Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1870-02-24

I
ler, while gathering chips from the
woods to Keep them from freezing
4 smote heavily upon the fathers
Il heart. Sometimes the temptation to
II give up the Job, or not try and COM
I plete it in the specified time, was
Il strong upon him but to do so would
= be to give John Rankin too much o.
4 his hard earnings. He had learned
Il that Thomas Barnes was to have one
4 dollar per cord, and that angered
him, and made him feel all the more
determined to finish the work in the
fifty days. !.
'sl must have aicow in the spring.
he would think, as he redoubled his
exertions. ''I was too grasping my
self; had Itaken only one hundred
cords could have done it with ease,
and not distress my family; but the
temptation was too anuring"-were
thoughts ever present. Then would
the conviction of the real truth force
itself upon him that John Rankin
i urged the two hundred cords from
no other motive than selfishness.
AS the expiration of the fifty days
drew nigh, he became fearful that he
should fail to fill his part of the con-
tract. His second boy caught Sc
we're cold, and was confined to the
house with pneumonia. he had
calculated on the fall help of his two
Oldest boys. He felt weak himself
his food was not sufieien tly nOurish-
Ting for such excessive labor The
last two Sundays found him in the
woods, splitting and piling wood, in
stead of in his accustomed seat at
church.. .r-,.r.- tfF.,-
ION John Rankin,s soul rests the
i sin, : said the poor man, repeatedly,
as he wiped the perspiration from his
-Ebrow.
Early one cold, snowy morning,
Mrs. Rankin was startled by a neigh
kbor woDan's rushing in, and asking
for some remedy for the Group, say
ing one Of Joe Miller's children had
q severe attack. Mrs. Rankin, very
much against her husbands expires
sed wish, he fearing she might take
cold in such storm, took what REM
edies she thought proper, and pro-
ceeded to the house across the fields,
about half a miie distant. AS she
/ entered the house, the scene was ap-
/ palling. Seated in rickety arm
chair was Mrs. Miller, with a boy
tabout six years old upon her lap,
| gasping in the last agonies of death,
| while 3 cry of wailing went up from
i the agonized father bending over
him, and from the frightened chill
4
Eroom. Mrs. Rankin advanced and
laid one hand upon the white brow
| of the little sufferer, and parted back
the heavy locks of shining hair.
The poor woman's face lighted up
4 with strange, unearthly glow, as
Eshe shrieked: s'Don't touch him! 1
/ would not have his precious body
contaminated by touch so viIeI
Do You think, by your hard bargains,
4 to grow rich upon the bone and mus
Gle Of q poor man and his family-to
| sap the life-blood of his little ones,
that your own may be clothed in
purple and fine linen? o my poor,
fdead boylp moaned the wretched
| mother, as she hugged the ifeless
form to her bosom. -
"Heaven knows, poor woman, ]
am not accountable for your misery's
sobbed Mrs. Rankin, sinking upon a
broken chair. 81 did not deem you
half so. needy, she continued, glanc-
ing at the untouched breakfast of
baked potatoes and salt to be washed
down by Geld water.
s'Maybe you are not but your
husband Is. Ny husband went to
/ him few days ago, and told him he
| feared he should fail to have the
wood cut at the required time, in
ting his foot, and. others being sick,
and begged few dollars to buy the
food for which we were suffering,
promising to cut more than the two
| hundred cords. He knew, too, that
Mr.. Rankin will not want to remove
| the wood for some months, as he
will not draw it till it is seasoned :;
but he told him that he must abide
by the contract, and that he had no
| money to spare. He let him have a
few potatoes, saying we could get
along very well on bread and pota-
toes for 8 few days. Did he think
mamma ? I took the children out
to the woods to gather chips from
chopping to keep us from freezing !;
we have had no wood for q long
time, only what the children and /
have gathered. That is the way my
darling csught hls death-cold. We
must give him q Christian burial.
How can we bear the sound of the
ak while our dead boy lies in the
house How do we know that ev-
cry stroke would not be riveting a
nail for the coffin of another o my
dead boy J my poor dead boy ~
Mrs. Rankin covered her face, and
groaned in agony of spirit. Was
this one of the results of her hus-
bands grasping after riches All
how many more, as sad, that she
knew nothing of! How little had
she anticipated what suffering might
arise from the bargain she had SO
earnestly demonstrated against
''I am certain, !" said she, choking
back her feelings, "that Mr.. Rankin
did not realize how much he was ex-
acting from you. He is not so hard
hearted as to require the work to go
on-nOW-H
She could not finish the sentence,
with that agonized mothers eyes
blazing upon her, as she held her
dead boy tighter to her breast.
"God be merciful to the,man whose
grasping hand is stayed only by
yawning graves How gdoes he
know that the death-angel is not al
ready lowering over his own house
hold 2" l-...
Mrs. Rankin shivered and caught
her breath, as the suffering woman's
words burned into her heart. She
regretted deeply the Intrusion upon
her sorrow. She had intended good,
but she thought 1T better to leave.
She could not speak for some min
utes, as she stood gazing upon that
poor woman, moaning in her first
great sorrow, and pressing her tear
wet cheek against the cold, damp
brow of her little boy. Oh! ye
mothers, who have seen the sweet
lips of your precious darlings purpled
by-death's vintage, pity that wretch
ed mother, for no other mortals can.
''May heaven pity and comfort
you, grief-stricken mother ~ said
Mrs. Rankin. 81 wish Icould make