I truly will not abuse your confidence." Then he leaned forward, all interest, all earnestness, and told his story--and told it appealingly, too, and yet in the simplest and most unpretentious way; indeed, in such a way as to suggest to one, all the time, that this was a faithful, honorable witness, giving evidence in the sacred interest of justice, and under oath.

He said: "Mrs.Beazeley--Mrs.Jackson Beazeley, widow, of the village of Campbellton, Kansas,--wrote me about a matter which was near her heart -- a matter which many might think trivial, but to her it was a thing of deep concern.

I was living in Michigan, then--serving in the ministry.
She was, and is, an estimable woman--a woman to whom poverty and hardship have proven incentives to industry, in place of discouragements.
Her only treasure was her son William, a youth just verging upon manhood; religious, amiable, and sincerely attached to agriculture.

He was the widow's comfort and her pride.

And so, moved by her love for him, she wrote me about a matter, as I have said before, which lay near her heart -- because it lay near her boy's.