Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-12-17
GREEN MOUNTAIN FREEMAN.

her. She needed no advice to take care OF her
self, nor persuasion to return to her home.
They call me Let me go will lay them
in their bed myself How cold their feet are
What is Jane singing her nightly hymn without
me No! no She cries Some evil serpent
has stung her )" end shrieking wildly, the poor
mother disappeared like the hunted deer, in the
depths of the forest
Oh might she but have wrapped them in her
arms, as they shivered in their dismal recess,
under the roots of tree, uptorn by some win
try tempest Yet how could she imagine the
spot where they lay OF believe that those little
wearied limbs had borne them through bog and
bramble, more than six miles from the parental
door, In the niche which we have mentioned,
faint moaning sound might still be heard
Sister, do not tell me that we shall never see
the baby any more. see it now, dear Thom-
as too! dear Thomas Why did they say he
died and was buried! He is close by me, just
above my head. There are many more babies
with hm-a host They glide by me as if they
had wings. They look warm and happy. l
should be glad to be with them and join their
beautiful plays. But o, how cold am! Cover
me close Mary Take my hand in your BOSOM"
"Pray do not go to sleep quite yet dear Jane.
| want to hear your voice, and talk with you.-
Ii is so very sad to be waking here alone. If
could but sec your face when you are asleep, it
would be comfort But it is so dark, so dark?"
RouSing herself with difficulty, she unties her
apron, and spreads it over the head of the child,
"a &C. .bo D;Iln
the cold cheek n her breast, and grasps more
firmly the benumbed hand by which she so faith
fully led her, thro all their terrible pilgrimage.
There they are One moves not The other
keeps vigil, feebly giving utterance, at intervals,
to low suifocatng spasm from throat dried with
hunger Once more she leans upon her elbow,
to look on the face of the little one, for whom
as mother she had cared. With love strong
as DEATH she comforts heref that her sister
sleeps calmly, because the stroke of the destroy
er had sllenced her sobbings
All! why come yc not hither, torches that
CLEAN through the wilderness, and men who shout
to each other! why come we not this way? See?
they plunge into morasses, they cut their path
thro' the tangled thickets, they ford waters they
ascend mountains, they explore lorest-but the
lost are not found
The third and fourth nights come and depart
Still the woods are filled with eager searohers
Sympathy has gathered them from remote set
Elements. Every log-cabn sends forth what it
can spare for this work Of pity and of sorrow
They cross each others track. necessarily they
interrogate and reply, but in vain, The lost are
not found
In her mournluI dwelling, the mother sat mo-
tlonless Her infant was upon her lap. The
strong duty to succor Its heIpessness, grappIed
with the might of grief, had prevailed. Her
eyes were riveed upon its brow No sound
passed her white lips. Plying women, from
distant habitations, gathered around and wept
for her They even asSayed some word, of con-
ISOLATION. But she answered nothing She look
man voices. In her soul was the perpetual CT,
of the lost. Nothing overpowed it but the wall
of her living babe She ministered to its nee
essities and that Heaven-nspired impulse saved |
her She had no longer any hope for those
who had wandered away. Horrid images were
in her fancy--the rayening beast--bIack pits of
stagnant water-brds Of fierce beak-yeno-
nous coiling snakes. She bowed herself down
to them, and travelled in the brth-hour, fearful
Iy, and in silence But the hapIesss babe on her
bosom, touched an electric chord, and saved her
from despair Maternal love- with its pillar of
cloud of"hame, guided her through the desert,
hat she persisted not
Sunday come and the search was undated
1t seemed only marked by deeper tnge of
melancholy, The most serious felt it fitting to
20 forth at that sacred season 70 seek the lost,
h0ugh not like their MASTER girded with the
power to save. Parents remembered that it
night be their own little ones who had thus
rayed from the fold, and with their gratitude,
ook portion Of the mourners spirit into their
hearts Even the sad hope of gathering the
lead for the sepulchre, the sole hope that now
ustained their toll, began to fade into doubt
Us they climbed over huge trees, which the
Winds of winter had Frustrated, or forced their
way among rending brambles, sharp rocks, and
lose woven branches, they marveed how such +
ragile forms would have endured hardships by h
which the vigor of manhood was impedcd and
erplexed Il
The echo of gun rang suddenly through K
he forest 1t was repeated Hill to hill bore Il
he thrilling message. 1t was the concerted 9
igna that all anxictes were ended t.
he hurryiug seekers followed its sound From '
commanding cliff, white flag was seen to tt
oat 1t was the herald that the lost was found l(
There they were-near the base of wooded l(
illock, half Graded among the roots of an up l'
'rn chestnut. There they lay, cheek to cheek, OF
and clasped in hand The blasts had mingled IL
l one mesh their disheveed locks for they had 81
1T home with their poor heads uncovered &C
he youngest had passed away in Sleep ia
here was no contortion on her brow, though OF
er features were sunk and sharpened by famine ra
The other had borne deeper and longer an- Sc
lish. Her eyes were open, as though she had -
atched over that little one, for whom, through n