JOHNNY'S NEW FATHER.
THE cold weather came on early this year. As he ran shivering home from
school, Johnny saw, at almost every house, the preparations for winter.
Here was a pile of wood, and there a large heap of coal, suggestive of
warmth and comfort. Two days more and the important question about the
factory would be decided. If Mrs. Miles went away, it would be very
desolate. God only knew how they should be able to get along.
He thought of all this one night as he was returning from the factory,
and to comfort himself began humming his favorite tune,--
"I have a Father in the promised land."
As he came in sight of the cottage, he wondered at the bright light
which reflected from the windows; but he wondered still more at the
scene presented within.
Their one table was set in the middle of the floor, and spread with such
abundance as he had never seen there. His mother was hurrying to and
fro, and intent on the cakes she was frying, while at the same time she
talked with a well-dressed man who sat near the fire holding Ella in his
lap.
"I haven't forgotten your favorite dish," she said, with an arch smile.
"You liked rye fritters best, while Dexter preferred buckwheats."
"Ah, there is Johnny!" exclaimed the stranger, holding out his hand.
"Don't you remember me?"
It was, indeed, an old friend,--the man who had been watched and nursed
by Mrs. Talbot and her husband, and from whom she had never since heard.
He had spent a week in searching for her, he said; and now he meant to
take care of her and the children.
After supper, he rocked Ella to sleep, and then begged to hold her
awhile; for, he said, "I have something to tell you."
"You know I had not fully recovered when I went away," he began. "I
tried to thank you, but I couldn't; my heart was too full. I heard of
Dexter's death, and felt that I had lost a brother. The next thing I did
was to make a resolution to be a brother to you and yours. I worked hard
and saved every penny. Not that I thought money could pay you for your
care of me; but I felt that you might need help.
"There," he added, holding out a package, "is the first I earned. I laid
it aside for you."
The widow's face flushed as she saw written on a corner of the wrapper,
"Two hundred dollars."
"I found a good place and succeeded well. Every day I repeated the
prayer Johnny taught me on my sick-bed, and God answered it. I saw my
need of a Saviour, and gladly accepted the one offered me in the Bible.
I wrote again and again to you, sending my letters to our old place; but
I had no reply. At last I grew too anxious to wait longer, and, settling
my business, I set out to find you. I wish I had started a year ago."
"God's time is the best time," murmured the widow, her eyes full of
tears.
Then Mr. Hardy bade Johnny bring the Bible, and they had reading and
prayers together.
Early as the widow rose the next morning, their guest was up before her,
and on the roof examining the building. In the course of the day the
leak was stopped, the broken steps mended, and a new lock put on the
door.
Toward night he went out, but soon returned with a wagon containing a
barrel of flour, two casks of potatoes, beside sundry small parcels. An
hour later the wagon came again with a neat bedstead, mattress, and two
stout blankets, and a whole web of cotton cloth for sheets.
Mrs. Talbot clasped her hands on her breast, saying to herself, "The
Lord has, indeed, appeared for me." When she tried, with a broken voice;
to thank Mr. Hardy, he only smiled as he said,--
"Wait a little. You'll find I'm selfish after all."
They had a long talk that evening, after the children were asleep, which
accounted perhaps for the pretty pink in the widow's cheek, when Johnny
saw her the next morning.
"Come here, my boy," said Mr. Hardy, drawing a stool to his side; "I
loved your father. He was one of the best men I ever knew. But as he is
gone, your mother last night consented that I should be a father to you
and Ella. Will you be my true and loving son?"
He opened his arms, and Johnny was clasped to his breast.
"I will try to be a good son," he whispered.
As Mr. Hardy urged there was no use in delay, the next Sabbath morning
they went to the Rector's house and were married, Mr. Miles giving the
bride away.
When Mr. Hardy examined the cottage, he did it with the resolution to
repair it, if it proved worth the expense. But he found many of the
timbers rotten, and the sills sunken into the ground. He thought it
better, therefore, to put up a new house, for which he had abundant
means. He hired an old barn, and fitted it up for a shop, and then,
when not otherwise engaged, labored diligently at getting out the frame,
doors, and windows for his new building.