Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 December 1900 — IT WAS NOT CONSCIENCE. [ARTICLE]

IT WAS NOT CONSCIENCE.

Made Honest by the Sight of a Dilapidated Umbrella. Here Is a highly moral tale which will make good reading for both old and young. It is a valuable illustration of the text, “The way of the transgressor is hard.” It is a story of a woman and an umbrella. It is apparent that the umbrella has been the cause of the fall from strict honesty of many otherwise irreproachable individuals. The woman in this story, up to the occurrence of this particular event, however, had found the umbrella to be the source of the display on her part of many excellent virtues and had suffered many things because of them. She had beep snipplly treated by women, barely thanked by men and openly snubbed by the autocrats of the surface cars in her efforts to see that absent-minded people did not lose their umbrellas. And iu some way she seemed always to be finding unattached umbrellas, and her conscience forbade her leaving them without an attempt to find the owners. On this particular day she was resting quietly in one of the parlors of a big New York shop when quite according to her custom she espietl beside her an umbrella. It was rather dark In that corner of the room and she could not see the umbrella distinctly, but she put her hand on it, found that It was silk, und with a weary sigh rose to find some ione who would take charge of it. Why should she be made the public custodian of umbrellas? Nevertheless she started to find the colored woman in .charge of the room, but she had slipped out. She went in search of a floor walker, but not one was In sight. In and out around countei-s she walked wearily, but not a floor walker to be seen. Then the temptation came. “What a goose you are!” said the inward voice. “Here you spend your time looking up people to take charge of lost umbrjßas, and I don’t believe that once in a Thousand years they ever reach their owners. Take that umbrella home with you and don't be a fool.” The voice was growing emphatic. It was probably because she was tired, but, anyway, without a moment's the woman stopped her .search aud walked out of the shop with (the umbrella which would now be hers. &he walked on with conscious carelessness, not venturing to give glance at it Sne dhl not do this until she was in the ear on her way home. Then she did look down and saw in her hands a silk umbrella, to be sure, but old aud rugged, an umbrella which would be a disgrace to the poorest costume. Some woman had bought a new umbrella and discarded this rag. And now the Aider must get rid of it. She hadn’t felt like a thief before, but now slie did. Ilqw could she get rid of it? She did not dare throw !t in the street, for that would be conspicuous. She laid it on ithe seat, as far back as possible, looked unconscious again, and at last sneaked —that was the way she felt—out of that car and actually ran until she was araimd the corner and no one could possibly return to her the umbrella she had volvuiiarily stolen.—New York Times.