CHAPTER LXX.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1595, 23 September 1882, Page 5

CHAPTER LXX.

Parting is sad under any circumstances ; find even when we have followed our characters to a successful close, and the reader's imagination can fill all the blanks, it is not unwise to give a few closing remarks. Our characters have grown upon us as we haA r e proceeded, and it is not without a sigh that we lay down our pen and bid them an eternal, farewell. 1 Prudence Macinnis made so good a use of the £1000 Hector had given her, that before a fortnight after his' death she was taken to the Kew Lunatic Asylum — this time really mad ; and ere many weeks she too followed the caravan that is ever moving on into eternity. Mr. Clack reformed his ways and became a model citizen — Bertha|s words being touched his soul and turned him back at the right moment. Two tombstones in the cemetery of Grit speak for themselves. The inscription on one reads — SACKED TO THE MEMORY OF OBADIAH SWEETCOMFORT, WHO DIED ON — ' Erected m remembrance of his worth as a citizen, his value as a friend, his example as a Christian, and his sad and awful death. " 0 death ! where is thy sting ; 0 grave ! where is thy victory ?" Gifded lie ! The other inscription is this — JANET MELDON,MOTIIEB OF JOHN MELDON, BORN DIED " To Him whose head was crowned with thorns, "Whose tears of blood were shed for me, I cling in humble earnest hope, My advocate that he will be." And what remains for us to say ? Nothing ! After years of pain and misery ; after scumbling long in the paths of error and darkness, the bright dawn of a new and better life appeared to Bertha and her lover. The Shining Beef, as it was named in accordance with Jack's extraordinary dreams, turned out to be even richer than the Hesperus Extended, of which it was a continuation. Grit, long down -trodden, rose to even greater wealth and prosperity than it had ever known. The Busy Bee is once more the scene of business revelry, the hundreds who had flown elsewhere when the clouds of adversity Covered over it, have nowjreturnedj; and it is not likely that the people of Grit; having received one lesson, will allow this opportunity to pass. Jack is now a wealthier man than he was in the times of the mania ; and next to him is WiUiam, who has reaped at last the reward of his patience. To the latter the happiness of his dear Emily is the greatest of his joys. And as Jack has abjured speculation, and is contented and happy with the lovely partner of his life, it is not likely that he will ever again lose the fortune he has amassed out of the Shining Reef. And if there is one lesson he inculcates to his children more than another, it is that solemn one of Scripture, burnt into his mind by the history of the past — ' "Be sure thy sin will find thee out." The End.