The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1920-10-21
A Modern
Miracle
By EUGENE S. WATSON
(Copyright.)

ant, squirmng uneasily upon his earthly
seat, seeking relief for his swollen
ankle by tenderly lifting from it the
weight of its encircling iron band. at
tached to which through the medium
of a short chain was a heavy iron
ball.
Big Ben was a convict and had es-
capped.
III during that hazy autumn day he
had eluded the. vigorous search of the
guards from the iron mines where,
with other cOnvicts of the state of
Tennessee, he had been forced to la
Dor.
1t was not his fault that's the first
few breaths of frost-kissed autumn air
always filed his being with an uncOn-
trollable appetite for backbone and
spareribs. Nor could he be blamed
because just upon the first day that
this appetite was irritating his sys-
tenn the cOlonels brother from up
| North had carelessly left his new rifle
leaning against the porch, where
| Ben's eyes could not help seeing 1t.
And after that, while crossing
through the timber to his little cabin.
he had nearly runlover half a dozen of
the finest porkers in Marion county,
escaped from the plantation of the
judge and enjoying their new-fOund
freedom in the woods. Under this ir-
resistble chain Of circumstances, how
could he be blamed for taking the rifle
! and forgetting to return it in the eX-
element following a lust for slaugh-
Ter which eliminated in the death of
four Of those rorkers?
The jury that found him guilty"
could not understand. They had said
he was thief and branded him a
felon. But they did not know, no one
knew except NANNY" and sisters.
AS his thoughts dwelt upon his tribu-
latons, there came to him a vision of
his old nanny" and her early teach
| ings of the strength and comfort to be
derived from prayer, and with this pic
ture before him he bowed his head
knelt with hands outstretched, and
! fervently exclaimed:
"Oh, Lord. | never done nothing.
don't deserve all this trouble. You
! knows how good been, so send me a
file quick SOS l kin take off desc
Irons and go home to nanny"
And hardly had the silent words
been mentally formed when before him
noiselessly appeared an angel, in the
=uise of white man mounted upon IL
white horse.
/ Without word or slightest sound this
angel placed in Ben's outstretched
| hands a small, green box containing
six new files, and silently disappeared
! from view.
1t was "Hoo-hoo" night in st. Louis,
and the corridors Of the Planters no.
rel were throngea with well-dressed
men, each wearing that mystic insig-
| MIA denoting the owner a devotee of
! Iumbers cult and a worshiper at the
shrine of the black cat.
! 1t had been a very busy day and eve
ming, and in the short time remaining
! before the noise and reverberation of
| large city awoke was to change into
| the drowsy, echOing, audible silence of
! the same city asleep, a few of the
/ prominent brothers in forestry had
seated themselves round a table in
the cafe, Willing away the time by
| anecd0te, experience and Renaissance
The conversation had slowly drift
| ed into those higher ideals and planes
Of thought so frequently found most
highly developed among those whose
rearing has been close to natures
breast, and the opinion was expressed
! by the NeStOr of the gathering that
naturally all men were good, and the
bad in them resulting only from edu-
cation and environment. In support
| of his argument, he stated that in his
experience every unconscious volun-
tary action by a human being was
based upon a good impulse and in
evitably resulted in a kindly deed.
These sentiments were warmly in
d0rsed, and the silence which followed
| left each to his own reflections until
broken by one of the party.
speaking of unconscious impulses"
he said, reminds me of an incident
which happened to me down in Ten
| neSsee.
Il had been cruising around among
some timber in the southern part of
The state, and was temporarily staying
al mill owned by a friend of mine
near the Sequatchie river was mount
i1g my horse to go to small town
near by when the superintendent
asked me if l would bring him back
box of files.
Upon finishing my business,
bought the files and started for the
mill late IN the afternoon. 1t hal been
raining hard, but had stopped and to
save time | took short cut through
the timber. My horse, a pure white
PAGER, stepping nOselessly along; his
hoofs made no sound upon the cushion
Of damp leaves.
Suddenly, upon rounding the up
! turned stump of fallen tree, l almost
ran upon a negro convict hiding behind
the roots, his leg impeded by a ball
and chain.
with closed eyes he knelt in an at