidedly the boy was in Iuck's way.
He had secured some necessary iln0le.
ments without attracting any at:cn.
ton. Watching Il favorable opportuni-
ty, he slipped unseen into the eloori Of
Johnson's News. He tried the door or
No. 8. 1t was locked. He inserted the
key and entered. The darkness within
was that Of utter blindness, but he
dumped his impedimenta on the floor
and lacked the door behind him.
Then he CROPPED his doubtful path tn
the mantelpiece where he had left Il
candle and box Of matches. His boots
to be mostly diamonds. and STUN
bled over the mattress in front of the
fireplace. Yes, the candle was there.
Soon he had light The tiny CLEAN
lifted the black curtain, and he survey
ed his domain. y single glance show.
ed him that all things remained exactly
las he left them on Saturday morning.
The packet Of letters rested on the
broken chair. the o.l sack was stuffed
into the window and the --rope-that
never to be forgotten rope-dangled
from the hook to which lie had fastcn-
ed it.
The sight brought lump into his
throat G.iY1l- n his
down, he felt, by some superior power.
Mother" he said humbly. "forgivc
ne and ask God to forgive me for
what would have done were you not
watching over me-"
In the spiritual eXaltation OF the mo.
lncnt he almost expected to find that
sweet face peerlng at him benignantly
from out the dim background. But he
could not see her, and he rose, revivi.
fed by this spoken communion with
her. He had no shadow of doubt as ia
her presence. God to him was the uni.
verse and his mother the unauestiona.
Bile means OF communication with the
Providence that governed his life. He
would die rather than abandon that
belief. Were 1t dispelled from his
mind he was quite certain that his
wealth would vanish with it. 1t was
no haphazard accident which had sent
the diamond laden meteor headlons
from the sky. He was despairing. dy-
Ing. His mother appealed for him,
and, behold! The very elements that
control the world obeyed mighty be.
hest.
He began to work methodically. LII
the first place, he lit fire, for the
evening was chilly; then he shook his
mattress and swept the floor, gather.
ing into heap all the tiny particles
with which it was Uttered. These he
collected in piece of newspaper and
folded them into q parcel. which again
he Enclosed In Il stouter sheet of brown
paper, finally tying the whole with /:
yard of string he carried in his pocket.
| There were hundreds of tiny dia-
| monds in that insignificant package
and not few the size of small peas.
As n matter of fact, he discovered sub
seQuently that the net result of his
sweeping brought him in over f1,0GO.
Having examined every nook and
crevice of the apartment by the aid
of the candle, he satisfied himself thai
taught remained which would indi
| cate to the most curious eye any event
out of the common having occurred in
that humble dwelling.
1t was typical of Philips implicit
faith that he did not unlock the back
door until his interior task was ended.
He knew that his meteor was untouch,
ed
There was no wind without. The
candle, feeble as its rays We're, iilumi
mated the small yard sufficiently to re-
veal its debris of white stones and
darker Jumps of metal. Beginning at
the doorway, he swept vigorously, but
| with minutest care, until he had form
| ed four good sized piles on the flag
| stones.
He could not afford to differentiatc
| between the debris of the damaged
pavement and the fragments OF the
meteor. 1t was easy 10 distinguish the
| larger pieces of broken glass from tn,
| window inside the house In the yard
he had neither the time nor the light
to select the bits of shattered stone
All must go together. to be sorted with
leisured care subsequently.
He scrutinized the external window
sills the door posts, the cbinks of the
small coal house door at the farther
end of the yard, even the rough sur
faces of the walls, and removed every
| specli of loose material More news
paper was reQuisitioned, but after ut!l.
izing the Irvine on his parcel of cloth
Ing he ran short of string.
He coolly went up the stairs, unfas-
tened tile rope with which he had iii.
tended to hang himself and loosened
Its stiff strands. Soon he had an album
dance Of strong cord, and four bulky
packages were added to tile first small
enc.
ITO BE Continued