The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-11-08


For a time he tried to brave 1t OUT.
Then he became discouraged and resolved
to gain wealth by one desperate effort. He
sought the gambling hells. In three
nights he had lost all he owned, even
the house that had been bequeathed to
him.
Poor Japhet now saw himself just
where he had started-penniless and an
outcast. Too proud to appeal to the only
friends he had left, Lord Windermear or
Mr.. Masterton, he resolved to turn his
back on society. Leaving a note for Tim
othy, in which he begged him to forgive
him for running away and asked him to
sell what was left and keep the money,
he departed from London on foot ex-
changed his fine clothes at the first viii
lage for a smock frock and corduroy
trousers, and with nothing but ego In
his pocket set forth on his second pilgrim
age, with no very clear idea in his mind
except that he despised the world.
His scorn was increased as he wan
dered, for he was robbed right and left,
till even the bundle IN which he car
ried his scanty spare clothing was stolen.
Bitterly he reflected that SO long as he
remained an imposter he had been treat
ed by the world to its best, admired. fiat
tered and beloved; while now that he
was honest he was met with contempt,
cruelty and treachery wherever he turned.
The cup of his sorrows was not full.
AS he wandered aimlessly along a coun-
try road after his bundle had been stolen
he was seized by constables and charged
with having attempted a highway rob-
berry.
Circumstantial evidence was strong
against him. The case was aggravated
by his determination not to give his name.
After a short trial he was sentenced
summarily to death.
A few days afterward the real crimi-
nails were taken and confessed. Japhet
was discharged. None noticed that he
paid no attention to what was said to
him. They ascribed his white face and
his wild glance to the ordeal he had I'M
dergone, but in reality he had lost his
mind.
How long he wandered or where he
went he never knew. In after days he
could remember only that he ran at times
and seized people by the arms. crying:
Are you my father?" and that at other
times he tottered along, sobbing like
child. At last all consciousness left him.
When he came back to life he was in
bed, his head shaved and his arm bound
up after repeated bleedings. Beside him
sat a young girl In a Quaker's dress.
He felt as IL he could have gazed at
her forever. Her clear and transparent
complexion was the most beautiful he
had ever seen. Her glorious eyes were
arched by eyebrows regular as If drawn
with compasses. Her nose was very
straight, but not large. Her mouth was
perfection Under her prim. chaste Qua
ker's cap wonderful auburn hair showed
curls that could not be restrained.
She told Japhet that he had been found
on the road and taken in by a Quaker
gentleman, who she said, recognized him
as one he knew. Japhet cried out in as
constituent when he learned that his res
cuer was Mr.. Cophagus.
Thus had his search for father brought
him back as in a preordained circle.
Mr.. Cophagus soon hustled in, little
changed except for his Quaker garb, and
explained that he had married a Quaker
lady. the sister of Japhet's beautiful
nurse Under their care he recovered
fast. AS soon as he was quite restored
Mr.. Cophagus proposed to him that he
stay in Reading (Which was the town in
which he found HIMSELF and open an
apothecary's shop with money which he
would loan him.
Japhet assented, and presently the
young buck of the London drawing
rooms, frequenter of gambling bells and
lounger in clubs, stood behind a counter
in Quaker garb dispensing drugs and feel
ing happier than he had ever felt be-
fore.
II was some time before Japhet real
lied that his happiness was due not to his
prosperity in the business of apothecary,
but to his daily sight of Susannah
Temple.
He tried his best to rid himself of his
longing for a return to his fashionable
life, and he refrained steadfastly from
writing to any one in London; but the
faithful Timothy found him for all that.
He traced him after long wanderings of
his own. and the two friends were re-
united to the Joy of both.
Japhet had almost resigned himself to
discard all thought of searching for his
father again, when one morning an adj
yertisement caught his eye. 1t called on
Japhet Newlands to communicate with
Mr.. Masterton to learn that Of which
he has been long in search
Japhet almost forgot Susannah. In a
whirl of excitement he told her what had
happened in a whirl of excitement he
FASTENED from the house and in wilder
excitement than ever he arrived in Lon
don. where he lost no time in buying
fashionable clothes, and then presented
himself before Mr.. Masterton.
"Japhet," said Mr.. Masterton, after he
had welcomed the young man with most
unlawyer-like delight, there is no doubt
that we have found your father, or rather
that he has found you. But he Is a most
terrible old tiger. l hope you have the
bump of filial venterations strong, Japhet,
and plenty of filial duty. or you will be
kicked out of the house in week. He
is nothing but what 1 call him, an old
Bengal tiger"
And SO Japhet found him. He heard an
angry growl like that of a wild beast
when they approached the apartments
where his father was waiting for him.