Year: 1862

hand


Welcome home, he said, Nth loud
cheerful tones I remembered so we'll
. You have changed so would not have
known you but no matter for that-your
heart is in the right place, know"


How can you say he is changed >
said my mother, gently. +" To be sure he
looks older and graver, and more ike a
man than when he went away; lut his
eyes and smiles arc the same as ever It
is that heavy beard that changes him. He
is my boy still. ;"


''Tes, NEITHER" answered sadly; "
am your boy still.


God help me- At that moment felt
like boy, and it would have been bles-
sed relief to have wept upon her bosom,
as had done in my infancy. But kept
down the beating of my heart and the tre-
NOR Of my lip. and answered quietly, as l
looked in his full handsome face:


'' You have changed too, Frank, but l
think for the BETTER


"0h, yes-thank you for the compli-
ment. My wife tells me grow handsom-
er every day"


His wife Could I hear that name and
keep silent still


"And have you seen my little girl .
he added, lifting the infant IN his arms, and
kissing her crimson cheek. & tell you,
Harry, there is not another like her in
the United States. Don't you think
she looks very much like her mother used
to


&c Very much" 1 faltered.


g Halo i" said Frank, with sudden
ness that made me start violently I; Il
had forgotten to introduce you to my wife.
I believe you and she used to be playmates
in your young days. Eh, Harry?" and
be slapped me on the back. For the
sake of old times and because you were
not at the wedding, will give you leave
to kiss her once but mind, cid fellow,
don't repeat the ceremony. Come, here
she is, and for once I will manage those
ferocious mouStaehes Of yours in the ope-
ration"


He pushed Lizzie, laughing and bush
ing, towards me. \ CLEAN of light and
hope, almost too dazzling to bear, came
over ne, and | cried cut before | thought,
& Not Mary "


It must have betrayed my secret to ev-
cry one in the room, but nothing was said;
even Frank was this time silent. I kissed
the fair cheek of the young wife, and hur-
ricd to the silent figure looking out Of the
window


ary,-Mary Moore, - said I, in low
voice, '' Have you alone no welcome for
the wanderer? 2"


She turned and laid her hand in mine,
and murmured lurriedIy, q an glad to
see you here, Harry.


Simple words and yet how blest they
made me I would not have yielded up
that moment for an emperor's crown
There was the happy home group, and the
dear home fresidc, and sweet Mary Moore!
The eyes bad dreamed of by day and by
night were falling before the ardent gaze
Of mine, and tee sweet face had so long
prayed to see was there before me-
more beautiful than before. I never knew
till that moment the meaning of real hap
piness.


Many years have passed since that hap
py night, and the hair that was dark and
glossy then is fast turning grey. l am
growing to be an old man, and can look
back to a long, happy and well-spent life,
And yet, sweet as it has been, I would not
recall single day ; for the love that made
my manhood SO bright shines also upon nc
in my white hairs. An old man? Can
this be 50? At heart am as young as
ever. And Mary, With her bright hair
parted smoothly from her brow that has a
slight furrow in it. is still the Mary of my
early days. The heart that held her in
infancy, and sheltered her piously in the
flush and beauty of womanhood, can never
east her out till life shall cease to warm it.
Nor even then, fer love still lives in Heav-
en-.