St Johns College - Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

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to several persons in succession, all of whom took all they could from the soil without expending anything in its fertilization. The result was, the soil soon became sterile, and as nobody was then willing to cultivate it, it at last was sold for a mere trifle. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hielt had lived at the neighbor's house., paying her board from the farm rent and from the interest of the proceeds of the sale after the farm was sold. The boarding fee was nominal, else in her old age she would ere long have been entirely left to the mercy of the world. john remained a few weeks with his mother, and every clear day searched out some of the haunts of his boyhood, seeming to draw from them new life and inspira- tion, yet all the while filled with bitter contemplations of what might have been. Then he rewarded the kind neighbor for the kindness towards his mother, and fondly bidding farewell to the old homdstead, took his mother with him back to San Francisco. john was henceforth a changed man. If perchance he was tempted to grind down a fellow-creature, one I 1 glance at the loving countenance of his iniirm old mother was suliicient to dispel those thoughts 5 and although she has since passed away, still her influence lives, and john has realized that he has a different mission in the world than that toward which he worked for so many years. He has again become as of yore, the loving, sympathetic john Hielt, whose delight it is to help others 3 and if he has not risen to fill the highest positions in the land, his conscience is clear that he tried to succor the oppressed rather than spend his time and energies in the acquisition ofhigh political honors. Although he was in the meridian of life when he made his choice, he married, and from the letters he sends me occasionally, I am happy to state that he now enjoys life as keenly as when we were boys together. Thus ended the old man's tale. After thanking him warmly for his kindness, I bade him adieug and as I wended my way homeward on that eventful day, I felt more than ever that, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. A

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's si ig -I i i -f-33.11-QR: ': ,ii 4. 'r I J 'r ? 1 2 1 3 1 S ? 5 z U ' 4 i ,l I Fl i l s her pell-mell, seized her withered hands, demanded a kiss each, and altogether showed such manifestations of delight that they unwittingly formed the centre of attrac- tion for more than one pair of eyes. That was all he saw of them 3 for just then the command ' all aboard ' was given, and he had to run to mount the train just begin- ning to move off, and accordingly the happy trio were lost from view. Nor did he ever see them afterwards 3 but through- out his trip he kept musing on the scene which had attracted him as being ludicrous, but which had termin- ated so pathetically. The gladsome faces of the young- sters with happiness even shining through the grime ever rose before his mind, and the pinched, trouble-suggesting countenance of the woman, also illuminated with joyful- ness, was no less to him an object for reiiection. The monotonous rumbling of the wheels, the swaying of the train, and the swiftly flying landscapes were excellent accompaniments to his sober meditations, and he recalled pensively the scenes of bygone happier days, and also the image of one long since left in sunny Maryland, and whom he once delighted to call mother. He recalled his boyhoodis life of peaceful tranquility, and contrasted it as best he could with his present restless struggle for position 3 and for the first time in many years, a tear-drop glistened in his eye. Two weeks later an east-bound express contained a man who seemed to be all impatience, fretting at every I stoppage, and restlessly pacing from place to place. It was john Hielt going to search for his long-forgotten home. He found it, but what a change had taken place I The house was unoccupied, and was in a tumble-down condition 3 and the once fertile fields were nearly as you now see them, a mass of rank weeds. Cn inquiry he learned that his father had died during the war, and that his mother was then living with a neighbor living at a distance of a mile and a half. Greatly grieved, and not waiting to hear particulars, he started on a run across the fields to the neighbor's house. As he approached the dwelling he spied an aged woman just returning from the spring with a pitcher of water, and soon recognized in the bent form and withered features the guide and inspiration of his youth. Checking his desire to rush up to her, for fear of startling her too much, he first called to her and asked her some question, and then approaching her little by little, and meanwhile keeping up the con- versation, he at length made himself known. Then all the anguish pent up in that mother's breast for a score of years was liberated in floods of tears, and mingled with the tear-drops of remorse which fell from the eyes of that brawny, bearded man. They talked for a long time, past woes cast aside, and both filled brimful witlf the sweetness of reunion. john then found out what had transpired during his pro- tracted absence. The farm had been overrun during the war, and after that, the father being dead, it was rented

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0 ll, ii la, i the flDHl'X2l3I1D '1L6Qi5l3tl1I'C. I. V. J N the Maryland Legislature St. johnlsf' I think, will move along, R XVas a lunatlc named Cook, Although slight aid she's gotten Q Who, judging from his nature, Wliile sages sing her praise in song H Ne'er cared much for his book. 'When Cook shall be forgotten. II. VI. He said our noble College For johnson, and for Birnie, Was ,blessed with cheek galore, Likewise our good friend Lee 3 And showed his lack of knowledge Our voices raise in words of praise, 'Pon the Legislative Hoor. No matter where they be. IU- VII. He surely never could have heard Markell Win prease remember, Of Johnson, Pinkney, Key, nor Scott. We Vote at Inauls estate, I If SO, 110W 001115 110 Say 3 word And 'twill be much like December 'Gai11Sf what OUT College got? When we help him legislate. IV- VIII. Had Mr. Cook but takenia look, An adage true for years has been He'd find that good round sums QNO truer e'er was saidj Are GIVEN away as exivffz pay H As this case shows : That fools rush in To clerks and other bums. Where angels fear to treadf, 158 N