Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-01-20
=TuFuTTIE oUTcAST.
"Mayn,t | stay, ma'am : IL WORK
cut wood 90 for water. and DO al


stMayn't stay, ma'am Ii work,
cut wood 20 for water. and do all
your errands."
The troubled eyes of the speaker
were filled with tears. 1t was lad
that stood, one cold day in winter,
at the outer door OF cottage on
bleak moor in Scotland. The snow
had been falling very fast, and the
poor boy looked very cold ana nun
cry; u.,a
till my husband comes home. There
sit down by the fire; you look per-
ishing with cold - and she drew
chair up to the warmest- corner :;
then, sJspiciously glancing at The
bow from the corner OF her eyesr she
continued setting the table FOR sup
per.
/ Presently came the tramp OF heavy
/ boots, and the door was swung opef,
with quick jerk, ana the husband
| entered wcaried with his days
/ work Ef -, =
4 look of intelligence passed be-
tween his wife and himself. He
looked at the boy, but did not seem
very well pleased lac nevertheless
made him come 10 the table, and
was glad 10 see how heartily he ate
his supper.
! Day after day passed, and yet the
hoy be@ged 10 be kept until tom IT
row :" SO the good couple, after du,
consideration, concluded that, a
long as he was such Il good hoy and
worked so willingly, they would
keep him.
one day, in the mfddie OF winter
) a peddlef, VINO often traded at th'
cottage, called, and, after disposins
OF his goods, was preparing I" go
when he said Ia the Woman
"You havea boy out there split
ting wood, l see" pointing 10 ia,
yard.
, yes; do you know him ."
II have seen him. p
"Where? Who is he! What i
"a jail-bird = aud. the redile
swung his pack over his shoulder
THAT boy, young as he looks, 1saN
- in court myself, and heard him sen
lteneed ten mont hs. You'd 10 we
!, | to look carefully after him.
.tOht there was something s
dreadful in the word gail Tn
poor woman trembfed, as she lai
away the things she had bought {
the peddler. nor could she be cas-
till She called the boy in, and a:
sured him that she knew. that dar
part of his history. rf
Ashamed and distressed, the h.
hung down his head. His eheeh
seemed bursting with the hot bloo'
and his lips quiyered.
WELL" he muttored, his who
frame shaking, there's no u.s. al IN
trying 10 do better; every body hat,
and despiSeS me nobody cares aDol
me.
Tell me, said the woman, ',ho
came you To go. 50 young, Ia IN:
dreadful place: Where i yor
MOTHER
ooh, exclaimed the boy, with
burst of grief that was terrible To b
nol,l, ooh, / hadn't no mother.
hadn't no mother ever since l was
baby If ia only had mother
he continued, while tears gusht
from his eyes, "a Wouldn't have bee
bound out, and kicked, and cufie
and hOrstwhipped | wouldn't ha'
been saucy, and got knocked dow
and then stole because | was hungr
Oh If I'd only had Il mother ~
;. The strength was all gone fro
- the poor boy, and he sunk on h
nj knees, soDbing great, choking sol
,e and rubbing the hot tears away wi
nj the sleeve Of his jacket.
ar The woman was n mother; al
though all hnr children slept und
.u the cold sod in the cisurclyard, 81
f. was a mother still. She put h
r. hand kindly on the head OF the bO
H. and told him To look up, and sal
j. from that time he should find in he
!, mother Yes, she even put her arr
IL around the meek of that forsake
re- deserted, child. She poured fro
- her mothers heart sweet, Xii
ia words words of counsel and tend,
he ness. Oh how sweet was her sic
ut that night how soft her pilloS
III size had plucled some thorns fro
n the path of little SHINING, but stri
40 ing mortal.
" That poor hey is now a PROMISE
Ia man. His foster-father Is dead /
fu-ter-mother aged and sickly, b
Il she knows no want. The "pD
"a outcast" is her support. Nobly 10
he repay the trust reposed in hirI.
.rt when my father and mother f
an sake me, then the Lord viii take !
la up - The Standard Bearer.