The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1857-08-27
RAVENNA, THURSDAY, AUG. 27, 1857.

hall door was opened moment by the wind
but then we were not -efraid, for wasn't i
her old smile she wore?-to sit there arount
a fire and weep over the woes of the "Babe'
in the Woods" who lay down side by side
in the great solemn shadows; and how
strangely glad we felt when the robin red
bSast covered them with leaves, and last oil
all, when the angels took them out of the
night into the day everlasting. a
We may think what we will of it now; bu,
the song and story heard around the kitchen
fire have co!ored the thoughts and lives o.
most of us; have given us The germs of what
ever poetry blesses our hearts, whatever
memory blooms in our yesterdays. Attri
butte whatever we may to the school and the
school master, the rays which make that lit
tie day we call life, radiate from the Goo
swept circle of the hearth stone.
Then she sings an old lullaby she sang tc
mother--her mother sang to her; but she
does not sing it through, and falters ere 'tis
, done. She rests her head upon her hands
and it is silent in the old kitchen. Some.
thing glitters down between her fingers and
the freight, and it locks like rain in the
soft sunshine. The old grand mother il
thinking when she first heard the song, and
of the voice that sung it, whena light.haired
and light hearted girl, she hung aronnd that
mothers chair, nor saw tie shadows of DAYS
TO come. o, the days that are no more!--
Whatspell can we weave to bring them back
again! What words can we unsay, what
deeds undo, to set back, just this once, the
the ancient clock of time! ...
So all our little hands were forever cling,
ing to her garments, and staying her as il
from dying, for long ago she had done living
for herself, and lived alone in US. But the
old kitchen wants presence to day, and the
rush bottomed chair is tenantless.
How she used to we ecome US when we
" ere grown, and came back once more to
the homestead.
We thought we were men and women, but
we were children there. The old fashioned
grandmother was blind in the eyes, but she
saw with her heart as she always did. We
threw our long shadows through the open
door, and she felt them as they fell over her
form, and she looked dimly up and saw tall
shapes in the door way and she says, "Ed.
ward know, and Lucy'S voice can hear,
but whose is that other! 1t must be James"
for she had almost forg the folded
hands. ooh, no, let me see---she is wait.
ing for me, isn't she!" and the cid grand.
mother wandered and wept.
"It is another daughter, grandmother, that
Edward has brought" says some one, ''for
your tlcssing.".
elias she blue eyes, my son! Put her
hand in mine, for she is my latest born, the
child of my old age. Shall sing you Il
song, childrenp Her hand is in her pocket
as of old, she is idly fumbing for toy, u
welcome git to the children that have come
again. s...-.,, ...,. -- ..-..
One Of Us, men ae we thought we were,
is weeping; she hears the half suppressed
SOB; she says, as she extends her feeble hand,
"Here, my poor child, rest Upon your grand.
mothers shoulder; she will protect you from
all harm. Come, children, sit around the
fire again. Shall I sing you Song or tell
you story! Stir the fire. for it is cold; the
nights are growing COLDER" .. .
The clock in the corner struck nine, the
bed time of those old days. The song of
life was indeed sung, the story told; it was
bed time at last. Good night to thee, grand
mother. The old fashioned grandmother
was no more, and we miss her forever. But
we will set up tablet in the midst of the
in the midst of the heart, and write
on it only this; .t .-.
" SACRED TO THE MEMORY
OF THE
OLD FASHIONED GRANDMOTHER
God bless her forever.