Year: 1878

/


"He walked down the hill and through
! the village. The weather was warm,
and the people were sitting at their
| doors, or strOlling in the little gardens
as he passed, enjoying the serenity of
| the evening and their rest from labor.
! Many 8 look was turned towards him,
and many a doubtful glance he cast on
/ either side to see whether any knew and
! Stunned him. There were strange faces
| in almost every house; in some he rec
Ognized the burly form of some old
| schOOlfellOw, a 10y when he last saw
him. surrounded by a troop of merry
| children in others he saw, seated in an
! easy chair at a cottage door, feeble and
! infirm old man whom he only remember
/ ed as hale and hearty laborer; but they
| had all forgotten him, and he passed on
unknown.


1.-The last soft light of the setting sun
/ had fallen on the earth, casting a rich
glow on the yellow corn sheaves, and
| lengthening the shadows of the orchard
trees, as he stood before the old house,
the home of his infancy, to which his
| heart had yearned with an intensity of
affection not to be described through
long and weary years of captivity aud
sorrow. The paling was low, though he



| seemed a high wall TO him; and he
| looked over intO the old garden. There
were more seeds and gayer flowers than
| there used to be, but there were the old
trees still, the very tree under which he
had lain thousand times when tired of
playing in the sun, and felt the soft,
mild sleep of happy bOyhOOd steal gently
upon him. There were voices within
the house. He listened, but they fell
strangely upon his ear he knew them
| not. They were merry. too, and he well
knew that his poor old mother could not
be cheerful, and he went away. The
door opened, and q group of little chill
dren bounded out, shouting and rOmping.
The father, with a little boy in his arms,
appeared at the door and they crowded
around him, claPping their tiny hands,
and dragging him out to join their joyful
sports. The convict thought on the
many times he had shrunk from his faith.
er's sight in that very place. He re-
membered how often he had buried his
trembling head beneath the bed-clothes
and heard the harsh word and the hard
stripe, and his mothers wailing; and
though the man sObbed aloud with agony
of mind as he left the spot; his fist was
clenched and hi, teeth were set in fierce
and deadly passion.


And such was the return to which he
had looked through the weary perspec-
tive of many years, and tor which he
had undergone so much suferingl No
face of welcome, no look of fOrgiveUness,
no house to receive, no hand to help him
and this, too, in the old village. What
was his loneliness in the wild thick woods
where man was never seen TO this


9 He felt that in the distant land of
his bondage and lnfamy he had thought
of his native place as it was when he
left it; not as il would be when he
returned. The sad reality struck coldly
at his heart, and his spirit sank within
him. He had not the courage 10 make
inquiries, or to present himself to the
only person who was likely to receive
him with kindness and compassion. He
walked slowly on; and stunning the
roadside like guilty man, turned into
meadow he well remembered; and COW
ering his face with his hands, threw him
self upon the grass.


{" He had not observed that j man was
lying on the bank beside him; his gar
ments rustled as he turned round to
steal look at the new conner; and Ed
munds raised his head.


"The man had moved into a sitting
posture. His body was much bent, snd
mis- face was wTinkled and yellow. His
dress denoted him an inmate Of the
wOrkhOuse he bad the appearance OF
being very old, but it looked more the
effect of dissipation or disease than length
OF years. He was staring hard at the
stranger, and though his eyes were
lusterless and heavy at first, they ap-
peared to glow with an unnatural and
alarmed expression after they had been
fixed upon him short time, until they
seemed to be starting from their sockets.
Edmunds gradually raised himself to his
knees, and looked more and more earn
estly into the old mans face. They gazed
upon each other in silence.


The old man was CHASTITY pale. He
shuddered and tottered 10 his feet. Ed
munds sprang to his He stepped back a
psca or two. Edmunds advanced.


''' Let me hear you speak said the
convict, in a thick broken voice.


E' Stand Off crisd the old man, with
a dreadful oath. The convict drew closer
to him.


"' Stand Off shrieked the old man.
Furious with terror he raised his stick,
and struck Edmunds Leavy blow across
the face.


'' Father-devilp p murmured the con-
vict between his set teeth. He rushed
wildly forward, and clutched the old
man by the throat--bUt he was his father,
and his arm fell powerless by his side.
"The old man uttered a loud yell
which echoed through the lonely fields
like the howl of an evil spirit. His face
turned black; the gore rushed from his
mouth and nose, and dyed the grass a
deep, dark red, n he staggered and fell
He had ruptured a blOod-vessel, and he
was a dead man before his son could
raise him


- In that corner of the Church-yard," F."
said the old gentleman, after a silence of