Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1860-09-28

minded her that i she died thus early
the bulk Of Roberts estate would 60, not
to bis honored kindred. but to her own
miserable relations. Her death would
aiienate from that never-to.be-impover-
ished family the funds which her marriage
never brought. These facts Lima meeklv
admitted, adding that her relatives asked
ard from no man, hu, from God and their
own strong arms and honest hearts. they
would eovei the gold Of the Roberts fam
lily rs little as herself She was there
lore willing To bequeaih everything. at
her decease, to the sisters of the friend
through whom L came. Bot the saga
cious matrons would not accept the sac
ridce. They were willing that she should
leave to her friends some tokens Of her
brief and brilliant destiny. A thousand
dollars would furnish these, besides pro
viding amply for the few days of suffer
ing that remained 10 her. Lima was
weak and weary OF lie she was seriouly
i'll, and she verify thought that she must
die. She shrauk with natural delicacy
from conflict with shrewder minds.
adopts in wisdom perhaps not entirely
from above. So m instrument was
drawn up, whereby she resigned all claims
to any part Of her late husbands estate,
with the exception of the sum that has
been named; and propped by the PILLOWS,
she laid her trembling hand in that of
the physician, and was aided by him to
sign the fatal deed. Then bidding adieu
to her retreating guests she composed her
self to die.
We have called the document fatal
deed, and yet il was not without its ad-
vantages. II relieved Lima at once from
all care for the settlement of her husbands
affairs, from all duty as a champion of his
rights-rights that are seldom effectively
sustained by a widows unpracticed hand.
! The sum reserved, although a small one,
was present certainly, and, rs she fondly
hoped, sufficient for her brief demands.
She did not realize, possibly the reader
may not have done so, the full significance
of the price she had paid. She did not
know that she had relinquished all claim
{ TO the kindly charities Of lie, to the fra
T ternal recognition Of her husbands kin
dred, and Of the church be served, of
which she had been unconsciously the
sweetest flower Yet thus it must have
been, for mark the sequel Our poor
3 young widow did not die. She lived,
+ lived as a hopeless invalid alternating be-
p tween the easy-chair and the uneasy
couch She lived TO exhaust the little
: sum she had reserved, although painfully
r eked out BY sad economies and sadder
d tolls. Reclining upon pillows, she knit
4 and stitched whenever the faltering hands
could aid the unEallering heart. But at
length the last dollar was spent, and
j.. death, the deliverer, came not There
/. was but one resource remaining the gift
Of public charity was bitter one, but il
was bread. She accepted it. the gentle,
= still beautiful Lima, and the writer has
/ seen her grateful smiles, her patient tears,
a graeing with strange amenities the last
retrea; Of improvidence and want. Then
e she realized too late, how entirely her
d birth-right had been sold. There, in that
|. memorable interview, she owned how ca
3 gerIy her parched lips thirsted for early
n fruits II mattered not 10 her that they
e fell and persisted by thousands in the gar
: dens she bad abjured. She had no claim
d TO any indulgence not nominated IN the
d bond. There through the long summer
r. Sundays, she vept in her lonely room,
:. while her Christina sisters met in the ed
: iiice 50 dear to her, and pariook of the
Is symbols Of q Rcdeemer's love, from the
a elegant communion service that was her
d husbands gin.
d Reader, I would that this story were
Ie not as true a. il is sad. There are strange
10 discrepancies, sometimes, between wha
l. we believe and what we practice. Yet
e. the time has been, and viii be again,
r when it may be said without irony" See
= how these Christians lore one another 2
n --sprfnqtfsid Republican.
a.