The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-08-26

came, opened it himself One glance around
the apartment taught him the cause of that
silence Near the stove with his little bow in
his arms who was sobbing in that peculiar.
| spasmodic manner that indicates the utter ex
hauston of the physical frame sat William
Ives, with his eyes fixed upon the bed which
had been arranged as decently as possible. to
receive the dead body of little Jennie The
mother had done all her scanty means allowed
| She had parted the soft hair on the little brow
Strengthened the shrnnken limbs, and robed
| them in a pretty white frock the last relic of
happier days The dainty edgines with which
| it was trimmed were in strange contrast with
the miserable bed coverings-edgings wrought
| by her busy fingers in those happy DAYS when
| a mothers glad anticipations first stirred her
heart Then she had flung herself on her
knees by the side of the bed. and with her
face buried in the clothes neither wept nor
moved
The graye-eyed Ellen stopped over the bed,
and was trying to place poor, sickly-looking
rose in the cold hand of the'little one Uncle
John glanced at the bush she had showed him
the night before and knew at once from
whence it came. 1t was her all, poor thing!
J She VS. tie SIT to observe their entrance
and soon, both parents were mingling words of
deep gratitude with their tears
| al shall never, never forget your kindness, sir,
to the day die" exclaimed the mother, turning
to Mr. jumps "Much as we needed the mon
ey, starving as we were we thought not less of
your confidence in us then we did of that 1t
was so kind so noble in you, to trust us! But
you shall be repaid, sir; William and are de-
termined to do it, if we work our fingers to the
bones And this gentleman, to come as he did
through the snow to aid us Oh, how can we
ever be grateful enough!"
My kindness! repay me you here " ex-
claimed the bewildered Mr.. jumps, turning to
Uncle John, and rapidly unwinding the folds of
his scarf, as if pressed for breath
ayes, Dmmie, | was certain you did not
quite understand the errand of that little girl,
yesterday so followed her home, and settled
your bill myself 1t was well did, for the
poor things needed it very much
Save a bit of bread for the children, and a
spoonful of milk for--for" and the poor
mother glanced sadly at the whiterobed little
figure on the bed, for her, sir, we had not
tasted food for two days
Mr.. jumps was neither an unjust nor hard
hearted man he had simply been guided by
the current custom of the day and, when he
had subscribed his quota to any benevolent OBJ
| ject allowed himself to consider his respon-
siblity at an end. Now, a new light broke in
upon him; he turned to his old relative and
said, earnestly:
Thank you, thank you, Uncle John! you
could not have done me kinder deed or, he
added in lower tone, taught me better
lesson. 1t is one which ] shall never forget
And to do Mr. jumps justice, he never did
He told the story to Julia when they got home,
and brayely took his share of the blame, while
the tears gathered in her pretty eyes and she
almost forgot her present and the donation
party in her interest in the Ives's.
They assisted the father in finding employ
ment aided and encouraged him in his strug-
giles to overcome his evil habits, and even did
not grumble when Uncle John took little Ellen
Ives to live with him and Aunt Sally, and be a
daughter to them in their old age though they
knew that the inheritance of their darling,
Augustus Adelmar, would be much curtailed
by the deed.