Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1860-09-14


acknowledge. With as much delicacy a
the subject admitted and their endowment
supplied, they reminded her that il she dice
thus early, the bulk of Roberts estate woulc
90, not to his honored kindred, but to hel
own miserable relations. Her death woulc
ALLEVIATE from that r-to-be-impoverishet
family the funds WHICH her marriage never
brought. These facts Lima meekly admit
ted, adding that her relatives asked aid from
no man, but from God and their own strong
arms and honest hearts, they would covet
the gold of the Roberts family as little as
herself. She was therefore willing 70 be-
queath everything, a. her decease, TO the
sisters of the friend through whom it came.
But the sagacious matrons would not accept
the sacrifice. 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 provid-
ing amply for the few days of suffering that
remained TO her. Lima was weak and weary
of life she was seriously i'll, and she veri-
iy thought that she must die. She shrank
with natural del;cacy from conflict with
shrewder minds, adopts in wisdom per-
haps not entirely from above. So, an in
strpment was drawn up, whereby she re-
signed all claims to any part Of her late
husbands estate, with the exception OF the
sum that has been named and propped by
! pillows, she laid her trembling hand in that
Of her physician, and was aided by him to
sign the fatal deed. Then bidding adieu to
her retreating guests she composed herself
to die.
We have called the document fatal deed,
and yet it was not without its advantages.
1t relieved Lima at once from all care for
the settlement of her husbands affairs. from
all duty as champion of his rights-rights
that are seldom effectively sustained by
widows unpracticed hand. The sum re-
served, though small one, was present
certainly, and, as she fondly hoped, sufi-
cient for her brief demands. She did not
realize, passibly the reader may not have
done so, the full significance Of the price
she had paid. She did not know that she
had reiinquished all claim to the kindly
charities of life, to the fraternal recognition
of her husbands kindred, and of the church
he served, of which she had been uncon-
sciously the sweetest flower. Yet thus it
must have been, for mark the sequel. Our
poor young widow did not die. She lived,
lived as hopeless invalid alternating. be-
tween the easy-chair and the uneasy couch.
She lived to exhaust the little sum she had
reserved, although painfully eked out by
sad economies and sadder tolls. Reclining
upon pillows, she knit and STITCHED whenev-
er the falteripg hands could aid the unfal-
tering heart. But at length the last dollar
was spent, and death, the deliverer, came
not. There was bot er,. resource remain
ing The gin of public charity was a bitter
one, but it was bread. She accepted it, the
gentle, still beautiful Lima, aud the writer
has seen her grateful smiles, her patient
tears. gracing with strange amenities
the last retreat of improvidence and
want. Then she realized too late, how en-
tirely her birth-right had been sold. There,
in that memorable interview. she owned
how eagerly her parched lips thirsted for
the early fruits. 1t mattered not TO her
that they fell and perished by thousands in
the gardens she had abjured. She had no
claim to any indulgence not nominated in
the band." There through the long sum-
mer Sundays, she wept in her lonely room,
while her Christian sisters met in the edi-
flee so dear TO her, and partook of the SYM
bols of the Redeemer's love, from the ele-
CANT communion service that was her hus-
bands gift.
Reader, I would that this story were not
as true as it il sad. There are strange dis
crepencies, sometimes, between what we
believe and what we practice. Net the
time has been, and will be again, when il
may be said without irony" See how
these Christians loved one another -
Springfield Republican.