The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-01-13
wOMAN'S SPHERE WE'LL
FILLED.
4 SKETCH FROM REAL LIFE.

L vail not weary your patience with a
long dissertation on what woman should
or should not do or be; but will give you
true, unvarnished tale of the trials and
final success which attended the self-deny-
ing efforts of one woman in the sphere
fought to say 2 Heaven had allotted her
or to the man who should have been her
stay, and strong support. It is not of
the noble hearted girl in her happy home,
I shall speak; nor of the subsequent
marriage to the man of her choice; nor
of the few short years Of happiness which
followed; nor of the first fatal step which
led on sIow7y but surely to ruin? All
this l will pass by, as events that were,
and show you the change, the sad change,
which few short years have brought
about -. as L5e
Shall we visit the house where misery
reigns? We shall find it in one of the
quiet villages of New England. 1t is not
the comfortable habitation of happier
days. That was given up to creditors
some time since, and this poor, miserable
substitute is now their only shelter. Shall
we 90 in? -*t@
Turn now thy eye, and lock on poverty !!
Look on the lowest of her ragged sons
He las no home, no house, no friend. r {
Observe his goblin cheek, his wretched eve.
And hear his groan,
His long and lamentable groan, announce
The want that gnaws within .1.5-s --r.-s
There sits the mother. All. who can
tell the bitter anguish Of that heart, While
round her hang the offspring of her love,
and lisp her name. She is their sole
protector now. Long and hard has been
the struggle to keep that little band to-
eethcr. It has been done, 1t must be done.
The high, firm resolve is taken. The
mother cannot see the family severed,
but she can leave home, and friends, to
go forth, and say to toll and hardships, We
are my sisters.
The mother seeks homo in manu-
featuring village. Here al is strange
and new. No kidd welcone greets her.
In the tenement provided. she arranges
the few articles which the iron hand Of
law has left her, with a sad heart It
needed a martyrs faith and courage to
thus begin life anew. She must now
like the Spartan mothers, early inure her
children to hardships, give them plain
and scanty food; and they, young as
they are, must earn even this. We may
imagine that the night after their arrival
in the village was not spentin refreshing
sleep, but in prayer like that of Jacob,
which would not let God 90 without a
blessing. Did her Heavenly father hear
and answer their cries fer help and wis
dom? Yes, the returning morn brings
fresh supplies of strength, and of subm:s-
siveness to this her sad destiny.
That morning she calmly told the agent
that she had four children old enough
to work in the mill; and if a months wa
res could be advanced to raise provision
for the pressing need of her family, she
should be very grateful. To this propo-
sition the man of the world made no re-
ply for moment, until his quick prac-
ticcd eye had scanned all before him :;
then the hard features relaxed, and he
quickly said, eve will make you eomfor-
table. Send your children to the mill at
the ringing of the second bell in the NOR
ming" The little group were left to their
sorrows for another day. i ,aas'-sers
Those old enough to work clustered
around their mother and anxiously in
quired what they were to do in those
gloomy looking stone buildings; if they
must stay there all day if they had a
recess as they had in school; with many
other questions which their wondering
imagination suggested.
Up to this time the mother had locked
up her sorrows in her own heart, care
full to avoid giving utterance to her feel
ings, lest it might deepen the shadows
fast gathering over those young hearts
but the fount of trouble had been to deep
" agitated for longer control. Tears
fast-s calding tears, flowed down those
eare-worn cheeks. Those were moments
of silent agony; not one word was spo-
ken.
$40 them that have no might he Ia
creaseth strength"
The mothers thoughts turned to Him
who pitch the weak, to nerve herself fo1
a dreaded task. Then calling the little
ones around her, very kindly and tender
| " She told them of their poverty, and the
great need that all who were old enough
! - vel should A. =, ,baa~s,u -