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One day, when conversing with Mr. Warren on the subject, he was told that there was an old package of letters left by his mother at her death, which had been preserved, but never regarded as of much value, and it was difficult at once to find them. This was a new scrap of history for James, and with his anxious assistance in searching over the house, the package was brought to light.

What was his surprise and joy, as he diligently and carefully opened all the papers, when the very letter he was in search of came to light!

It read as follows -- being addressed to his son, within an envelope to the post-master of the town:

"Chicago, Illinois, Aug. 17, 183--. Dear James: -- With a broken heart I resigned my home and its associations at the East, and came into this almost untrodden wilderness in search of a new one, and associations that might give me peace of mind, and at least partial forgetfulness of my sorrows. But even here the recollections of the past have often arisen before me, and embittered the hours of my life. One cannot go away from himself. If his own heart is right, he may be comparatively as quiet in one place as another. My heart has not been right towards you, nor towards Julia. I will not say that the cause of my unhappiness might have been spared me, had my son considered well his own filial respect, and in all things made it his main object to please me -- and I have carried with me a heavy grief, a mourning for my only son, that all my efforts have not enabled me to conceal. In addition to this, I am now groaning under a dispensation of bereavement by the work of death. Your beloved mother, the joy and solace of my life, who never cherished towards you a spark less of affection for your neglect, who accompanied me in my wanderings without a reluctant word, now rests in her last sleep.

But before your mother's death, she called me to her couch, and warmly interceded with me on your behalf for my reconciliation with you and restitution of your legal rights. . . . The same request had never before been uttered even in our most confiding and most mourn ful hours. She knew well her time, and waited it with patient confidence. In that hour then, under all the solemn sanctions of events that take hold on the future, I complied, and that most heartily, with all that she requested, and had the almost unearthly pleasure to see her smile her saintly approval of the act as she breathed out her last farewells.

On my own mind, also, there came directly a positive, sensible relief. I felt a burden removed at once from my soul, that I would not again endure for worlds! I hope never again to feel that crushing weight!

You are forgiven all that an earthly parent can forgive. Look to God for his reconciliation and love through the atonement and mediation of His only Son, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world. Hereby I apprise you that the legal restriction to a claim on my property, under which I placed you by my formal act, is this day removed, and will never again, I trust, be renewed. You are to-day the only legal heir to my property. This, I beg leave to assure you, is increasing in value, as my real estate here seems to be located well. Give my love to Julia, and affectionately urge her to accompany you here whenever it may be best for the children.

I shall hope for an early answer, and in the meantime am.

As of yore, affectionately your father,
JAMES SHERMAN."

What must have been the depth of feeling with which James perused this letter! He seemed to himself as standing within the spirit circle of his family, and to hear voices saying, one to another, "Lo! the lost is found, and we are again one!" He could scarcely contain his self-command; it seemed to him a letter of the utmost importance and its preservation in the circumstances of the case, almost as the special interposition of Heaven.

"How was the letter answered, Mr. Warren?"

"The answer to it, I have heard, was by the post-master."

"What sort of an answer?"

"A very unfavorable one, of course. Your father had left the country and was reported dead. Your mother was no more, and your two elder brothers were dead; these were the facts returned in the answer."

James groaned in the bitterness of his thoughts, and walked the room for several moments, struggling for composure.

"How came you in possession of the letter?" inquired James of Mr. Warren.

"After a long time, the post-master gave it to me, but he said, there was nothing further to be done in the case as he could see -- Mr. Sherman, if alive, having doubtless willed his property to his second wife, so I put away the letter with the package."

"If my grandfather left property," said James, "it can hardly be supposed he would will any portion of it to his son James, or his children, after receiving intelligence of their death. At the same time, while it is probable that he did will it to his second wife, it is certain that he restored the legal and natural claim of my father, and it is not improbable, I think, either that he made no direct will of his property, or that he did by will convey it, as is often done, to his wife, in trust for his children and heirs."