Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1845-01-30
The Cripple Boy.
ny LOUIS L. NOBLE.

ny LOUIS L. NOBLE.
Upon the Indian Iush-mat, spread
Where buIr-oak boughs eoolness shed,
Alone he TIA crippe-chd,-
With eyes so large, SO dark and wild,
And fingers, thin and pale to see,
Locked upon hrs trembling knee.
gathering nuts so blithe and gay,
The children early tripped away;
AMI he bis mother had heSought
Under the oak to have him broughty--
u was ever his seat hen blstki birds hung
The wavy rustling tops among -
They Gained his pan-hey cheered his loneliness
The gales,-tbe music OF the Wilderness.
Upon prairie, wide and wild,
Looked off that suffering cripple-child
The hour was breezy, the hour was bright -
o, Z was lively, lovely sight
An eagle, sailing to and FRO
Around fitting cloud so white,
Across the billovy grass below 4
Dating swift their shadows light;
And mingled noises, sweet and clear,
Noises ost OF the ringing wood,
Were pleasing trouble in his ear,
shock how pleasant 10 bis blood.
o, happy world !-Besuty and Blessing slept
Gu every thing but him-he felt, and wePt.
Humming lightsome tune of yore,
Beside the open og-house door,
Tears upon his sickly check
Saw his mother. and so did speak,
"N hat makes his mothers Henry weepf
You and the cottage keep;
They hunt the nuts and clusters blue,
Weary lads, foI me and you;
And yonder the quiet sheep -
Why now-I wonder why you weep"
"Niother, wish that could be
A sailor on the breezy sea 20
"A sailor on The stormy sea, my son
What ails the boy what have the breezes done "
al do / wish that could be
sailor on the rolling sea;
In the shadow Of the sails
/ would ride and rock all day,
Going whittier blow the galesI
As have heard a seaman say;
i would, guess, come back again
For my mother, now and then,
- And the curling FIRE so bright,
When the prairie burns at nightj
And tell the wonders had
Away upon the ocean green -
"Hush! hush ! talk no, about the ocean so,
Better al home a hunter hale to CO."
Between tear and sigh he smiled;
And thus spake on the cripplc-child:-
81 would were hunter hale,
Nimbier than the nmble doe,
Bounding lightly down the dale,-
But that will never be, know
Behind house the woodlands lie
prairie wide and green before;
And have seen them with my eye
thousand times more;
Yet In the woods l never stTayed,
Or the praiIie-bQider playedI
o, mother dear, that could only be
sailor boy upon the rocking sea J"
You would have turned with a tear,
tear upon your checks
She wept aloud the woman dear,
And fuiIher could not speak;
The boys it was bitter lot
She always felt, uow;
Yet never till thea lis bitterness
Al heart had gIieved her So
Nature had walked the eternal wish
Liberty, far and wide
And now, TO win him health, with Joy,
She would that morn have died.
Till noon she kept the shady doorway chair,
But never measure Of that ancient air.
Piped the March wind ;-pinched and slow
The deer trooping In the snow,
lie them out OF the cottage door,
The lame boy sitting upon the floor;
''Mother, MOTHER how long will tbe
Till the prairie 60 like waving sea ?
Will the bae woods ever be green-and when
o; will II eyeI be summer again 7"
She looked 10 silence On the child:
That large eye, ever so dark and wild,
Oh me how bright lit may have been
That he grown pale and thin.
II came the emerald month, and sweetly shed
Beauty for grief aud gaiands for the dead