American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-04-18
VOL. XIV.

| find his mother 1t was of no use; 1 ad
vertised him in every possible way. No
body claimed him, and concluded that
he had dropped out of the clouds for my
especial benefit. Perhaps the bread had
thrown upon the waters had been meta
morphosed into meat, and in this shape
had returned to me sooner than l ex
pected. l would be careful how l made
another compact with my spirit friends
But even yet it seemed that they had not
fully recompensed me Tor my kindness to
the children of the past Christmas.
l was sitting one evening with Dotty
| by the fire, some six weeks after his ad-
| vent, when there was slight shutting in
| door. 1 opened ii, and a little girl came
| in timidly, with her little finge.- in her
mouth At first the light dazzled her, but
she soon peered round the table and es.
pied Dotty He, too, had seen her, and
with little scream he rushed toward her,
and then commenced the most extrava-
CANT demonstrations of Joy l ever wit
messed in my life OF course l was Gu
rious to know what it all meant, but they
Do,tyi" and 80 Lilyl" kiss-kissS
kiss, and "Tum up to de fire, Lily; ct
me shake de snow off oor cloak" and
"Where did 90 dit dat petty horsey,
Dotty?" and then more EXPLANATIONS and
more kissing. was utterly bewildered,
and after cudgeling my brains to an ex-
tent undreamed of in all my previous
years I gave it up as hopeless for that
on it as soon as they got done
kissing. In the succeeding days
I found out, partly by questioning
and partly by guessing, that these
children were twins. Who they were, or
what the object in palming them off
upon me, remained a profound mystery
for years. l will just say, in passing.
though little resentful at first at what
seemed an objectionable liberty in thus
forcing great responsibility upon me, l
soon became not only recOnciled, but in
finitely happier than 1 ever expected to
be. My darlings grew In grace and
beauty, and became the very life of my
life. But from the moment of their en-
tering my house l was haunted by q
woman, who, in spite of all my efforts,
baffled every attempt to see her plainly.
sitting room with the children at dinner,
I became conscious of some strange in
fluence near me, and, glancing around, l
saw her through the open window, just
melting out of sight in the dim darkness.
And many times after / caught partial
glimpses of thin, wasted form, but never
once was in position to catch or de-
tain her. At last, moved by compassion
for what l knew to be IN that poor
mothers heart, posted an advertisement
on all the conspicuous places near my
dwelling, which was something like this:
eff the mother of Dotty and Lily will
come to me openly, she shall see her chill
dren without reserve. But in case she
shall have reasons of her own for not
coming, would like to let her know that
he 10 whom she gave them thanks her
with an humble and happy heart for her
precious gift, and will pledge himself
never to prove recreant to SO sacred q
trust"
Now, so far from this producing the
effect had desired, it seemed to Danish
nearly twelve years after the children
came to me that the next event happened
to US.
There wasa exhibition in Lily's school,
and she was to have. the leading character
in some theatrical performance. She was
pleased and excited quite beyond her nat
ural self She studied her part with
avidity, and with the most thrilling and
brilliant action she rehearsed it again and
again to me. When the night came, she
appeared on the stage In character, ex-
els. 1t was the first time l had
seen her out of short dresses. Who
was it she reminded me of? Surely had
known some one at some time of my
life just like my splendid darling. 1
listened to her and watched her, with
what pride who can tell until the last act,
when the curtain falls upon her in tableau
with hands clasped upon her breast, her
tender eyes appraised, the whole wealth of
her pale golden hair falling in one curl
ing, misty cataract down to her waist, the
innocence of angels radiating from her,
and yelling her girlish form with gentle
grace, so wonderfully pure, so tenderly
touching. Through the happy tears that
filed my eyes l saw a halo encircle her
like rainbow; and then the curtain fell,
and I heard a scream from some woman
in the audience. That scream pierced
my heart like a knife, for, lifted out of
myself as l was by the intensity of my
feelings, there came to me a perfect reve-
lation of all the inexplicable events of the
last few years-so full of quiet content to
me, SO full of agony to others. In vain,
for some moments, struggled to pene-
trate the crowd whence issued til at terri
BILE cry. At last l reached her; pale
PROSTATE, lifeless. "Stsnd back" cried,
"she's mine! o Emma! Emma"
There is little more to tell. l took her
u neT Oiu HoHlc-tO the CnamDeIS Sne
had frightened with her presence when
child. She was faded and worn, and
old beyond her years. Her splendid, fra
grant hair, whose touch upon my cheek
and shoulder had once turned my pulse
to the delicious, maddening rhythm of
love, was now "half gray, half ruined
gold" She knew her children, and they
brought all the lOng-garnered affection OF
their fresh young hearts. But even that
could not save her. She faded from us
daily; and at last, with many promises of
reunion in that world where we hope to
rectify the mistakes of this, we parted.
And Oh! thank God for that older
fashion yet of Immortality For who
could live to bear the ills of this life if
deprived of the one great hope of life
to come?
Charley had died before the twins were
born, and poverty had pursued her re-
cntlessly-bitterly. Oh if she had only
come back to the heart that cherished
her. How this thought tortured me,
how it wore upon me and darkened
my life for years! And how those lines
of Whittier rung their endless refrain
through my tortured brain:
''Of all sad words Of tongue pen,
The saddest are these-it might have been"
1t was years before the remainder of
the poem took root in my heart, but at
last l could say
'.Oh, well for Is all some sweet hope lies
And in the hereafter angels may
Roll the stone from its grave away
-OUeriand Monthly.
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