The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1858-06-16

OUNCE W Say, tnat next Gay me morn
ing sun foutd Ella busy twining a lily
wreath for the angel brow of Mamie
Weaver, who was lying dead 10 the liz.
lie chamber where few days previous,
SHE had amused her guest with the story
OF now she had watched, and watered,
And tended her cherished plants, ever
since they put forth their first greon leaf.
Ahl how mournfully white and beau.
tiful they seemed now, as Ellen arranged
them, first a leaf and then a blossom, un-
I'll they grew into snowy garlsnd, inter
spersed with green, which Mrs. Howard
said was embematic Of the purity and
immortality Of the little spirit which had
just left them for more genial CLINE.
Ella gazed long and tearfully upon the
motionless form Of her lost play
She observed the eyeids were gently clos
ed, just as though they were asleep; yet
when she pressed her lips to the marble
cheek, she knew there could he no life in
those frozen veins. II was the first pic
ture she had ever seen Of death, and when
the sexton brought in the soInbre looking
coffin, and placed it upon the table, she
wept bitterly, and begged her mamma to
hide Mamie, and not let that cruel man
take her away
Mrs. Howard, deeply touched at the
emotion Of her child, endeavored to ex
plain to her the deep mystery Of the
souls separation from tho body-how
like butterfly, which has just burst the
chrysalis shell which confined il, It is far
more happy and more free than before
that i: WAS only Nannis's decayiug form
which would be enclosed in that narrow
box--not the freed soul, which had flown
back to its God and Its Heaven.
Ella listened wonderingly to the strange
recital. and then approached to take
last look at the dresmIess sleeper Poor.
dear Mamie! no, happy Mamie! no
more sickness for you-no more poverty
and want-no more ha,d-working days,
aud feverish. wakeful nights-no more
suffering and partings and tears. A qni-
ct smile rested upon the seated lips, and
as Ella placed the fowery wreath upon
the pale brow, she thought the wsxen
face which nestled beneath it by tar the
sweetest I'LL, Of all In n few hours she
followed Mamie to the grave, and ~ the
IIlt- body WAS born out, the old oak
seemed TO drop hs branches over the
spot more tenderly than ever, and the
silver brook AT the loot Of the bill had n
saddened cadence IN lis murmuring song.
Weeks Stter.whsn the grass had sprung
up fresh and green over the silent breast
Of her friend, and forest birds had flown
there to sing their ~ordless hymns, or to
build their nests in the trees around, Ella
came To- plant lilies over the lowly grave
and TO think over the lesson taught her
by Nannie's innocent life, and sweet, heav
enIy disposition. Need say that she
cherished with unceasing care the last gift
OF the vanished angel, the lilies, that
seemed to bloom out tie pure light Of
heaven.
Mrs. Howard and her daughrer con.
,inued their visits to the poor mother
more frequently than ever, ieIeaving her
every necessity, and supplying her with
every comfort to the day Of her death,
which occurred not many months after that
Of her devoted child.
Little readers, | WAS walking one even
ing lately, after an absence Of several
years, in the old church yard at
when my eye fell upon two little graves,
in one enclosure. A angle shaft OF mar
bic marked them both, and on il was the
device Of lily wreath, held by cherub
hands. and enci!clIng the familiar names
Of "Nannis and Elia-sged IL and IA
years"
CLIFF COTTAGE, APRIL, 1858.