The Democratic sentinel and Harrison County farmer. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1851-1852, 1852-03-10

The Little Stranger.
Though a man Of very strict principle
no one ever enjoyed a joke more than
Doctor Byron he had a vast fund Of hui
NOR, IN ever ready wit, and with chill
dren, particularly, he loved 10 chat famil-
iarly and draw Them out. As he was
one day passing into the house, he was
accosted by a very little boy, who asked
him ifhe wanted any sausei meaning veg
etables. The Doctor inquiTeditsuch atny
thing was a maTket-man. No, sir, my
father was the prompt answer. The
Doctor said, bring me in some squashes,'
and passed into the house, sending out
the change. In a few momenls the child
returned, bringing back part of the change;
the Doctor told him he was welcome to it;
but the child would not take it back, a Y
ing his father would blame him. Such
strange manners in a child attracted his
attention, and he began to examine the
child attentively; he was evidently poor,
his jacket was pieced and patched with
every kind Ofclotb, and his trousers darn
ed with so many %colors, it was difficult to
tell the original fabric, but scrupulously
neat and clean wilhal. The boy very
quietly endured the scrutiny of the Doc
tor, while holding him at arms length he
said.
You seem a nice little boy; won't you
come and live with me, and be a doctor?'
Yes, sir said the child.
Spoken like a man. said the Doctor
patting his head as he dismissed him.
A few weeks passed ON, when one day
Jim came to say there was a little boy
with a bundle down stairs, waitingto see
the Doctor, and would not tell his bust
ness to any one else. Send him up
was the answer; and in a few moments he
recognized the boy with the squashes, (but
no squash himself, as we shall see.) He
was dressed in a new, though coarse, suit
of clothes, his hair very nicely combed,
his shoes brushed up, and a little bundle,
tied in a homespun checked handkerchief,
on his arm. Deliberately taking off his
hat and laying it down with his bundle,
he walked up to the doctor saying
Il have come SIR
Come for what, my child?'
TO live with you and be a doctor, said
the child with the utmost n]diUete,
The first impulse of the Doctor, was
to laugh immoderately; but the impurtu-
rable gravity of the little thing rather So
bered him, as he recalled, too, his former
conversation; and he vowed he never felt
SO perplexed in his life. AT that time he
felt he needed no addition to his family.
Did your father consent to your com-
ing?' he asked.
Yes, sir
What did he say?'
Il told him you wanBed me tocome and
live with you and be a doctor; and he
said you was a very good man, and I
might come as soon as my clothes were
ready
And your mother, what did he say?'
she said Doctor Byron would do Just
what he said he would, and God has pro-
vided for me. And said he, Il have on
a new suit of clothes, surveying himself,
and here is another in the bundle I'M
doing the handkerchief, and displaying
them, with two little shirts, white as
snow, and ~acouple of neat checked aprons,
so carefully folded, it was plain none but
a mother would have done it. The sensi-
bilities of the Doctor were awakened to
see the fearless, the %undoubting trust with
which that poor couple had bestowed their
child upon him, and such a child. His
cogitations were not long; he thought of
Moses in the bulrushes, abandoned to
Providence; and. above all, he thought of
the child that was carried into Egypt, and
the divine Saviour had said, Blessed be
little children and he called for the wife
of his bosom, SAYING
Susan, dear, think we pray in church
that God will have mercy upon all young
children
ITO be sure we do said the wondering
wife; and what then?'
And the saviour said, 'Whosoeyer. re-
ceiveth one such little child in my name,
receiveth me- take this child in His name,
and take care of him. and from that hour
this good couple received him to their
hearts and homes.
1t did not then occur to them that one
Of the most eminent physicians and best
men of the age stood bt fore them in the
person of that child; it did not occur to
them that this little creature, thus thrown
upon their charity, was destined to be
their staff and stay in declining age, a
protector to thcirdaughters, and more than
a son to themselves; all this was then I'M
revealed; but they c~heerfully received the
child they believed Provide nee had com-
mittcd to their care; and if ever benefi-
cence was rewarded, it was in this instance
a Correction.
A paragraph is going the rounds of the
newspapers stating that the answer of
General Lafayette to the address which,
as speaker OF the House of Representa-
tives, | made to him upon the occasion of
his last visit to this country, was prepared
by me, though pronounced by him. This
is a mistake, which, in justice both to his
memory, and to myself, ought to be cor
reetcd. 1t was composed by himself, as
the style abundantly shows. On the
morning of his reception by the House of
Representatives he breakfasted with me
alone, and l stated or read to him the adj
dress which l intended to make to him on
that day. The expression occurs in it,
that he was in the midst of posterity; on
reading which | remarked to him that it
would afford him a fine opportunity to