Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1868-03-05
IHadn.t no Mother.

"Mayn't | stay, ma'am I'll work
cut wood, so for water, and do all your
errands,"
( The troubled eyes of the speaker Were
+ filed with tears. 1t was lad that stood
one cold day in winter. ut the outer door
of cottage on the bleak moor in Scotland
The snow had been falling very fast, and
/ the poor boy looked very cold and hun.
cry.
lyon may come in, at any rate till my
husband comes home. There, sit down
down by the FIRE; you look perishing with
the cold; : and she drew chair up to the
warmest corner; then, suspiciously glanc-
ing at the boy from the corners of his eyes
she continued setting the table for sup,
per.
Presently same the tramp OF heavy
boots, and the door was swung open with
quick jerk, and the husband entered,
wearied with his days work.
A look OF intelligence passed between
his wife and himself He looked at the
boy, but did not seem very well pleased
he nevertheless made him come to the la
bic, and was glad to see how heartily he
ate his supper.
Day after day passed, and the boy
begged 70 be kept "uutil tomorrow y 50
the good couple, after due consideration,
concluded that, as long as he was such Il
good boy and worked so willingly, they
would keep him.
One day, in the middle of winter, a
peddler, who often traded at the cottage
called, and after disposing of several OF
his goods, was preparing 10 90, when he
said to the woman
You have boy out there splitting
wood, l see" pointing to the yard.
"Yes, do you know him Y
Il have seen him" replied the peddler.
where? Who is he: What is hes
"a jail-bird :" and the peddler swung
his pack over his shoulder "That boy,
young as he looks, / saw in the court my
self, and heard him sentenced-"T
month You'd do well to look carefully
after him"
Oh there was something so dreadful
in the word 'iailr' The poor woman
trembfed rs she laid AWAY TIE things she
had bought of the peddler; nor could she
be easy till she called the boy in, and as
sured him that she knew that dark part of
his history.
Ashamed and distressed the boy hung,
down his. head. His cheeks seemed burst
ing with the hot blood, and his lips quiv-
cred.
WELL he muttered, his whole frame
shaking, there's no use trying to do bet
ter; everybody hates aud despises mes
nobody cares about me-
Tell Inc" said the woman, show came
you to go so young to that dreadful placer
Where is your mother
"Oh" " exclaimed the boy, with BUST
Of grief that was terrible to behold; ooh!
hadn't no mother ever since was ba-
by If I'd only had mother" he con-
tinued, while tears gushed from his eyes,
Il wouldn't have been bound out, and
kicked, and cuffed, and horse whipped. l
wouldn't have been saucy and got knocked
down, and run away, and then stole be-
cause was hungry. Oh if I'd only had
a mother !"
The strength was all gone from the
poor boy, and he skunk on his knees, sob
bling great choking sobs and rubbing the
hot tears away with the sleeve of his jack
ct,
The woman was mother, and though
81 her cl;!rcn s!ep. under the cold sod in
the church-yard, she was mother still.
She put her hand kindly on the head of
the boy and told him to look up, and said
from that time he should find in her
mother. Yes, she even put her arms ar
round the neck of that forsaken, deserted
child, She poured from her mothers