FullReads

The old governor took the letter, and he scanned it curiously. What a wonderful letter it was, and who but a little child could have written it! Such strange hieroglyphics and such crooked lines–oh! it was a wonderful letter, as you can imagine.

But the old governor saw something more than the strange hieroglyphics and crooked lines and rude pencillings. He could see in and between the lines of the little child’s letter a sweetness and a pathos he had never seen before, and on the crumpled sheet he found a love like the love his bereaved heart had vainly yearned for, oh! so many years.

He saw, or seemed to see, a little head bending over the crumpled page, a dimpled hand toiling at its rude labor of love, and an earnest little face smiling at the thought that this labor would not be in vain. And how wearied the little hand grew and how sleepy the little head became, but the loyal little heart throbbed on and on with patient joy, and neither hand nor head rested till the task was done.

Sweet innocence of childhood! Who would molest thee–who bring thee one shadow of sorrow? Who would not rather brave all dangers, endure all fatigues, and bear all burdens to shield thee from the worldly ills thou dream’st not of!

So thought the old governor, as he looked upon the crumpled page and saw and heard the pleadings of the child’s letter; for you must know that from the crumpled page there stole a thousand gentle voices that murmured in his ears so sweetly that his heart seemed full of tears. And the old governor thought of his own little one–God rest her innocent soul. And it seemed to him as if he could hear her dear baby voice joining with this other’s in trustful pleading.

The secretary was amazed when the old governor said to him: “Give me a pardon blank.” But what most amazed the secretary was the tremulous tenderness in the old governor’s voice and the mistiness behind the old governor’s spectacles as he folded the crumpled page reverently and put it carefully in the breast pocket of his greatcoat.

“Humph,” thought the secretary, “the old governor has a kinder heart than any of us suspected.”

Then, when the prisoner was pardoned and came from his cell, people grasped him by the hand and said: “Our eloquence and perseverance saved you. The old governor could not withstand the pressure we brought to bear on him!”

But the secretary knew, and the old governor, too–God bless him for his human heart! They knew that it was the sacred influence of a little child’s letter that had done it all–that a dimpled baby hand had opened those prison doors.