"  I  used  to  write.  'Tis  a  long  time  since  I  did.  Maggie,
my  hand  trembles.  Help  me — guide  the  pen.  I  cannot  see
clearly."

No  wonder.  There  was  a  tear  in  each  eye.  There  were
other  tears  when  Maggie  took  him  again  by  the  hand,  and
again  said :

"  Come,  father,  let  us  pray ;"  and  then  all  kneeled  down
together,  and  then  Mr.  Nolan  took  him  by  the  arm,  and  said,
"  Come,  James,  let  us  go  home."

Not  yet.  He  had  one  more  act  to  perform.  He  shook  his
wife's  hand,  and  said,  "  Good  bye.  I  shall  keep  it."  Then
he  looked  wishfully  at  Maggie,  as  though  he  wanted  some
thing,  yet  dare  not  ask  it,  for  fear  he  should  be  repulsed.
Still  the  yearning  of  nature  was  upon  him.  It  was  a  long
time  since  he  had  felt  it  as  he  now  felt,  but  he  was  beginning
to  be  a  new  man.  Maggie  was  his  only  child,  his  once  loved,
much  caressed  child.  Would  she  ever  cling  those  arias
around  his  neck  again.  She  had  shown  herself  this  night
one  of  the  blessed  of  this  earth.  She  had  done,  or  induced
him  to  do,  what  no  other  soul  on  earth  could  have  done,  and

4


7  I  HOT    CORN.
how  his  heart  did  yearn  to  clasp  her  in  his  arms.  He  stoppe
half  way  to  the  door,  and  looked  upon  her  with  tearful,
loving,  thankful  eyes.  It  needs  no  wires,  no  magnet,  no
human  contrivance,  to  convey  the  magnetism  of  the  heart.
