“It means, Squire Sheldon,” said Mr. Pettigrew,
“that you won’t turn my uncle out of his
farm this time. My young friend, Rodney Ropes,
has advanced Uncle Cyrus money enough to pay off the
mortgage.”
“I won’t take a check,” said the
squire hastily.
“You would have to if we insisted upon it, but
I have the money here in bills. Give me a release
and surrender the mortgage, and you shall have your
money.”
It was with a crestfallen look that Squire Sheldon
left the farmhouse, though his pockets were full of
money.
“It’s all up,” he said to his friend
Caldwell in a hollow voice. “They have
paid the mortgage.”
After all the railway did cross the farm, and Uncle
Cyrus was paid two thousand dollars for the right
of way, much to the disappointment of his disinterested
friend Lemuel Sheldon, who felt that this sum ought
to have gone into his own pocket.
A MINISTER’S GOOD FORTUNE.
“I have another call to make, Rodney,”
said Mr. Pettigrew, as they were on their way back
to the hotel, “and I want you to go with me.”
“I shall be glad to accompany you anywhere,
Mr. Pettigrew.”
“You remember I told you of the old minister
whose church I attended as a boy. He has never
received but four hundred dollars a year, yet he has
managed to rear a family, but has been obliged to use
the strictest economy.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“I am going to call on him, and I shall take
the opportunity to make him a handsome present.
It will surprise him, and I think it will be the first
present of any size that he has received in his pastorate
of over forty years.
“There he lives!” continued Jefferson,
pointing out a very modest cottage on the left hand
side of the road.
It needed painting badly, but it looked quite as well
as the minister who came to the door in a ragged dressing
gown. He was venerable looking, for his hair
was quite white, though he was only sixty five years
old. But worldly cares which had come upon him
from the difficulty of getting along on his scanty
salary had whitened his hair and deepened the wrinkles
on his kindly face.
“I am glad to see you, Jefferson,” he
said, his face lighting up with pleasure. “I
heard you were in town and I hoped you wouldn’t
fail to call upon me.”
“I was sure to call, for you were always a good
friend to me as well as many others.”
“I always looked upon you as one of my boys,
Jefferson. I hear that you have been doing well.”
“Yes, Mr. Canfield. I have done better
than I have let people know.”
“Have you been to see your uncle? Poor
man, he is in trouble.”
“He is no longer in trouble. The mortgage
is paid off, and as far as Squire Sheldon is concerned
he is independent.”
“Indeed, that is good news,” said the
old minister with beaming face. “You must
surely have done well if you could furnish money enough
to clear the farm. It was over a thousand dollars,
wasn’t it?”
