"Now that I was my own master I was brought face to face with the problem of making my own way in the world, and of some day being able to have a home of my own. Through some college friends I was not long in getting a place in a bank in Richmond. Here I go,t along quite well until I made the mistake that ruined my life. The old conservative way of making money seemed so slow that I began to look around to find a shorter cut to wealth. Why not try my hand at stocks? I thought. At first I was quite successful and was led to risk a larger amount. Of course I never meant to be dishonest, for I always expected to pay it back. But the evil day came at last, and I found myself an embezzler. What should I do? There was no one to whom I could turn. I was too proud to apply to my father. The only thing left was flight. So I came up here a fugitive from justice. The first winter was very hard. I worked in lumber camps, and, later, along the river. Very little news could I get from home. Once in a while a letter from Margery would reach me in the woods, and if it hadn’t been for the assurance that she was still true Ido not believe I would be here now. One day there came a message which thrilled me through and through. She had grown weary of waiting, she said, and was coming to share with me the life of an exile. “I can never forget her coming. It was a glorious day in the late fall, just when the maples were turning into great cones of yellow and orange and red. I remember so well that she spoke of them as we drove along the road. We were married the day after in the quiet little village of Beaulieu, and our nex-t thought was about a home. Our log job that winter was along the Madawaska, so I built a little cabin within easy reach of the camp. How bright and happy were those first days of our life. Sometimes, now, when the memory of them rushes over me, I find myself asking why a merciful God should have allowed such a sorrow to come into mv life. "That winter was unusually long and severe. It was after Christmas that I first noticed that her health was failing. She
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers