Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1870-11-10
MLLERsBuRG THURSDAY NOVEMBER TO- 1870
heavy laden and 1 will give you

rest"
"Come unto me-" repeated tn
brother. HE does not deceive
Lizzie. He will give US rest. HI
loves you and me, too, and He vii
take care of u.s. He is going to Civ
me rest, up in heaven
But the sister was not to be com
forted. Tom was all the world t.
her. To lose him was to lose every
thing.
The day wore on. Night came
Tom lay looking at the lily, and nc
one knows how many sweet thought:
it suggested to him. Now and then
his sister stopped in her work, ant
came to see if he wanted anything
He always thanked her with a sweet
smile. r.
"Father is late, tonight" he said
at last, when the darkness came, and
he sighed.
"He will be here soon," said Liz
zie, uttering words of hope, in
which she hardly believed herself
"Try to sleep a little, dear"
So Tom, at last fell off into a dose
Ten o'clock came, and yet no father
Worn out with fatigue and anxiety.
Lizzie crept into bed by her broth
er's side, and sank to sleep also.
1t was nearly midnight when the
father came in. The noise woke
Tom up. He half rose on his ell
bow, and looked around. At that
moment the moon emerged from a
cloud, and its light, falling through
the window, Lit up the sick boys
face with a glory as of seraph's.
The father started back, sobered
at once. 1t seemed to him as if a
halo, direct from heaven, encircled
his child's head.
Father" said Tom, wistfully,
looking into his fathers face. "She
won't have any one but you, when !
am dead, father. Let her 60 to school
again, please; she is so fond of
school"
"Oh, my son, my son." inter
rupted the penitent father, bursting
into sobs. "You will get well
yet"
II will never get WELL" said Tom.
''But don't cry, father. 1 shall see
mother, you know. And by-and-by,
we'll meet again. Shan't we? Kiss
me, please and then go to bed, or
we will wake sister,"
The father choked back his sobs,
and kissed the boy. II promise to
be kind to Lizzie. She shall go to
/ will never drink another
drop. As God is my Witness" he
added solemnly, 81 never will"
Tom took his little, thin arm from
around his fathers neck, where he
had put them for the last kiss, and
then sank back on his pillow ex-
hausted.
"How sweet the flower looks in
the moonlight" thought Tom.
"What a happy boy 1 am to have it /!
And to have father to promise to be
BETTER" he went on, "and to say
he'll love Lizzie, and that he'll send
her to school" And he forgot
himself in sleep. -
The night passed. Morning
dawned. Lizzie woke before the sun
rose. Her first thought was of
Tom.
"Fve slept all night she said
reproachfully, "and l didn't mean to
sleep five minutes. 1 wonder if
Tom wanted me in the night. He
must be better or he'd have called"
He Uas better. AS she leaned
over to look at him, Lizzie was
startled by the strange, yet beauti-
full look on his face, look of divine
joy as when a martyr has passed
through fire into everlasting rest.
He would never suffer more.
The lily had done its work. 1t
had sweetened the last hours of the
suffering boy, suggesting pure and
beautiful thoughts; and when Ella
Bronson called early in the morning
to see Lizzie, she found it lying on
the breast of the dead child, clasped
in his two thin waxen hands; and
she thought Of the lilies of Para
disc, and of the saints who held
them, and of the words of scripture
again, "Inasmuch as ye have done
t unto the least of these, ye
have done it unto me-
A better work even had been done
also. The last words of Tom were
never forgotten by his father, who,
from thai night became reformed
man. Lizzie went to school, and
more than this, never again heard a
harsh word at home.
Ella and Lizzie became great
The former from her su-
perior position, was able to do much
for the latter. 1t was not chance,
rely on it, that made Ella give away
at some sacrifice of the time, that
lily.
As We SOW, so ye shall reap.