The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-08-31
HoMz WITHOUT A MOTHER.

and cold in the low dismal attic but close
pressed to the frosty wir dow lay the face of
Samny Hantz. His soft hair hung over his
face, and his thin hands clasped the rough win
dow-sill, and his whole frame shook as the keen
HAST found its way through the c%reyices
around the stone chimney. 1t was a sound
YOU never would forgot-those half-sobbed,
halfnoaned words; "Mother, mother, mother"
You would have felt that that little heart was
ready to burst with its unutterable weight of
sorrow, and that grief might be the companion
of childhood as well as of old age.
Below stairs the fire leaped and sparkled and
erept gaily over the logs in the fre-place-for
you may find fre-places in Inglenook even now.
Everything was in order, and Mrs Hantz,
the step-mother of Sammy, was sitting placid
" before the fire, smoothing the folds of her
clean apron, and in a selfsatisfed manner stro-
king . tabby cat which lay in her lap.
Fer three little children were sitting cozily
In little chairs by the Preside, and Mr.. Hantz
was talking with a brother who had just ar
rived to spend Thanksgiving with them.
The wind blew fercely without, and once,
when an unusual tempest seemed to shake the
foundation of the house, the father turned
suddenly to his wife, and said:
where is Sammy ?"
"Gone to bed, !" said she, tartly.
aWhat made him go so early 2" asked Mr..
Hantz. And in a tone that precluded further
inquiry, his wife answered:
because he was too lazy to sit up, I suppose"
For a few moments Mr.. Hantz locked va
cantly into q corner of the room, and then Of
fsring a pipe to his brother, seemed to forget
that little Sammy had been mentioned.
Eight years before, Mr.. Hantz had been sit
ting BY the same Preside with his first wife,
gentle Sarah Lee. Sammy was upon his faith
er's lap, and Sarah, with her head upon her
6ushand,s 1houIdar talkinO what thew
would do when Sammy was old enough to have
q Thanksgiving of his own. Perhaps Mr..
Hantz's memory was bringing out those old
pictures IN a fresh light, and he may have
paused to wonder if he had changed since that
wife of his first choice and purest love sat be-
fore him. Whatever it was, no one knew
Men are often ashamed of their best thoughts,
and hide them for fear they may be called un-
manly.
Whether the old adage may be true or not
that Ga mother is the same all the days of her
lifs, but q father changes when he gets a new
wife" we do not pretend to say but it was a
fact that the second Mrs. Hantz and her chill
dren. were apparently first in the thoughts and
affections of Mr.. Hantz.
The morrow was Thanksgiving, and from
early morn had Mrs Hantz been busy prepar-
ing fer. the great dinner the coming day.
Mere than two months before, she had part
IL promised Sammy "that, if he was a good
boy and behaved himself" he might go to his
grandfather Lees to spend Thanksgiving
And the motherlsss child had hoped and plan
ned, andf been happy upon the events of that
day. HA>had many times gone to bed supper
less, and, never cried at all, because he fell
asleep thinking of the dinner he should have
at his grandfather's.
Althouglnbut two miles away, his step-moth-
or seldom allowed him to go there, because as
she ayerred, fethey set him up against her, and
made him LOOK uglier than ever" But once
in . while she, was obliged to let him go, for
fear that HpeoplA would talk about it." She
was q first class member of the church in In
glenook, and her praise for charitable deeds
and kindness to the,poor, was in all the neigh
borhood. She was one of those Christians
whose fright hand knoweth what the left hand
doeth," and whose religion was for the praise
of man rather than tie approval of God and
whose judgement 1 leave for a just Judge to
pronounce at a coming day
Many . time poor Sammy had a boxed ear
while the minister looked out of the window,
and been sent supperless to.bed, while she told
visitors that he was sick and while he slept
shivering under a few old blankets in the gar
ret, she displayed a snug warm bedroom below
as ISammys room" Through, all Inglenook
she was proverbial as a model step-mother and
none but He who watches over the motherless
children knew of ali that poor Sammy suffered.
No human friends knew of the wrongs done to
his childish nature of the harsh repressing of
all exuberance and joy /; and Of tho bitterness
which grew up in his heart towards all but his
grandfather. He was like his mether, and sit
ting on his grandfather's knee, he had been
told by the old man how gentle and bEing she
was, and that she was with. the Angels in hea-
ven now, and he a motherless boy.
So the young child's heart chung to the. old
man who was kind to him and the great hoE
iday of the year was that upon whichiie could
get away from the sound of his step,mother's
voice, and the fear of her husband-when he
could leave the chill Preside al home. where he
always sat bshind the new family group-and
would climb upon the lap of old Mr.. Lee, and
with his soft curtis lying close to the white hair
of the old man, listened to. the stories told of
his mothen; then; have a nice supper upon the
round table, drawn close to the fire. This year
he had anziously waited Cor the dry leaves to
rustic 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 us has at last come. He,
was up before the stars were out OF sight, and
had q blazing fre- on the hearth; the teakettle'
boiling, and potatoes in. All day long his lit
the well, down cellar, UP stairs, in the pantry,
and through the kitchen. There surely never
was . housewife whoneeded more waiting upon
than Mrs. Ha1tz, and Sammy did it all. His
fingers smarted with cold when he picked up
baskets of chips; his back ached when he lug
ged basket after basketof the great hard wood
chips for the kitehen fireplace; his hungry
stomach crayed q piece of the smoking pies,
which he had TO drag from the brick oven ;
and he longed for ems "dough-nut" from the
heaping painful he lad to carry away. His
little feet and Slender arms were very, very
tired; but he never complained q word and
TO all his mothers psoVeking taunts and need
fault-fnoing, he was silent but when all
vas done and It was zine o'cloek-he could
not help asking her IF he was going to has
tomorrow and when he heard
her say, aNo! I want you at home" he could
hardly totter mp stairs. When there he drop
ped in4oa chair, aud moaned SO sadly, mother,
mofhoR. /