The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-08-03

Doctor entertained hopes Of favorable turn.
MIR. Richards was prevailed on TO seek some
rest and then little urging was requisite to
! induce Miss Pinchum to do the same The
widow said she thought the child was as good
as dead, and went below to prepare for the
funeral.
.The embers shed quiet CLEAN through
the room--the wind shook the sash, and blew
the snow against the pane Fleet lay at the
foot Of the bed, watchfuEan was, as it were,
! cloudy Suspense.
"The little fingers relapsed their fsverish
hold-the sleep grew deeper and calmer-- and
! as we watched, for my emueement, perhaps,
perhaps for the relief Of his own heart, for we
all craso sympathy Doctor Roberts told me
something of the history Of his life. The child
Of poor parents, and "a orphan at IA early
| age, he had come up to manhood through the
hard vicissitgdes which only the poor and the
unfrienAed know.
| ale had but lately oomo to our neighbor-
hood, and this was almost his frst professional
engagement. He was young, and altogether
without worldly experience, and the terdrils
of an etfeciionate nature were reaching for
something TO which they might cling; and
when he ssid be WA q stranger among stran-
gers, and that he had been thinking as be
watched by that loved child, how much better,
so far as human sight went, it would be for him
to die--for that he would leave no Vacancy il
| the world, no heart to mourn could not
help saying, [ should be pained-I, who had
| fret seen him that night; for / was as young
and unsophistioatcd as he. My heart, natu-
rally enough, under the circumstances, va,
softened; and when he suddenly checked HIM
SELF and begged pardon for the freedom with
| which he had spoken of matters which could
not possibly interest nee, replied that nothing
| could have moro interested me aud, by way
of assuring him that his confidence had rot
been premature, said my own experiences had
been kindred to his. When finished, smile,
that lighted Up al his beautiful face, assured
me that had given him pleasure even before
he said, men as humble and as hopeless ss
| himself had found friends, and with patience
and energy, and disposition as willing to
| pieaee Gs to be pleased, why should be despair
less to try to screen myself; knew it, and did
| not correct the impression.
| "Mee.ing ss we did-young as we were, and
unused to oil conventional iormulas-n ig hps
| curtain drawn about ne, and in the presence
| Of the awfulest solelnnity we felt how trifling
and empty was everything but human love-
and we spoke as we felt, not as lovers under
etand--but our position was taken On q plain,
| whence the transit was natural enc.
"Ths cock crew out for day break, the snow
1 had ceased falling, and lay piled against the
windows, and projected over the roof like
stonework; across the hill where the red be-
| gan to mix with the gray, the woods stood
| black and esill, and oil the white surface of
the ground, as far as you could see, was IN
broken; morning was coming up clear, and
cod and still
| III was standing at the window, when Doc
| tor Roberts called TO me, very quietly. was
startled, fer the tone was. ominous, and, turn
| ing, saw that he had lifted the child from
the pillow, and that the blue, fatal tinge was
already on tho whitening and convulsive lips
| Fleet stood Gloss by the bedside, with almost
| a human interest in his face-a moment, and
the mortal Rad put On Immortality; and the
morning which was breaking for US, had for
| him no night.
~ tapped softly at the door of MIR. Richards's
room, and, starting up he said, is it rnorningp
| | said, Eyes, it is morning with little Harry
There was no audible grief, but knew how
his heart was rent and his manhood broken !;
and, withous calling the cfheious nurec, Joined
| the busting MRS. Wilkinson, who no sooner
| learned what was come TO pass, than she dis
patched a servant for a shfoud, and herself fell
| to making toest for the bereaved father. Wild
ows she taid, knew how to sympathize.
"Two days went by-long and miserable
| days they must have been to him who had no
| one near to whom he could say how empty the
world was-and the day of tho funeral was
come. Under the low-dropping boughs of
| peach tree, that grew no. fer from the house
| tho grave was made for the father could not
| put bis child far from him. The coffin was
| placed in the carriage with the chief mourner,
and Miss Pinchum ard tho widow Wilkinson
| made some desperate attempts to be admitted
as sharers Ct the sflotipg ofico he sustained,
but were finally elected by Martha who had
@ special genius for the superintendence Of fu-
nersls and Doctor Roberts and the clergyman
were only admitted.
"a few kind hearted neighbors, who had
heard By chance Of the boys death, flor Mr..
Richards had, as yet, held himself aloof from
| US all) came on horseback or in wagons, and
| followed to the lonesome grave dccentIy and in
order. Arrived there, Miss Pinchum took her
| place, as if Of right, beside Mr. Richards, and
the widow, pressing as near as she could,
| offered bottle of smelling salts. Seeing this,
| Miss Pinchum began to weep and wall with
| inconeolable violence, and finally fell in what
seemed g faintipg fit. She was caught up by
| Martha contrary 20 her expectations, think,
but vas assisted into the carriage, there was
but oDe,) the Doctor making room for her, and
Offering bis arm to ne, for path had been
| swept clear, and the grave was not more than
4 quarter of mile ircm The house. OF course,
we said little during the brief walk, bot The
| little was neither casual nor careless Oh the
| Doctors part, but rather the taking up Of the
| threads of an already established friendship.
| At the door, where we found Martha untying
the craze, and the widow Wilkinson brushing
the snow from the porch, he took leave of me,
with warm pressure Of the hand, and the ex-
preston of the hepe that we should meet at no
| distant day. He was unlike any other person
/ ever knew, and think he would interest me
more now than then.
| "At dinner, which Martha and the widow
assisted to prepare, Mr.. Richards appeared
with cheek little paler, and voice little
/ more subdued than usual. He spoke little,
but nevertheless appeared fully conscious of
his position, as master Of the house, and head
of the table. Miss Pinchunl checked over the
SOUP and afserward claimed herself, and rela-
ted all the endearing ways of little Harry.
The widow said che was no hand to bawl,
and make a great pretence-it was vulgar
| way, though some folks might think it made
them irresistible. For her part, she thought we
must live with the living, and not with the
dead and though she had never taken CT her
mourning, and never woodland would not
marry the best man in the world-she could
yet ind something better to do than snivelling
| and, sgreeabiy TO her profession, she made
herself busy AID hkeable as che knew how to
be. She didn't want any servant TO wait on
her, she said-she could wait on herself and
tho rest too-snd so, striding from place TO
1 place, now slicing bread, and now recommend.
| ing some delicacy to MIR. Richards-now rela-
| ting how PEARSON Goodmsn laughed at hcr
| Jokes, and now how hard her old man died
] =. IN color of h;a xva5d,rc o,,x