ession of rather singular incidents, I discovered that a
dissolute, drunken man about town was my father--which I regarded at
the time as the greatest mishap that could possibly befall me. But I
took him to my boarding-house, where good--I might even say
blessed--Mrs. Greenough took care of him, giving to his body the
nursing he needed, and to his spiritual wants the gospel of Jesus
Christ. What my poor father, who had become the moral and physical
wreck of what he had been before, could not do of his own strength, he
did with the grace and by the help of God--he abandoned his cups, and
became a sober, moral, and religious man. He attended every service at
the Methodist church, into whose fold Mrs. Greenough had led him, and
where, for two years, he had been a faithful, consistent, and useful
member.

He was employed as the agent of a very wealthy southern planter, who
had large possessions in St. Louis. He had the care of property worth
hundreds of thousands, and received and disbursed large sums in rents,
repairs, and building. He had a salary of twenty-four hundred dollars a
year, more than half of which he saved, for we continued to live at the
humble abode of Mrs. Greenough after the dawn of our prosperity. I had
saved nearly all my wages, and at the opening of my story I was worth,
in my own right, about two thousand dollars, with which, however, I did
not purpose to meddle.

Through all my mishaps I had reached the flood tide of prosperity.
There was only one thing in the wide world that disturbed me; and that,
at last, almost became a burden to me. I had a mother whom I had never
seen within my remembrance. She was a beautiful woman, as her miniature
in my possession fully testified, as well as those who had known her.
Mr. Collingsby, her father, had three children, of whom my mother was
the youngest. He was a wealthy man, and formerly a resident of St.
Louis, from which he had removed, partly on account of his business,
and partly it was said, to avoid the importunities of my father, who
made himself very disagreeable in his inebriation. He was largely
engaged in railroad and other business enterprises. My mother was
travelling in Europe, with her brother, and was not expected to return
for several years.

That which had become a burden to me was the desire to see my mother,
with the added longing to have our little family reunited. There was no
good reason why we should longer be separated. My father was a