River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1873-01-31

see, I've took care of it," he said, snil-
ing "you said when you gave Il 10
me that | should lose 1t directly, but I
haven't"
"And what have you got in your
handAerehiefa' / inqaired .nusx..4.s..
"Oh, miss, it's nest and some cur
osities y and so saying, he united it,
and saw some shells, some beautiful
pieces of spar, and the nest he had
spoken of. "This is my bird, he con-
tinued used to feed her, and she
flew aboard and followed me home. L
can make her sing. when l choose"
Make her sing now, them" said / (:
and he strDked the bird and whistled
to it, whereupon II futtered its wings,
and flew round and round him, utter
ing succession of clear thrilling notes;
then he called it back to his hand, took
leave of us, and ran on to his grand
mothers cottage.
A few days afterwards he told me
this story He was asweet little gentle
boy, and it had surprised us all that he
should be so bent on going to sea he
was scarcely thirteen years old.
When he had told me how the little
child lay with her pretty hands folded
on her breast, he said&
9 | reckon, miss, they were all heath
ems"
Yes, certainly they were"
81 did not know what her name was,
of course" he continued, so Invented
one-I mean | chose one for her, and
cut it on piece of wood that / got out
of the brig-and / made her a little
grave"
asked him what name he chose for
her, and he said
"One that / like. because of a pic
ture in my Pilgrims Progress, my ia
vorite picture of Mercy knocking at the
door. She thinks, you know, in the
story, that they won't open it for her,
but they do.
"And what did you mean by giving
her that nameg"
81 can't tell yuu exactly. cut the
words as well as could, and put up
the wood at her head to be like little
grave stone"
And what we've the words9"
"The very words. Mercy. He
opened the door, There were some
things scattered about in the hut that
L thought, perhaps, were idols; most
likely no one had taught those people
the things that we know. And, beside,
this was little young; it never could
have said any prayers 70 them. often
went and fed the bird after had NOV
ed her nest, and she got quite tame, SO
L brought her on board; her Young
ones flew away when they were hedged;
but she stops with me-"
/ walked towards home, and at the
edge of the common passed near the
open door of cottage. A man, the
owner, who was well known as drunk
ard and a reprobate, sat on a bench
before it in the sun; his wife sat close
to him. / stopped, for there was some
thing strange in the fixed, foolish smile
which cleaned on The woman's face
L was sure she was intoxicated. but /
should have passed on had not the
sight of their little child, their only
one, made me pause. This child was
the idol of their hearts. Savage as
the man was, and profane as the wo-
man was, they never ill.treated it. The
little creature was about three years
old. L saw it standing between the
drunken father and mother, the dark
eyes looking unnaturally bright, and
the cheeks flushed and heated.
1 thought the reflection of It's mothers
smile looked strangely amiss upon those
dimpled features; the child seemed
neither observant nor playful. Present
ly il tried to run forward, staggered,
and fell The father, upon this,
laughed immoderately, and called to it,
"Come thou here, my pretty one
don't cry, come to father, and thou shalt
have some more"
The little creature arose and walked
unsteadily to her father. | saw him
lift the mug of spirits which stood be.
side him, and hold it to her lips.
She drank again OF the sweet poi
son, walked n few steps, and fell quite
intoxicated and incapable of standing.
Is it SOL / thought as / retired.
o cruel, cruel parentsl more cru
ell far than pitiless northern
cold or heather warfare. Miserable
f9te be thus caressed, thus cherished !
How far more sad is this life than that
death How far better than this it
would be to be still IN that frozen soil
tude, with the Snowflake nesting in
your bosom