The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-06-24
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Che autlaad Daily 6tobe.
TUESDAY, JUNE "a, 1878.
CrHlLDREN,s DEPARTMENT
Oar Mother.
A STORY FOR THE CHILDREN

Aunt Polite looked aronnd on her neph
ews and nieces with pleasant light shin
ing in her lark eyes, and then she put back
her long dark curls. Now, those were
good signs, and seeing them the children
arranged themselves as closely to her as
possible, and put themselves in the most
comfortable attitudes for listening 10 her
story.
"Once upon a time / was one of family
of nine. We were four boys and FIVE girls
but of course we only had one mother be-
tween us ALL"
"Was she good mother Auntie z"
"She was the very best mother who ever
lived. | have felt quite shure of it ever
since have been grown up; but, unhap-
PLY, we none of us really understood it
while we were children, Perhaps we thought
it was the mothers place to be kind, and to
do everything for us but we did not always
think it was the children's place to be CRATE
full for what she did. Our mother was not
very strong She was thin, and had not
good appette but she was always doing
something for us, never knew any one
who moved about so quickly as she did. And
although she was not able to take very
much food herself she was very clever in
making nice things for us, and we have
never eaten such cakes as those which our
mother used to make for us. think we
tried to be good girls but l know now that
we did not do half enough for our mother.
Because we were a large family, and be-
cause she liked us all to be happy and well,
and look nice, she worked very hard. She
cared for us so much that she did every
thing which could possibly be done for our
comfort. The first thing we saw every
morning when we opened our eyes was our
tl,nr ,Irnn IL, un1 .a.1r -
the nursery. There was always something
to do. Willie would come to her to have a
button sewn on and one of the girls would
find q rent in a skirt that needed to be mend
ed, somebody's toe would be picking through
a stocking; or somebody's boot would want
stitching up to make it look tidy. Our
mother would be busy all the time we were
dressing, and would say many pleas
ant word as we went along. But l
am sorry to say we did not always wake up
in a hood humor, and the washing rather tired
us so that when our mother looked into
our faces, she did not always find them
cheerful and happy"
.Some people cannot feel bright in the
mornings, Auntie. do not for one"
"But am sure we ought to have felt
bright because we had SO much to make
us so, but we grumbled and frowned and
sometimes cried if we could not have every
thing just as we wished. One thing was
certain-we had all had a splendid sleep;
nothing had disturbed us all night, for
mother would take care that there should
be no alarming noises to frighten the chill
dren. But she never slept all night, b.
cause baby often woke up and wanted his
food, and sometimes he would lie awake
long time. Now if mamma, who was
often tired in the morning, could be chez full
and good tempered, don't you think we
ought to have boonP"
ayes, I thing you should have trid to be-
"Well, we did not often try, and SO our
mother, who gave her whole life TO make
us comfortable and happy, was often panied
by our impatient words"
~ suppose she went out sometimes to
enjoy herself"
''But of course you did what you could
to help her, auntie 2"
"Well it depended very much upon the
mood we were in. Sometimes, / think, we
really felt how much we loved our mother,
and tried very hard to be good and please
her. But sometimes we were idle, and i'm
patient, and fretful, and did not even mind
making her angry 1t is of these things we
think now when it is too late even to ask
her forgiveness.
"Too late auntie? How is that?'
zone day our mother had been unusually
busy for us Very early in the morning she
had TO mend Willie's trousers, for he had
been playing in them and fallen down and
made great hole in the knee. As they
were nearly new he was very grieyed, for
he knew that mamma could scarcely help
being displcased about it. But she did not
say much to Willie when she saw he was
sorry; but, instead she mended the hole so
beautifully that no one would think it had
ever been there. Then all the day long she
was doing something tor us, and at night
she was very tired. But some of us had
been invited out to tea, and mamma came to
fetch us. We did not want to go home quite
so soon, for we were in the midst of an in
teresting game. So our mother waited for
us and perhaps the grass was damp, for
she took cold"
Aunt Polite stopped now, and the children
saw that her eyes were filling with tears.
''Do not tell us any more if it is very
dreadful auntie.'
''But want to tell you, my children, be-
cause your family is SO much like ours, and
you have only one mother, and l want you
to remember what may be (; and be very ODE
dent and good and grateful, now that yon
may have the less to regret atterward."
"But it will make you sad, auntie.'
eyes; but it has made me sad for q long
time now, The next morning our mother
got up as usual. 1t was one of our unfor-
tunate mornings. / did not feel pleasant
myself, and my sister Margaret and brother
Tom were worse than |. Tom was vexed
because he wanted to wear his best waist
coat, and Margaret thought she ought to
have had brooch which our mother had
given 10 Amy. So we went to school with
gloomy faces and noticed that Tom did
not say good morning to our mother When
we came home from school we all felt bet
ter tempered, and ran in to see mamma,
but we could find her nowhere. Then Mel
lie called her. and our father come, looking
very grave and telling us that we must be
very quiet, for mother was i'll, and had been
obliged to go to bed, This was sad news.
and we all began TO think of our conduct
to mamme, / was especially sorry, and
begged to be allowed to go TO her for two or
three minutes; but she was too i'll. Well.
she had been i'll before, as we hoped she
would soon be with us again; but she grew
worse instead of better"
"Oh, auntie, why did not you pray for
her"
"My child, we did pray. We begged God
to make our mother well, and let us have
| her longs-. But think He loved her bet
| Ter tnan VIC ulu. nc kneW ii sic hNSu p" Y
should soon forget our good resolutions and
be Just as tiresome afterwards but in heav-
en- no one would dispease her, but every
body would make her happy. And then
He knew that she was very tired; but how
could she rest, when we all wanted so much
done for us, that she had to work hard TO
keep us comfortable? He knew it would
be better to take her, so our mother went
away to heaven, and then we began to un-
derstand how much she had loved us, and
what darling mother she had been to us
ALL"
Aunt Polite could not say more, and do
not think her nephews and nieces could have
borne to listen TO any more words just then.
And think they have tried to take care OF
their own dear mother ever since, and that
they do all they can TO save her strength and
make her happy, in return for her great
| love and kindness.