The Baltimore County union., 1866-02-24

LII WAS summer. ne mO0nDeamS glanced
lovingly down upon little cottage The
soft winds blew aside the leaves and found
the fair brow of sleeping infant. Asmie
rested on her baby-face, on which the sun
of but one summer had rested. Sleep on
fair child! You little know what trials
await you and how many tears will dim
your eyes before your short life is ended
@5Izsa% %sa5
Five years have passed, and again we see
the same cottage, and the moon sheds her
silver mantle over the earth. The wind
comes over hill and valley laden with a
thousand sweets the moonlight CLEANS in
at the open door where sits the farmer and
his rosy wife, resting from the days labors.
A little girl leans upon her mothers
knee, looking straight at the far-of blue
sky, as, one by one, the bright stars peep
forth to look down upon our wicked world
Love beams in her blue eyes, and, as the
breeze lift the curls from her brow, she
smiles. 1t is our little heroine Of FIVE
years before. She has been wandering in
the green woods all day, and as she nestles
by her mothers side, she thinks of God in
the far-off Golden City, and wonders if he
is looking down upon her thro' the silver
moonlight. But bark the clocks strike
nine, and the honest farmer arises and
taking the well-worn Bible from the shelf,
he reads aloud the evening chapter, and
offers up prayer for safety through the
coming night An hour after all was still
and the angels kept watch over the slum-
bering household.
So
Can it be that fifteen years have passed I?
It is even So and again the moonlight falls
upon hill and valley, lake and river. The
same moon shone down upon the sleeping
babe and little girl, but where is that little
cottage with its vines and roses? And
where is the honest farmer and his wife !?
Long ago the cottage crumbled to the
ground, and years have fed since the An
gel of Death passed the threshold, and
claimed, first, the strong man for his vic
tim. Sobs were heard in thatlonely dwell.
ling, and slowly they bore q coffin into the
neighboring churchyard, and placed in the
cold ground all that was left of a loving
husband and father ill4 4
A widow and her little girl were left to
battle with the world but the great God
looked down He saw the agony of the
lonely widow; he marked with what tears
she went about her duties, and one winters
ulRUb, WuCu tuV OuOW tIClI1 uuu Iub tCdFLu
was covered with soft white mantle, He
took her to HIMSELF
No moonlight fell upon the sobbing
child left alone with the dead. In vain
she called upon her mother to wake and
speak to her own little Mary. With her
thin hands folded, and her face peaceful
and happy, she slept the last sleep pqalt39
Kind friends arrayed the body for the
grave, and gentle hands took little Mary
from the lifeless body of her mother.-
Another funeral procession moved to the
churchyard, and another grave was heaped
by the side of the last ,.r.fag, - bgr
Childhood soon forgetS its sorrows, and
in short time little Mary was the happy,
merry child Of other days. i ile q II
Follow me. We are now within the
crowded city Music sounds from the man
sions of the great and rich, and merry
laughter comes through the open easement,
and is borne away on the the summer wind
We are now in the wealthiest portion Of
the city let us stop here, by this hand
some dwelling. Gay faces and costly dress
es and Jewels are seen, and ever and anon
sweet strains of music float through the
open easement causing the homelers ard
desolate to pause and listen.
Look amid that gay group and behold
our May. Can it be that this gay and bril-
liant being is she ? II is true, but low came
she here Why is she dccked in silks aud
satins, she, tire daughter Of II, poor
though honest farmer? Listen, and will
tell you. Five years ago she was found in
the country by a distant relative, a child
less widow. Struck blythe beauty of the
child she enquired her family history, and
Immediately claimed her. With tears and
heartfelt sorrow she parted from her kind
friends, who had stood in the place Of pa
rents since her, mothers death, .,...
After her arrival in the city she was soon,
under the hands of the dresSmaker, chang
cd from a rosy little country rlintoHabril-
lian: city belle, aud it took but short
time for her to get accustomed to the style
| Of city life. slf & p' 9''liif ~
This is her twentieth birthday, and o
grand party takes place ito celebrate the day,
She is not SO happy as IN her childhood.-
Memory goes back to the time when she
knelt at her mothers knee, and weptto bed
with the first stroke ofnine,s to dream the
sweet dreaulssof chldhOodssa wea SIS f.iae
1t now midnight, and still those merry