The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-01-04

continued.
when I was a young girl, my
mother went upon visit to her
brother In a distant city, taking my
sister, Mary. with her. On the morn
ing OF their departure. as they we're
making the last preparations; my
father opened his purse and took
from 1t two gold coins; one OF which
he gave to sister Mary to spend while
on her visit. Then turning to me,
he said, And this is for my little
housekeeper,' as he gave me the
other. In few moments more. We
heard the stage drivers horn. We
followed them to the gate, where
their luggage had already been placed,
to bid them farewell. and waited until
the coach had driven off in cloud
Of dust.
when I re-entered the house. nay
| first thought was of the gold piece
which ! had laid on the table, but
when l looked 1t was not there.
| looked over the entire table. and fin
! ally, on the floor beneath il, but my
search was in vain. But, just then,
thought flashed into my mind. John
had gone out of the room, when
came In. He had seen father give
tho money 10 -fFe.-W Who else could
have taken 1t but him? Now, John
er with tho farm work for come time.
Hitherto he had always proved trust
worthy and honest. / decided to tell
father and leave the matter In his
hands. This / did, and after the noon
meal, he took John into another room,
where they remained for some time.
When they came out, saw that
JOINTS. face was troubled. but fathers
remained unchanged. Later on, he
Aa.fl Ill. Nd Il Tn Ill x1x
the money, and that no more was to
be said OF the matter at present. He
would wait IN the hopes of being able
to save him from the future yielding
to temptation
1T believed that fathers way was
right: yet, for several days ] scarcely
noticed John, and / saw that he felt
keenly the slight Father. however,
treated him in the same cordial way.
The lad seemed crestfallen, which /
attributed to guilt. How long mat
ters would have remained this way,
before reaching crisis. II would be
hard to say. had we not received a
letter from mother. Father was some
what startled at first thinking that
som ething serious had befallen the
travellers. for letters were rare occur
rences, but after reading 1t, he said,
| Daughter. we have done very wrong.
Thy mother has written that she hopes
you have not worried over the disap-
pearance of your money. as she had
| taken 1t from the table and placed
| 1t in her reticu1e, thinking 1t was
your sisters and she was to talee care
| OF 1t for her. Not until they were
gone two days did she discover her
mistake OF course John was called
in and everything was explained to
him and shall never forget the
happy look which he wofes-er the
shame ! felt at having accused him
80 wrongly. So. although years have
passed away, and In them many
things have been said and done which
might have caused ma to dtstrust
others. had i not remembered how
falsely I had accused John"
| well, grandma" said Charles. II
believe you are right. and l will not
believe that Tom took II, and maybe
1t liz good that it Is lost, for Tom
is the best fellow anyway and more
worthy of the prize"
| The next morning about n half
hour before school time, Charles
heard vigorous ring at the door,
patiently waiting, Did you find 1t
yet" he asked eagerly.
I mo" said Charles. II guess I must
| have misiaid 1t, or thrown 1t away
with my waste paper" and no one
would have guessed his disappoint-
nent by his tone.
/ We'll, ! kept thinking about that
| said Tom. land this morning an idea
| popped into my head. Did you put
that volume away before you missed
lit? We must look In that, and If 1t
! isn't there. we will go down in the
| basement, and look through yester-
DAVIS waste paper"
| "Just the thing, Tom. I wouldn't
be bit surprised II I had left 1t
| In the book but ] would never have
thought of 1t myself" And twenty
minutes later when they took the an
| Client history from the shelf, 1t opened
OF itself to where an essay lay intact,
and Charles did not soon forget the
lesson which he thus learned.--Home
| Messenger.
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