Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1852-06-18
I'm Il little Bound BOY Now"
BY MRS. NJ. A. DENlGON

We do not know when we have read any,
thing SO touching us the subloncd incident
i he Phladcl phia Sun relates that as one of
the Police officers of that city was proceeding
along tie sidewalk on Sunday afternoon whilst
the snow was falling thick and the wind blow
ing in7eddylng gusts and piercing cold, the
sobs of a child attracted his attention. lie
soon found poor little boy in an alley, stand
ng up to his middle in the snow, and bcnulned
with cold. J he little fellow told the officer
that he had been sent out to clear away the
snow in the alley. Go in tie house, said the
officer, 'and tell your mother that she ought to
be ashamed of hc.sclf.' My mothcr,' replied
the boy, is dead. Pm am q little bound y
nGr.'
Poor little orphan! No kind mother woult,
have sent her own child to expose life and
health, even to earn penny with which to buy
bread and no human heart badc the wretchcd
boy to 90 forth in such weather and i'll such a
storm. The condition of trcndcss, mother
less little one, is to cur mind the most dcplora-
bic on earth; and the being who could i-use
or neglect an orphan, must as5urcdly suffer
either in this world or the future.
'l'm little bound boy noW; alas how
molrniuly eloquent those few wods I'm
little bound boy now Did he remember the
time when the light Ct his mothers love was
continually sunshine to hin? ? when his little
lips, wreathcd IN smiles, were pressed again
ard again by her lips, and his eyes were mir
rors for her love beaming face? Did he ie-
men. Der the time wien place on her bosom
on which to pillow his head was recompense
for all his troubles, W zen her sweet voice SOC, ,h
I'd Linn to slumbcr, and the depths of her beam.
ing eyes were graves for all his disquicludc5? !?
Then doubly heart rcndHg the thought ard
feeling, that he is u little bound boy now; ,c
cannot leap over the doorstep a. of yorc, and
icarlcs3ly cling to the hant Of hi5 mother, no !
he moves with Il crlngilg tread within tie
strangers dOmlcl he starts at the smallest
request, for the tones OF the stranger are Geld
and ICY: there is no music i'll them, Us there
used to be in the voice Of his mother; the
sweet request is changed 10 the pcrcmptory
con- mand, and he flies over the pavement to
execute the tyranlcal order, as if every br-k
were a live coal beneath his feet.
Perhaps he remembers the time when he
hurried from school, happy but hungry, and
sure Of IL welcome slice Of good, sweet bread,
but now when he IS almost starving, he darcs
not ask with the tiu5tlng familiar tie C one
who knows his very reasonable wish VIII be
supFIcd. ,,., u, d., .,,.o.
of spirit which a child must experience IN be-
holding the death cold brow of an only a dar-
Ing parent. He stood perhaps by her bedside
and felt the pressure Of her hand; heard her
wild prayer, and clu2y to her cold litccss
clay. Then, it may be, Ee was consigned to
the,house of charity; from thence he was bound
on, God help hlin--wlcrc the milk OF human
Kindness flowed not through human channels
for him; bound om to toll, where children Of
his own aye, in the same family, were shelter
ed from the rough wind qf heaven, and cared
for 70 tenderly.
The vision Of that drsulatc child, staudmg
in the dfiitcd snow Acaps, the tears freezing
on hl5 checks, his poor lands red and npmb,
hIs limbs all trembling, las often since obtru-
ded Itself on our vision and that pamtiye wall,
''m little .ound boy now OH how does its
searching pathos pcnctrate our lnmost sCul -
" { look sometimes upon the rosy cheeks and
sparkling eyes Of those near and dear to us,
and picture such fate for them, and the blood
shrinks back to our heart"