Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1873-07-17

ing, as he felt inclined. He was q pa |
tient man, he seldom complained. But
would he have been justified if he had,
and was it to his credit that he did not ?
No, to both
There was an unusual amount of
work on hand this Saturday night, and
Mary Matthews glanced at the basket,
and then at the clock, and looked very
doubtful as to whether her task could
be accomplished in the given time, yet,
the manner in which she Immediately
went to work indicated that she was re-
solved at least to make the endeavor.
And as this little woman seaOed, there
sprang up after her, little patches upon
garment-land, growing there as though
to be never uprooted. And where
babys little toes had gone through his
socks and out into the wide, wide
world, the mother placed delicate wick
er-work to keep them in. Archie's lit
| tie feet had backed out of his stockings
| to boot, but Mary Matthews heeLed the
gaping injury, and with her surgeon
like needle skillfully united the raw
edges that modification could not result
therefrom. In the husbands hose, the
| wife barred and cross barred all the un-
| lawful openings, till it would have been
difficult for light OF cold to have entered
! by those means again. Then Myrtle's
| Sunday dress was taken down an inch or
| two, that it might not feel so much
above her, and the waist to Sadie's
frock was eyed till it promised to never
| finch from duty again. There were
only fifteen minutes ere the clock would
| strike twelve, but in ten of them this
persevering woman liberated dashing
| little butterfly from brown silk chrysa-
Lis. and in the remaining five folded up
i the evenings work and laid it aside.
Then she looked up to John, who sut
near by, giving him smile of affection
I-requiring only one in return to
cause her heart, tired as it was with the
/ weeks hurry and worry. to bound for
very Joy. Butsa stretch and a yawn was
all that he sent back across the wave of
light that had flashed over at him. All,
had he but sent a smile her woman
heart would have made SO much of 1T !;
she would have seen in it more than his
nature could have possibly felt; appre-
lciation, sympathy, love-foryou remem-
Der she could make little go a great
way. Itwould have been to her sweet
blessing, she would have rested upon it
all the coming week, and have placed it
as compensation against every dlsap-
pointment-s' John smiled upon me-
ss John thinks of me-" John loves
me-" But as it was, he only said he
was tired, and was glad she was through
for the night. And the weary woman,
with an unsatisffed longing in her soul,
craving III her heart for sympathy,
caught up her baby from the cradle,
and hugged it tightly to her bosom,
kissing its fair face again and again.
Baby was asleep, but its clumsy fist
opened wide of a sudden, and the tiny
hand clasped itself around the mother
finger, and would not Let go. It was a
very little thing for a baby to do, but 1t
} cheered the lonely heart wonderfully /;
the haggard look left her countenance,
and a warmer hue succeeded. You call
} her foolish again, and say it was only an
accident-that no emotion stirred the
baby-heart of the slumberer. Perhaps
you are right, my friend, but L love to
think that the God who has hidden
: from the wise what he has revealed unto
| babes, sent comfort to the mother
/ through the child. Any way, I know
: that his blessing rested upon them that
Saturday night in the Long Ago.
CHAPTER II.
!, It was in the early winter. Baby
t Matthews was wrapped in his warmest
e fiannels, but somehow they did not keeI
/ out the cold At last, before nigh
!, came on, the little fellow Who had wor
s ried all the day, began to breathe yer.
d hard, and gave palpable evidence tha
Q he was sick. Mary Matthews feared he
! boy was attacked with Group, and want
n ed a physician summoned. But tn
u father of the child said he would bewel
g over it by morning-it was nothing
e and he didn't believe in doctors. HI
d was correct in the first particular, TO
y ere the struggling rays OF light pen1e
e trated that little bedroom, bab
I Matthews put up his little hands in grea
IT pain, and the Savior looking dow
l. upon the suffering child, had eoInpas
y sion upon it, and took it up in his arm
s. and healed it. Earthly eyes pronounce
s it dead, after that, and SO the treasur
l. was buried in the ground. <
IS It would be doing injustice to job
t, Matthews to- say he did not miss tn
le little thing, though I do not think b
er mourned. He could labor all day an
ic home at night, but with Mary, his Wit
re the case was different. In all her wol
It. had the little face been associated
s, kneading her bread eshe had watche
b. the baby on the floor, that no har
e. might come near !; in washing h
1t dishes she bad handled them gently tn
be 1.-THE sleeper might slumber !; when bal
b, cried out from any cause, there had 9
ways been song on her lips to quI
Id him. Whether in her arms or out, tt
e, care of the blessing had been in h
1O | every Wdo ~ oAi'
y, that the mother-heart ached- that
of cried aloud in its grief, though the
DIS were others yet left to be cared 70
cir All, no. it was but natural, for none b
IRE baby can fill the empty place. in T
in cradle. The little woman did not 81
le- up, however. She toiled early a
IN late, and devoted herself still more
7as the children that remained, pray1
ct that God would spare them to her lo1
is ly heart. "a 20
cry But, finally, there came time wh
iell Mary Matthews took rest in her wol
d; a Saturday night when the basket
or mending was filed and unemptie
her when the. clock .tieked4en and nezG
his took heed of the passing hours ;.wh
.er- silence was in the kitchen when ev'
mt room was dark and desolate
an house seemed ready tozfalL THE hi
ay? Matthews with scared faces ste
It around helplessly; -; they couldn't be
the or end anything without mother.
,uf- Mary Matthews was on her sick bed {
an never gave them thought. Her ii
ade brain was occupied with other thing
was strange. pictures wild fancies cOnfu