Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-04-07
The Iattls Hz7ehbaok.
From the Dubuque T,,ues.

ITO spend ones days nursing muling, pulling,
Is NOT WORK worthy cSrasn wone Sats IN
against herself the tate, and gross siolatibn Of
the immutabls laws Il God. E#
( It was . dingy LITTLE house, bare |
to the glaring sunshine; not q tree
nor shrub to relieve the garden,
if garden could be called the eight
by-four lot, whose broken fence and
unhinged gate was no protection
against invading hosts in the shape
of hogs and cattle. The house had
originally been painted . buff, but.
many storms had effaced even a
tinge of color, and roof and sides
alike presented dingy shade,
which made the eye ache to- look
upon. %s4af .9rei
A team stood at the door unload
ing dilapidated furniture, and as l
stood watching, half in play, half in
contempt, pale-faced, weary look
ing woman came to the>door. The
trembling hand put before her eyes,
to shade them from the binding
sun, was rough and large;jointed
from hard work, and the brown
hair was twisted back from her face
in tight knot. While she stood
there giving some directions, a
young girl came listlcssly along and
stood beside her.. She would have
been pretty had she allowed herself
to be, but a frown disfgured the
face and the sweet mouth lost its
beauty in q cantemptHous curl Of
the lip. A torn called dress could
not conceal the fine figure nor the
slip-shod shoes the pretty feet.
There, l thought, is one of the sto-
ries We look SO eagerly for in books,
but turn from in real life. A friend
beside me, who is an ardent "good
templar," said, 81 warrant there is
drunkard's family" but as she
spoke, the husband came up the
street, and began unloading the
wagon. There were no signs of in
temperance in the thin, pale face,
nor of disease in the tall, broad
shouldered man. So we sat down
and speculated upon the misfortunes
that could have brought them to
such low home; what care had
lined the parents faces, and taken
from youth the right to be happy.
The next day I met the man COM
ing up the street in an open buggy,
and beside him a little, pale-faced
boy, who did not look to be more
than four years old, but as they
came nearer | saw the child was a
hunchback. Looking up, caught
the glance of the great, blue, morn
ing-glory eyes, and before I knew
it l was bowling to the little cripple.
A smile passed over his face, and,
like the little gentleman he was, he
raised his tiny hand to his cap.
l hurried into my friends house,
eager to know if she had learned
anything of them. She said their
name was Fay, and that was all she
knew; but a gentleman who was
calling upon her father said he un-
derstood they commenced life in
comfortable circumstances. He had
a good, and his wife liberal edu-
cation, but there had seemed a ia
tality in everything he had under
taken. Their downfall had been
gradual but sure. Honesty, hard
labor, economy, had not saved
them; and now, about discouraged,
they had come to their new home
to take mp once more the burden of
life. There was boy Of twenty in
Cincinnati, the girl of seventeen,
and the sick boy Of eleven. This
boy h~IIived with his rSother's Sis
ter since he was four, and had, on
that annt's death, just come home.
Then, with wave of his hand and
a smile which was half sheer, he
added: ga good opportunity to
prove woman's boosted philanthro-
py."
In little while, not from any
wcll-laid plans of philanthropy, nor
in conviction of our grandest ideas
of right, but because little Laurie's
smile attracted us, and his patient
daily life held us, we became fire.
quent visitors at the house.
/ never could put into words the
sweetness of that life, but if ever /
believed in law of compensation,
l believed then. The tortured body
worked for the patient Christian
soul a perfectness the untried could
not comprehend. The hopeless
father and the weary mother grew
strong again. His endurance sham
ed theirs. 1t was not long before
the broken fence and gate were
mended, and one morning l saw
Laurie planting morning-glory vines
for the windows. "Lots Of eyes,"
as he said, laughingly, because l
called his own "morning-glorics."
One of the neighbors brought him
a rolling chair, and with his little
hoe and rake he worked many a
sunshiny hour in the garden.
So when the summer came the
fence hid it's LONELINESS under the
abundance of hop vines and scarlet
runners, and the dingy house was
as rich in its drapery of ivy as any
cathedral.
One day while l was helping him
Irvine wreath, he said, in his low,
sweet voice: 81 am a poor, igno-
rant boy, and sometimes, when l
lie awake at night, and the stars
shine in at my window, l tremble
before the power that made them;
but when the daylight comes, and I
sit amid my flowers, whose maker
is the same, l am sure His love is
equal to His power" And he made
me sure too. -
Mrs. M said she found him
busy one day mending Ellen's dress.
He put it hastily away, as she en-
tered, not, as his sister afterwards
tearfully said, because he was
ashamed, but lest she should be;
but from that time she was always
neatly clad. One afternoon, meet
ing them on the street, opened my
eyes wide at the change in Mrs.
Fay. Her brown hair, which before
had aluovc booo +x,;cfoJ in a f;rht