Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1859-04-23
VARIETY.
The Step Mother.
ny ANNA CORA RlTcuIE.

By ANNA CORA RlTcHIE.
Stcp-mother Gnmusically Jars the
word upon the ear a sense of something
harsh and chilling strikes against the heart
at the sound. The vision of Il place H.
surpcd-of children thrust from their IA
thcr's kucc-of old and pleasant ways nut
aside and all things rendered strange and
new in the family home, is conjured UP with
its utterance.
Let that not be thou who hast borne
stcp-mothor' stitlcwith, uchwontlrous grace
that it becomes cnnobled in thy pcrson.-
Give it melody caught from the music of
thy accordant life Stand forth in the pur
pie light of my thoughts, drapcd with the
sweet and sacred memories which cling
about tiny lovely presence, that may paint
thee iitly If the lines be but true, the
tinting faithful, the portrait thine, It shall
wipe away the long reproach from the name
of " stcp-dame," and dcmbalm it in the fra
grant aroma OF gratitud caud reverence and
most tender love.
The waves OF twenty years-or moro
have melted at thy feet upon the shores of
time, since first, with pleading eyes and
tlmid micn, thou tookest the place saint
cd nothor left untitled. Her children, not
ungraciously--it may be with forbcarine
klndness-madc room for thee beside the
crowded hcarth-but could they welcome
even the best of earth to that dear seat
which she of Heaven had sanctifcd?' No
voice could call thee " mother the tender
cpithct seemed sacrilegc upon herchidlen's $
lips. The stranger was respected as their
fathers choicefof his sake valued, not
beloved and honorcd for her own.
Was not thy gentle spirit sad and i'll at
ease, sitting among those half-avertcd faces,
sons and daughters of one whose holy foot
prints thou hadst come to press out with
thy faltering foot They asked not-kncw
not-thc hand of him whose ~isdom none
dare question, placed there in their midst
the inevitable was accepted as the endu-
rablc.
low mild and meek thou wcrt-how
doubtful of .thyself all unconscious
of thy own surprising virtues SO unassu-
ming that thou could'st not think the no.
blest act of thine was better than the com
mon deeds of others Ever bushing at
thysclf, the very wit, that flashed upon thy
lips, because the bubbHug fount within
could not express its sparkling gush, was
uttered in tone that might escape the ear.
Thus shrinkingly in thy new orbit didst
thou move, thy life with unpretcntous
goodness rounded.
SOon-vcry soon-thc holy magnetism,
that cnsphered thy soul, was felt within
that home. One face turned lovingly thy
way-one heart expanded wide to let thee
in.-onc little hand was placed confdingly
in thnc-one guilcless head pillowed itself
upon thy breast and sought mothers lost
carcsscs there. Cihiltthood's ) pure instinct,
that has quicker knowledge of the good
and true than older and more dull percep-
tions, found out. maternal throbs in the
"stcp-mother's heart and proclaimed them
with responsive tenderness. The younpeSt
darling Of the house-~shc who has been
lifted up TO sit upon a mothers death-bed
who had received upon her sinless brow
the glorifying halo of a. mothers dying
smile, (oh precious and mysterious bcni-
son that has ilumincd and enriched her
life with manifold blessings from that hour
to this y twas'she-thdt little child who
knew and loved thee first Quickly an
other and another face turned towards thee
another and another heart uAclosed to
let thee in-afiother, and another hand
grasped thine with warm and trusting clasp
and formed sacred compact never TO be
broken.
What WIS the talisman that drew these
alien hearts until they moved around thine
own, harmonious as the stars about their
sun? When sickness stretched some frail
one of that group upon the couch Of pain,
thine was the cooling hand upon the throb-
bing brow-thine the voice that fell in
soothing cadence on the ear--thine the
patient ministering that brought relief and
peace Wien sorrow bowed another to the
earth, thou vert the first to stop and lift
the-fallen head upon thy knees, and bind
with skill the bleeding wounds-and kindlc
up thy smile of hope, until it melted and