The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1862-11-22

.ssA xorHEa's sroRY.

fu,erai," said the widow, sand | was so
stunned ny his Sudden death that could
do nothing but sit and think over 1t. and try
to realz. how it could BE- SO. Only the Sun
day before, he had been sitting with me,
Watching the baby, as he sat in the sun
shine, Laughing and clapping his little hands
as tie shadows Of the.trecs were flung
across the barc floor. aud moved by the
passing breeze Now the. child was sitting
in the sarne. spot. the warm October sun,
strea,ning in on his bright curls, and making
him look 50 pretry---so like picture but
this father wsa gone from US forever.
ut see,tied to ,ne I must see his dear face
ouce nsrreAthat no would surely lit the
latch and come ia, and take our child up,
and say, "a hs 80 often did Mother, what
would yo,, take for this brother" a' s
"Even tue baby missed him, and would
come and stand ar my knes, calling Papa
papaI until thought my poor heart would
break The two Oldest children were at
scl,oos the rest were out playing. 80 that /
was quite alone. By and by the baby was
tired Of his play, and ca'ns and got up into
my lap !. -.s,-.rse. - ..,lvs.
:. Mamma crygr--rnamma mustn't he
lsped o,is, anil wiped my wet face with his
lt,le chabby,h ,han,is !: bnt I c'uld only hold
him cisser to me, ani,hen cry more bitter
Il, ieaA za ~ y 80 - = " s%.3
.'Just then, Nf aud Mrs. Lorrimsr dove
up in their handsome crriagc. They lived
not far off. aud ,wers our richest neighbors,
When;I had invited th s'n in. and had dried
n,y tear. littlo. they ssemel a. a loss how
to irgia the conversation, but Charlie had
slidaaway from my side, and went and
stood at ths lady's knee, and pointing to
her heavy gold bracelet, sa;d-Prstty,
pretty |. in his childish way. She took Il
of, and gave it to him, saying:
".Won't you come to be my little boy,
Charlie p
my mothers heart took fright at once.
They had no children, and seemed to fee
"a rlaitay as ifthey had told me, that they
had come to ask me for one OF mine. 'l'-
-"'No, no; mother couldn't spare him. |,
said. quickly snatching him away, almost
r3ily II fear.
"tMy dssr woman began Mr.. Lorrimer,
have you thought seriously Of the impossi-
bility Of your getting along with five chill
dren, under twelve years Of ages Il has re.
quired all your husbands efforts to make .
living for you--how can you hope to do Il
without him -
'"'swe OFFER i,ined In his wife, TO take
the naost helpless Of your little ones--to
give iip all the advantages we would our
own child; and surely you must see that
Gods hand Is ii,it--that through US He in;
tends to help you
II need not tell you how long I with
stood all their arguments. But at last, over.
come BY their etisreaties consented to con-
slider tho matter Intwo days they came
for my answer. never aentioned their
visit to any ofthe children, and I had
changed my mind almost every hour since ]
Ind seen them.. Atlast. convinced that Il
was for the child's good, consented to
give him up. When went to dress him
to o,my resolution almost failed mo. I
fingered over every article put on him,
and made every dear curl over ard over be-
fore could get it to please me; and I kiss
cd I q litfls white Shoulders until they were
al rosy But at length he was ready, and
thought he never looked 80 pretty. He
,was fplI Of aR,mation, for he Was old
eaongh 10 know whata ,Rsant to sgc rid
Ing and he clapped his hands and laughed
aloud at the horses, as they were driven up.
Ibands8 Mn 10 lsis Sasw mother, (the
children supposed that he was to come back
soon,) and he never even looked at me.- :
Oh, how Jealous wasny aching heart
'Wien came back into the house, the
first thing my eye fell on was his cradle. |
could, oalysthrpH, myseHaoa it, and sob
alsud 1T'hsn came the trial'of telling the
whole truth to the children. None Of them
seemed rsconciled, and fslt that the worst
wa.to eoae when the two Oldest should
come from school, almost dreaded to
NEE. them, especially Willie he was like
his father, SO quiet and calm, outwardly,
bat Hiding beneath his apparent 'coldness
che strongcst deepss. feelings, Bot the
others yppt 10 inest ,hsai ss theyl tsame
home, and was pleasantly disappointed in
the ~ tho eldest st6SE il He seemed to
feel that l. had lone it for tho bsst. and that
he must hile his own sorrow for my sake.
fs wis more 'thoushtfoi for my comfort
sentler than evcr, only very stiif and grave.
.:Ths day ended !, As the longest will at
iasl, asad u came r,nss to 50 to bed. bad
!, taken Willie to sleep dawn, stairs near mo-
ipee his fathers dsstt', the other children
ie1dov$e ebevs us. Well, swhsn came TO
by had alwss xas tha ssspsg pis'as /, b.
close ttos,sans a. i. N sa i!t''s rosyss scs !; =
with one i'ttis warm hand ST. =, .nd ..s sslspt
my grief broke out afrcsh when S neck a.n' Al