The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1862-06-04


up now, and hearty, 'cept David. Good
ness knows you waited on them enough,
so don't worry bout their waitin' on you,
now. guess they're willin', amt they 7"
added the poor man, TO whom no inkling
ofshis wife's meaning had come.
Perfectly willing, all of them," she
answered, with smile, for she really
thought her children very kind, especial
ly David, who never can do Too much for
me. l don't know how can part from
him, and yet must" and sigh followed
the smile.
"Why, / don't see as you need to, not
jest yet. He amt never goin to be any
use on the farm. He'll hev TO 90 into a
store, l guess, but theirs no hurry bout it,"
"No, Mr.. Graham, he must not go in
10 store, and he must leave home. That
is what l want TO speak TO you about.
David has talents that must be cultivat-
ed. He must have an education"
"Psho! He'll have the same chance
as the rest of 'em, and that's enough, any
how. More'n l had. He kin go TO the
'Cademy next year, il he wants to-"
"But that is not enough. l want you
to give him a regular education, Mr.. Gra-
ham. worked very hard twenty years,
and raised all this great family, Mr.. Gra-
ham; is it too much that want one of
them reared after my own heart?"
"He's like to be, anyhow. The chill
dren call him mothers boy and so be
is. But he's got to work-all on 'em
hey."
$50 he will, but he must work in his
own way. The rest are strong in body; /;
his strength equals theirs, but it is of the
mind. Let him have an opportunity, and
you will be proud Of him some day."
"Hev a chance, chi And how much
dye s'pose it'll cost! You women can't
earn money, but you can alters spend it
fast enough"
"Did l never earn money, Mr.. Gra-
haml What were all those years of toll,
that wore out my strength and laid me
herei Remember them, and then tell me
if the only reward l ever asked is too
much"
And thus the mother pleaded, not once
alone, but many times, and at last she
prevailed. The boy was sent TO school,
and his expenses paid; that much was
gained.
The mother was lonely, but great
hope companioned her solitude. Her life
had a purpose at last, and that purpose
impaired strength all unwonted. Her
boy had score of wants unsupplied by
the scanty pittance his father furnished.
With patient effort the mother recalled a
long forgotten art, learned her youth, and
lying there amidst her pillows, she wro't
the dainty lace into forms of such won-
drous beauty as only love and hope could
have impaired to her imagination. Thro'
the doctors wife she got these sent to the
city, and presently came money and or
ders for more. 1t was her own secret,
shared only by her kind friend. The
household guessed nothing but that she
wrought to vile the tedious hours, and
David, wondering often at precious gifts,
little dreamed that they were the fruits
of many painful effort borne with pa
tient heroism, and lightened by moth
er's love. r.l
Aud he was truly "mother's boy"
He had the unwavering fortitude, the
sweet patience that had always character
lied that parent, and which are usually
supposed to be essentially feminine attri-
butes. But all real heroism, in distinction
from mere animal courage tmost excellent
this in ats way) arises even in man, from
these and other womanly traits Of charac-
ter All great men possess these, and in
David Graham, though they seemed TO
be in excess in his youth, the later years
proved that they but served To round in
to completeness most noble and true
mans character
Ten years Of David Graham's life was
given to study. He came home one day,
at the end of this period, to lay at his
mothers feet the first glorious fruits of bis
efforts and hers. Ho found his parents
alone in the old homestead. One by one
the stalwart sons and buxom daughters
had left the paternal hearth for the fire.
sides of their own. ...
The father was more withered and knot.
ty than he had been ten years before. He
was an old man decrepit at sixty.fve,
while his wife, comely at sixty, with
new lease of life gained from the fulfilled
purposes Of her later years, move state
ly about the house, and sat at the head
Of her table smiling brightly upon her
"boy," as he took his place there.
She had been true prophet. The old
man was proud Of his son now. The
others were forebanded," or "getting
along;" and the daughters had married
pretty well, but though they had all been
good children, and had followed his ways,
and thought his thoughts, and were living
his life, he was not in the least proud of
them.
But "my son David" "mother's boy"
--ah, thus the old man likes to speak Of
him, prattling TO his neighbors as he sits
upon the sunny porch-he is great man
he has sat upon the "bencb," be is an