The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-03-07

way. The air was only little more foul than
that of the cottage she had first known, and
the food and clothing only little worse.
Lefty Grove possessed more delicate or
ganization than most of those who had to bear
with her the ills of poverty Her lungs were of
a kind that could not bear the foul air she was
forced to breathe, without her suffering And
her nerves were so strung that she could not
bear the discord, and harshness about her,
without intense misery.
Before many years she began to show signs
of the suffering life she led, other than in the
wan, pinched, withered features, that retained
nothing of the bloom and beauty nature had
evidently intended to bestow upon them. A
complication of scrofula, and spinal disease
manifested themselves, and the little bent back
grew more and more to show the heavy bur-
den sh had borne through all her life.
''Do you mean that little crooked, sore
mouthed .thing;" said a heavy, slatternly look
ing woman who had come to find child to
be bound to her. "Do you think will take
such child as that?"
"She's master tidy, and Industrious" said
the matron, .sjest the handiest little creature
you could find, you won't be sorry if you take
her. Besides she is the only one We have,
about the age you want"
Tho child was called up to be questioned,
and her intelligent answers seemed in meas
matter ended by her being bound out to
dress maker with an intemperate husband, and
six unruly children. Mrs. Green knew very
well what she was doing when she took
bound girl from the poor house to be maid of
all work in her unruly household. She was
resortng to the means by which she could
obtain the greatest possible amount of labor at
the smallest possible expense. And very
thoroughly did she carry out the plans she
had laid for doing this. There was no re-
morse for the heavy burdens she was laying on
the suffering, naotherless chiid-no thought
except of the duty she supposed she owed to
herself, anu her family, of obtaining all that
it was. possible to obtain from the deformed,
bound girl; and giving her as little as possible
in return. Seant hours for sleep, granted at
an hour when she was too weary to sleep at all,
scant time for scanty meals and heavy unre-
mitting toll, were the lot of the little Lefty
while She was still a mere child in growth and
in years 1t was no wonder that Lefty grew
bent and shapeless, like tree that has been
trodden upon 1t was no wonder that a tenn
per, naturally gentle should grow warped, and
tempestuous in the t.of such trials She
had never met a word or a look of affection in
her life. Scarcely word or look of kindness
even. had been vouchsafed to her During
her first years every one had been impatient
that the care of homeless, destitute child
had been thrown upon them. The miserable
beings abont oppressed, and made her wretch
ed because they were oppressed, and wretehed
the mselves One poor palzied old man who
had died at the poor house while she was there,
had received her attentions with gentleness,
and gratitude; and though he so palsied
that he could rarely speak as to be under
stood, Lefty knew that he watched for her,
and was glad to have her near. And she re-
mem lered him with exceeding love; and when
she lay in her little garnet in Mrs. Green's
house, too weary, and too worn with suffering
to sleep, she thought Of him, and wished that
she were at rest with him.
She had now grown into such pitiable,
withered little object that no one looked upon
her except with an expression of disgust. And
Lefty was sensitive, and quick to and hear
all that the cruel or the tbougholess said and
felt TIE SCOTS and jeers of the ungoverned
children Of her mistress did not tend to I'M
prove her temper. The christian faith of this
christian lanI which alone could have helped
her to bear such trials had never been offered
to her in way that she could understand or
trust it. Yet that God without whom no spar
row falleth to the ground had net forgotten
Lefty.
Far away amid the crowd that were bustling
from the depot to newly arrived train OF
cars, was an old lady with neat suit of black,
ard still decided countenance, making her
way carefully to seat. She had just buried
the daughter over whose feeble health, and
small household she had presided for years
and now the little household was broken
the bereaved husband was with his own family
friends and the old lady was going back to the
home which she had left years before, for hel
daughters sake. She was going back to the
married sons and daughters who lived near the
old homestead and the grown-up grandchildren
who had, doubtless, almost forgotten her
They were all we'll to-do people, with full
households of their own. 1t might have seem.
ed to some that she was hardly needed among
them but Grandma Grove had never fouted
Providence yet, by feeling that there was nc
need of her in the world. And there was nc
doubt of the hearty welcome she would receive
| for her relatives all reverenced and respected
her some for the noble and substantial qualt
ties she possessed and some for the goody
share of ancestral patrimony which was still
| in her hands. But whatever were the reasons
the welcome was sure ; and eon her arrival she
found a quiet career ready for her in the fami-
ly of her son Joseph, in the spacious home
over which she had once reigned as mistress.
She was sociable, wise old lady, and she
soon made herself familiar with the many
changes that had taken place during her alb
sence. ggs-.f.tI ll,5- t.- r..- s.
81 think you wrote me tnat W1llam GroVe
was killed, Joseph" she said to her son one
day, two OF three months after her return
ado you know what ever became of his wife 2
"Why she died, too, mother, only few
I months after her husband"
s'foor thing,-she had hard life of it, ;
j sighed Grandma Grove. William Grove wai
distant relative of the family, and his people
had been better known to the old lady than tc
any of the rest.
"They shouldn't have married so young,
] said Mrs, Joseph Grove; "trouble always
comes of it." q @ fH4. efs-
~sShe was twenty and he was twenty-five
said Grandma Grove
] eyes, but they had nothing-not even Sc
much as blanket or silver spoon," said Mrs
Joseph, who prided herself upon the house
hold goods which she had brought her hus
band. e 5f $50
"She brought him something much better