Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1851-10-14
miscellaneous.
From tie Olipe Branch.
MY MOTHERS GIFT.
By GEO. S. RAYMOND.

The particular incident, or more properly,
the chapter of incidents which l am about to
narrate, oftentimes appears so very strange
and dream like, that | am frequently almost
tempted to doubt their reality and ! should
scarcely have yentured to commit the par
ticulars to paper with the view Of commune
eating them to the public, did not possess
the most indubtable evidence, aside ircm my
own vivid recollection, that the whole is not
a strange unaccountable freak Of the human
intellect.
From the earliest period of my recollection,
was accounted a strange hayward boy and
as | grew in years, | heard the expression.
she is singular being--how different he is
from everybody else and others Of like i'm
port, so often reiterated by my parents, my
brothers and sisters, and the neighbors, that
atlcngth became impressed with the strange
infatuation that nobody loved me that was
alone without one friend in the whole wide
world. and | became boy msanthrope Not
quite! for a kind action, soft, pleasant word,
would subdue my stubborn nature and melt
me into tears in moment. | felt that my
parents could make me what they chose and
what they would have had NE to be But
they did not understand me; knew it, and
0, how often have prayed that might die
for there was no one to care for me- no one
who would let me love them
Before | bad reached my eleventh year, !
had been to India with my father, who at
that time commanded ship in the Canton
trade. The first voyage made me a wander
era stranger in the land of my nativity,
Soon after my return home from my first
voyage, ] was punished severely. and as ]
thought unjustly, by my father, for some tri-
fling fault and that one cruel punishment
poisoned my very existence. / brooded over
my imaginary wrongs, until | came to consid-
er my father a cold. hard hearted tyrant
when in reality he was kind benevolent
man. devoted christian, and parent who
loved his children as be did his own SOUL
! | know it now; but could not, would not be
| lieve it then.
My father sailed again for India and Q
few days week, perhaps, afterwards, went
to my mother one day when she was alone
and told her that was determined to leave
home. l would go out into the wcrld, ant
grow up to manhood among strangers. II
was better, | told her, than to remain there
alone, isolated being, among my own kin.
bred
l knew that my mother had often enter.
tanned fears that would some day, if thwar-
ted in my purposes. commit suicide; an
whether it was this fear or the idea that q
month, perhaps few weeks or days, would
cure me of my vagabond propensities, | never
knew. But whatever motive might have
prompted her, she consented to my scheme
at once.
My mother was a woman of very superior
intellect perfectly consistent in all her do.
nestle relations, and universally beloved ant
respected by all who knew her.
After having given her consent to my lea
wing home, my mother took me into her bed
room, where, upon her Blended knees, she
earnestly besought the blessing Of G cd upon
her child, who was about to 60 forth into the
great world, among a wilderness of strangers
Long years have gone by and mingled theil
volume with the mighty ocean of the past
since knelt there in that closet beside my
mother, and listened in silent awe, while she
poured forth her whole soul in earnest PRAYER
for her strange, hayward boy; and every
minute circumstance Of that hour is as vivid
in my memory at this moment, as though they
had been engrayen on my very heart in let
tiers of living fire. In all the strange vicssi-
tudes of my eventful lfe the influence Of
that last hour with my mother has never left
me.
l had secured berth as cabin boy il
ono of the Liverpool liners. with the captain
of whom my mother reposed the most entire
confidence, and she felt the less concern al
parting with me, knowing as she did, that he
would be kind to me, and watch over my
morals as carefully as If had been his own
child
The ship was all ready for sea, and had