The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1858-11-19

| S"'NN -NN VIZ NNHN ST. Nf"f"fN>s
and erePt saIIy over TIE rs. 70 the fireplace
now. ~
Everything was In order, and Mrs. HantE
the step mother Of Sammy, was sitting placid
" before the fire smoothing the folds Of bet
clean apron, and 10 selfsa,istied manner
stroking tabby cat which iAy 10 her lap.
Her three children were sitting eoEily in
little chairs by the freside, and Mr.. Hsntz
was talking with brother who had just ar
rived to spend Thanksgiving with them.
The wind blew fercely without, aud once,
when an unusual tempes, seemed to shake
the foundation OF the house, the father tuned
suddenly TO his wife and said
"Where is Sammyi"
"Gope TO bed" said she thrtly,
"what made him 60 so earlyi"
asked Mr.. tlantz. Aud in n tone which
precluded further inquiry, his wife anwered:
"Because he was too larry to sit up, sup
pose"
! For few moments Mr.. Hantz looked of
vacantly into a corner Of the room, and then
offering pipe TO his brother, seemed to for
| get that little Sammy had been mentioned,
Eight years before Mr.. Hanis had been
sitting BY the same firesidc with his first
wife. gentle Sarah Lee, Sammy was upon
his fathers lap, and Sarah, with her head upon
her husbands shoulder was talking Of what
they would do when Sammy would be old
enough to have Thanksgiving Of his own.
Perhaps Mr. Hantz's memory was bringing
out those old pictures ina fresh light, and
he may have paused 10 wonder If he had
changed since that wife Of his first choice and
purest love for the one that sat before him.
However II was, no one knew. Men are often
ashamed of their best and nobest thoughts,
and hide them for fear they may be called
--~rr1r'tnus me ovs,'upsv- a''y --.'s--ss"S-- "
not, that "a mother is the same all the days
of her life, but father changes when he gets
now wife" we do not pretend to say; but 1t
was n fact that the second Mrs. Hantz and
her children, were apparently first in the
,bouyb;s and afleclonsN Mr. Ilantz
The morrow was thanksgiving, and from
early morn had Mrs llantz been busy pre-
paring for the great dinner Of the coming
day.
More than two months before, she had
promised Sammy, that "if he was good boy.
and behaved himself" he might go to his
grandfather Lees TO spend Thanksgiving
And the motherlcss child had hoped and
planned, and been happy upon the events of
that day. lie had many times gone to bed
supperless, and never cried at all, because he
fell asleep thinking of the dinner he should
have at his grandfather.
Although but two miles away, his step
mother seldom allowed him 10 90 there, be
cause, rs she nverred, "They SET him up
against her, and made him look uglier than
ever" But once in a while she was obliged
TO let him 90, for fear that people wou'c
stalk about it," She was iirst-class mem
ber Of the church 10 Inglcnook, aud her
praise for charitable deeds and kindness to
the poor, was in all the neighboThood' She
was one of those christians, whose right
hand knows what the left hand doeih,' aud
whose religion was for the praise OF man.
rather than the approval OF God; and whose
Judgment leave lor just Judge to pro-
nounce at n coming day.
Many time had poor Sammy had n boxed
ear, while the minister looked out oi the
window, and been sen. suppetless to bed
while she told visitors that abe was SICK
and while he slept shiyering under lew old
blankets IN the garret, she displayed snug
warm bedroom below, ms "Sammys room
Through all lnglenook she was ptoverbiaI ms
"model step. mother" and none but lie who
watches over motheress children knew OF all
tha, poor Sammy suffered. No human friend
knew Of the wrongs done TO his childish ma
,ure; Of the harsh repressng pf oil eSuber-
nnce and 10y: and Of the bitterness which
grew up 10 his heart toward all but his
grandfather. lie was like his mother, and
sitting ON her fathers knee, he had been told
by the old man how gentle and lovely she
was, and that she was with angels now, and
he a motherlesS boy.
So the young child's henrt clung to the old
man who was kind to him, and the great holi
day of the year was that upon which he could
ret away from the sound Of his step mothers
voice, and the fear Of her hnnd-when he
could leave the chill freside al home, where
he always sa, behind the new family groupe,
and would climb upon the lap OF Old MI
Lee, and with his soft curls lying close TO the
white hair Of the old man, listen TO the sto'
ries told Of his mother and then have nice
supper upon the round table, drawn close to
the fire. This year he had nnSiously waited
for the dry leaves to drift through the woods
in October, and for the first November snow
to come, because at Thanksgiving he should
visit his grandfather.
And the day before has at last come. lie
was up before the stars were oa' OF sgn''