Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-03-12

me something that glittered, and said, in hel
sweet, low voice, 'sPlease win you go and sec
my mother, tonight, Mr.. Doctor She SEM
you this gold ring-she had no money-and
she cried when she gave it to me, and said il
was one my dear papa gave her when they were
married in New Cork city, and she wanted to
keep it for me, but she will give it to you. sir.
if you will come and see her tonight; she is
afraid she will die before tomorrow, and then
she cannot tell you what she wants to- and
she is all alone, too, only little girl, Katy
Wharton, came over to stay with her while
| came after you; so please do go and see my
dear mother tonight, good Mr.. Doctor.;'
The fervent love and artless simplicity of the
child had so overcome me, that had prepared
myself to start, unconscously. Ny wife had
| risen from her slnmber, and was listening to
the story Ct the child, and when / returned to
| the gate with my robes and cutter, found lit
tie Julia and my good wife waiting fo accom-
pany me. Folding them closely in my thick,
warm robes, drove rapidly over the ground !;
4 slight snow had fallen and coverad the dark
brown earth. My residence was near thick
wood. and my track to the dwelling of the sick
woman led me through thickly settled part
of the large and fourishing village of A.
The house was SMALL and forbidding in its ex-
terror, and when we reached the gate little
Julia bounded from the sleigh with the elastic
step of young fawn, glided across the yard,
and entered the house in advance of us, and,
rushing to the bedside, she held up the ring
and cried foy, as her tiny arm clasped her sick
mothers neck, while she covered fer pale
check with fervent kisses. e:Dear mother,''
she said, in soft, low voice, sdon't cry now,
nor cough any more, for the good doctor has
como now, and the lady has come too, to help
me to take care Of you;" and she ran to the
table TO bring some drink for which her mother
had motioned.
Myself and companion stood by the bedside
of a sick and dying woman, who had been
rutSctr fif erfS f1Ss1T5-
whose parents had taught her to love self and
forget all else in the world beside.
Come into the apartment gentle reader, and
see where the daughter of the rich and proud
sometimes ends her days. y small room, with
scanty furniture, some poor, and a part of it
very rich, the broken fragments of a splendid
outfit, given her by her father when she left
New York for her home in the West.
The whole scene was really comfortlcss, al
though the hand of taste and pride had evil
IDENTIFY tried in vain to hide the real facts by
great tact in arrangement, and perfect neat
ness throughout the room. The address of the
lady at once marked her as one who had been
hred in far higher circle of life than She now
occupied, for she saluted us with that dignified
simplicity that always characterizcs the wo-
man of good breeding. Our fist duty was to
provide for her comfort, and then receive her
bcquests, for she was rapidly drawing towards
the close of her weary pilgrimage.
My wife had arranged her couch anew; her
cough had been quieted by soothing draught,
aud she lay resting her failing body. gathering
strength for this last conflict with her fate,
when little Julia rushed up to the bedside and
asked, in very earnest tone, ''Dear mother,
do Isaiah, and David, and Joseph have to go
to soup-house in heaven to get something to
eat? or do they have bread enough in heaven,
mother % ssMy strange child,'' said the dy
ing mother, s:why do you ask me that? ?"-
ssOh, you know the other day, when we were
so hungry, you made me read to you in the
Bible that sGod hears the ravens cry and then
you sent me down to the merchants for lit
tie -four, and when he sent me back because i
had no money, and you cried so, 1 kept think
ing about the famine in Samaria, and how Jo-
seph's brethren went down into Egypt to buy
corn, and Joseph wept when he saw them, and
gave them something to cat; and knew, be-
cause You said so, that even some good people
now could not get bread to eat because it cost
e,;l IL
houses to be fed, and beautiful fine ladies had
to go there in the great city of Boston last
year, and wondered if people were ever hun
cry in heaven.' The poor child relieved her
self CT all this with great earnestness.
A deep crimson flush overspread the face of
the poor mother, and her eye glanced wildly
at the face of my wife, as she said to the child
s.No, my dear, children are not hungry there;
but you must not talk so Strangely
Great God what thoughts rushed across my
soul at this strange sccne Have we become
race Of demons, thought I, and do children
begin 10 doubt The Justice of God'
A sudden silence seized the group, and
through my soul rushed whole years of an
guish. Children starving in a land of bread
mothers. nursed npride and luxury, brought |
to feel the bony fingers of want, and grapple, |
on dying bed, with pale famine's icy touch!
What, thought I, shall hear next? Surely |
something heart-breakng has preceded such
train of thought in the mind of this child
And who can this sick lady be, inquiries the |
reader, and where did she come from, and
whose daughter was she, and had she any mo-
ther alive; or was she some poor out cast