The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1864-12-29
A CMRIsrMAs STORY.
MEs. MAXWELL brakes Loss.
Is
BY VIRGINIA y. TOWNSEND.

! A"AWeit Drakes Loss.
I BY VIRGINIA p. TOWNSEND. s#i
She was q hard, coarse woman. Alas
that there should be many such in tn,
world; and, alas too, that these should b,
mothers, with little, tender, shy, sensitiv,
children, whose lives must blossom in the
dark, cold, chilling atmosphere OF such !
woman'a life. f'eii.7 %" lta nfa
| OF this sort was Mrs. Drake. A tender
warm, sympathetic heart never throbbed
under that thin, sa1low, cold, keen face ol
hers. A woman. too, she was of many val.
uable practical qualities; she bad a grea
deal Of executive power at the ends Of he,
fingers; she made ont Of the virtue Of he,
.tidincss almost a fault, by carrying it to ex
cess-bustling, restless. sharp, and feeding
her self festeem constantly On the possession
| Of those Qualities. and not dreawing Of si,ss
hard. cold, barren nature which yielded q
poor harvest of sympathy and charity,
of the clthings which are lovely and of good
report. es 0
Mrs. Maxwell Drake had two children, a
couple of little girls, who were singularIy
unlike herself in person and char lcter. Now
you must not suppose that Mrs. Drake had
no instinct OF maternity within her SOUL
When she heard for the first time the cry OF
those baby voices, when she looked first into
the swees blue eyes that were so utterly un-
like her own keen black ones. some well
spring of tenderness opened IN her nature
whose waters would never grow dry.
/ think she would have died in defence OF
those children of hers There was no sacri.
flee Of comfort nor happiness that she would
not have made for their sakes, had the oc-
casion demanded it. But life's not full Of
grand occasions, and there is many wo-
man who would watch throug gh weary days
and slow nights by the bedside of sick or
suffering child, snd who yet, after all
causes that child in health to lead but a sor.
ry life it. For II is Of small, things. OF
little daily cares and speeches and tender.
ness, that life consists, and here Mrs. Max.
well Drake was fatally lacking.
She took admirable care of the ply slcal
needs Of her children. Their food and their
clothing evinced always the not able, thrifty
supervision of their mother but she lacked
quick sylnRathies with their childish feel.
ings and wants; she could not enter in to
their lives, their little sorrows and Joys, their
hopes and fears--in brief, she did not un-
derstand her children and the mother who
does not, seldom, fever makes good one.
Bright, active, pretty children these were,
Elsie and Agnes Drake; gentle and affection
ate by nature, Of just that quality to feel
most keenly the want of softness anl ten.
derness in their mother Their father g,t
nearer to them; bnt he lacke f,rc, of char
acter, was one Of those ssrt Of men who
want moral fibre, AMI who always fini it
easier to let a principle g, th,n stani bs il
with heart and soul to tn. d,,th, s, "for
peace's sake" that great argu pent for all
moral cowards, this msn, like many annther,
allowed much in tn, family govern nent
which his own moral instincts tau .ht him
was unwi,e or evil to ''take its own way"
Mrs. MAXWELL Drake had her own opinions
on everv subject, an an unpleas can't way of
asserting them She did not know how to
deny request so as to take the sting out of
the refusal, hat she always did this in per.
emtory, authoritative srd disayreeabe fash
ion. And soit happened one afternoon that
her two fair haired, blue eyed littl. girls
burst in from school, with their faces full of
some eager thonghtthat made bloom in their
cheeks. ~
"Oh, nam ma, the girls are all talking
about their Christn,s presents, and the
pretty things they expect to have! You
haven't told us anything about ours yet; but
we shall have them, 'shAnt we?"
Mrs. Drake sat in her little wicker rocking
chair embroidering some pretty buff aprons
for her girls f
Isl think" she ssid, 'this fuss over Christ
mas is all nonsense. lisa miserable plan
to bring up children to expect presents every,
year-besides, it's hard times now, and
we've no money to waste in that way, as I
said to your father when he talked about it
You'll get 20 Christmas presents this year"
A shadow darkened over the bright faces,
a little quiver stirred each red under.lip a
"Rut mammal you letus have Chris tmas
presents last year aud the one before,' plead-
ed Elsie. who was year the younger of the
little girls. ~ e's.s4. .,..al
"That's nothing to do with this one, if
did. Besides, it learned me good lesson.
There's no use in indulging children with all
sorts of notions, and letting the u always
have their own way. an1 giving them toys
to break every time they want them; I've
learned that. So let me hesr'no more about
it. for, as | said, you'll have no Christmas
presents this year"
Their mother was inexorable--the child.
ren knew that; 5ut as they turned away
with sadness and disappointment on their
young faces. which was pitiful to see, the
elder girl stepped back, ana. looking grave
ly on her mother, said s -, 5s
"Our teacher told as this afternoon, man.
ma, that the gift which parents bestow on
their children at Christmas were symbols Of
that one great gift which God gave to all
the wcrid-to every man and woman and
little child within it; and that for Christ's
sake i was our duty to be glad. and CRATE