The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1855-12-01
WHOLE NUMBER 543.
Thc FcIon Father and his tklId.

soldier. The offence was committed al .Ba.
ton Rouge, where Wilson is now in prison,
and his wife and children have. since stks
4 trial, occupied rude tenement near the jail
10 which he has been confined To this fond
wife and to these trusting children the con-
demned feIon has shown true touches Of ma
tare, while to all else he has been a stern,
stubborn and unfeeIing man.
4 What cared be FOR the woffdt The stain
lof'bldod was oil his hands. and no washing
could make them white to the worlds cens6-
rious eye Even 10 his own eye, perchance.
there was ''damned spot" which would net
"out, +" but to the trustful eyes Of his wife and
children, his letters were no disgrace, and his
hands were not unclesh. For these fond
ones he had place in bis heart, small
warm spot, over which the fostering soresof
sin had not entirely encroachedi Theycouh
still love him, and he love them-0ll eise'ih
the world was dark, dreary void. % ''9y
During the long summer months, when
the angel Of death was abroad over this South
ern land, the damp cell of the prisoner was
rendered brighter for few moments each
day by tlic presence Of his wife: and ofteh
at nightfail, his little daughter--a fondy young
thing of but four summers-would beg to be
left with her father in the dark, and would
sing to him tiny song Of hope as she lay
beside him on his rude prison bed. iiaP
But the dark, damp cell was no fitting
place for one so tender in years as was tho
felon's daughter, and at length shadow
ielf upon her from the death-angels wing;
and she could no longer visit her fatherih
his damp, grated dungeon. 3faslb
She sickened, and she died! aai 81 Ii
Oh, how anxiouely from day to day the
mother watched over the sick couch OF her
little one, and how anxiously. when morning
came, would the condemned felon-father in
quire concerning the fate of his dear,s
trusting child /! stts sR
That hope which led him to believe that
his child would recover, and would again tjs-
it him in his cell, and ell his ear with,afi liz
structve melody as from better land. s.,.a
His hopes, however, proved deceptive, and
at last the sad news came that his little in.
nocent was no more. What bis reflections
then were We leave to the imagination Of our
readers, Shut out from the world, and all
| but dead to every civil right, he had been de-
prived Of the privilege of smoothing the pill.
low on which his daughter rested her dying
head, and of catcainga fond glance from her
trustfnl eye ere it closed forever on the
| things of time and sense. In the father the
felon was forgotten, and the ties Of nature
T~<> asyltted by deep, convulsive agoiy Of
, grief. s.. LII i. ,,sb
All now that the prisoner seemed to wish
was an opportunity Of seeing the BODY, Of his
child before it was conveyed away forever
% its narrow dwelling. But this, the stern
jailor could not permit, unless the corpse
were itself brought to the prison, that i
might there be seen. s.t.<s = 49,
AS he could see it no other way, the rris.
oner begged that It might thus be brought,
and SO it was-thc dead on visit to the liv.
ing! 49,.
To the jailor's room the mother and few
6 kind friends accompanied the little innocent,
In whom the seal Of the skeleton archer, had
been affixed, ard there they awaited the en-
: trance Of the condemned felon-the husband
! and the father. Fri
II was solemn fearful meeting that
: meeting Of the living and the dead. ].
The strong, stout man entered, with a load
Of gives upon his limbs, and double load Of
E guilt and grief upon his heart; and the sound
Q Of his mourning and the sharp clank ot his
e manaclcs, as his convulSed frame shook,
mingled in strange disonance Of sound. 4,
It There too, stood the mother, like Rachel.
Y refusing to be comforted. But her grief-w
$ divided between her child that was not .
aud her husband that ,eas. And there were
y some Of the little playmates Of her who had
o couscdt Is be; and the kind friends above, re-.
: fcred to and the, stern iailor. None were
5 unmoved. Nature asserted herself By tie
trckling pearls Of sympathy. But on the
face Of the corpse q smile still rested3 there
a was no grief thorc. Sorrow and sishing from
!. ithod passed. away, and the glories ofthe sPir
k itland had opened to its angel eyes and un.
created light ,...a... \ .:s'.,.. An.
II The father stopped down and appeared 70
listen for the music, of that voice Rhichsgc
4 late seemed sweeter to bis ear than The song
. Of birds, and he arose, as ifa stilIsmall echg
: had stirred among the tendrils Of his heart
Who shall say that there was not silent,
= yet persuasive eloquence in those pale. cold
y lips, which warned q parent Of the anchor oi
eternal hoPel s,:.s n. n. ssa,
n After time, the cofin-lid was closed, and
l. all but the father and the jailor started on
their fearful mission to consigh The iittle
sleepertoits early rest - ashes to ashes and
: dust,to dust" II ~
The feion and father returned n sorrow 10
his cell; and the mother, to her lowly dohi-
Gil, where, BY the hearth. there was I va
cant place. Both, ii their dreams, are vis-.
1 tied ut times BY d celestial presence which
I they call their csildi--N o. Picap,ips.
or The day Of departure offks CSllihs1