Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1860-11-23

looked off into space, and said nothing.
[ felt my utter inability to do the sub
ject justice. Truly and we'll has Hig
ginson denominated this process "The
Murder of the Innocents y
| Lizzie went to school, as usual, and L
had forenoon's talk with my daugter
on the subject. She admitted all [ could
say; and yet, foolish, unwarrantable
ambition seemed to make her willing to
sacrifice the health and mind of her
child, rather than that she should "seem
to be behind the rest. " My daughter
has as tender heart as other mothers.
[ know she has but o, the responsible
ity of those hundreds Of thousands of
parents who are no wiser than she
Lizzie did not return till shortly be-
fore six o'clock in the evening. She
had failedsiapene~.ef themreeitatiaRs1ain
the forenoon, and in the afternoon she
had sought aid from her teacher, which
was peremptorily refused, it being then
in school hours and the consequence
was another failure, and retention, with
"a talking to-, after dismissal. She
had no appetite-had not tasted food
since brea akfast-but she had headache,
and with its aid she began her weari
some evening task of getting lessons
Her two little brothers were playing,
quietly, yet the little noise they made so
disturbed her now toneless nerves and
distracted brain, that, between complain
ing, crying, and trying to concentrate
her thoughts on her books, she passed
her evening accomplishing nothing. At
ten, her mother ordered her to bed; be-
coming positively frightened. had sat
up beyond my usual hour, anxiously
watching the progress of events, and
what was my painful surprise when, on
retiring. l saw light in my grand
daughters room, streaming through
small crack in the door! Her ambition
had ever made her disobedient. I went
to bed, and said nothing, knowing that
her disobedience would cost her dearly
enough without the modification of an
exposure. [ was awake until past
midnight, but heard no squeaking of the
pencil, no scratching of the pen-all was
profound silence. Reused by growing
anxiety, [ at last committed the now
pardonable act of peeping through the
key hole. There she sat, her head rest
ing on her arms, which were crossed on
the book before her, asleep, and the
light burning. I returned to my apart
ment and tapped lightly ON the stoye-
pipe which passed from my room into
hers. After number Of taps, each
louder than the preceding one, she
seemed to start out of dream, for she
exclaimed. "That is relative conjunc-
ton. :" Then after several obs and
abs she said, "Oh it's you, grandpa
Please don't tell mother that I DISC
beyed! I didn't Want to fail again. I
couldn't keep awake, 0, my head ''
"No, no, child but go to bed and cover
up or you will catch your death of
cold. " She did SO. In the morning
she had no appetite, though she had now
tasted four and twenty hours, which
showed the alarming state of her vascu-
lar system but she had cold that de-
served of abstinence, and headache that
it would have required a fortnight's s sleep
to dispel. She hurried off, however, be-
fore eight, to get aid from her teacher;
but returned at recess, her indisposition
compelling her to desist. Her head ached
so, she could scarcely open her eyes.
She went to bed, and has not risen yet.
Her cold and headache matured into
slow nervous fever, in which her shat
tered mind wandered through her school
scenes parsing, reading, composing, spell
ling, demonstrating-now elated by i'm
aginary commentator, but more often
terribly detected; as that awful word
g failure rung upon her maddened SEN
ses, or begging her mother in pitious
tones not to punish her for her disobedi-
ence. For sennight, we watched her
wasting form, her feeble breath, her
small, quick pulse, her Pickering vital
ity, with the most anxious solicitude.
At last the fever took favorable turn,
and three days ago the physician pro-
nounced her out of danger
This morning, I saw the first faint
smile that has illuminated her wan fea-
lures since she was taken down. She
laid her hand in mine, and said, Grand
pa, | have left the school.
l was heartily glad of it, and sat down
to tell my friend, the gentle reader, why
she left it, If the moral of my story is
not sufficiently plain; I am unable to
point it out.