Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-01-15
A DAY WITH A COURTEOUS
MOTHER.
Cor. Woods Household Magazin

Cor Woods Household Magazine
During the whole of one Of las
summers hottest days ! had ths
good fortune to be seated in rail
way car near mother and four chil
dren, whose relations with each 9th
er were so beautiful that the pleasure
of watching them was quite enough
to make one forget the discomforts
OF the journey.
1t was plain that they were poor;
their clothes were coarse and old
and had been made by inexperienced
hands. The mothers bonnet alone
would have been enough to have con
demned the whole party on any of
the worlds thoroughfares. Iremcm-
bered afterward, with shame, that
myself had smiled at the first sight
OF, its antiquated ugliness; but her
face was one which it gave you a
sense of rest to look upon,--it was so
earnest, tender, true and strong. 1t
had little comliness of shape or color
in it. 1t was thin and pale; size was
not young; she had worked hard; she
had evidently been much i'll; but |
have seen few faces which gave me
such pleasure. | think that she was
the wife of a poor clergyman; and
think that clergyman must be one Of
the Lords best watchers of souls
The children-two boys and two
girls--were all under the age OF
twelve, and the youngest could not
speak plainly. They had had rare
treat; they had been visiting the
mountains and they were talking
over all tho wonders they had seen
with a glow of enthusiastic delight
which was to be cnvied. Only a
word-for-word record would do JUS
ticc to their conversation; no descrip-
ton could give any idea of it,-so
free, so pleasant, so congcnial, no in
terruptions, no contradictions; and
the mothers part borne all the while
with such equal interest and eager
ness that no one not seeing her face
would dream that she was any other
than an elder sister. In the course
of the day there were many occasions
when it was necessary for her to de-
ny requests, and to ask services, es-
pecially from the eldest boy: but no
young girl, anxious to please a lover,
could have done either with more
tender courtesy. She had her re-
ward; for no lover could have been
more tender and manly than was
this boy of twelve. Their lunch was
simple and Scanty; but it had the
grace of a royal banquet. At the
last the mother produced with much
glee, three apples and an orange, of
which the children had not known.
All eyes fastened on the orange. 1t
was evidently great rarity. |
watched to see if this test would
bring out selfishness. There was a
little silence; just the shade of
cloud. The mother said:
"IIow shall l divide this? There
is one for each of you: and l shall be
best off Of all, for expect big tastes
from each of YOU
sob, give Annie the orange. An
ME loves oranges" spoke out the e.
der boy, with sudden air of con
querer, and at the same time taking
the smallest and worst apple him
self.
"Oh, yes, let Annie have the or
ange," echoed the second boy, nine
years old.
"Ycs, Annie may have the orange
because that is nicer than the apple,
and she is a lady and her brothers
are gentlemen" said the mother qui-
etlv. Then there was Il merry con-
test rs to who should feed the moth
er to the largest and most frequent
mouthfuls: and so the feast went on.
Then Annie pretended to want apple
and exchanged thin golden strips of
orange for bites out of the cheeks of
Baldwins; and as sat Watching her
intently, she tancied she saw
longing in my face, and sprang over
to me, holding out a quarter Of her
orange, and saying, Don't you want
a taste, too:" The mother smiled
understandingly when | said, "No, l
thank you, you dear, generous, little
girl; l don't care about oranges"
At noon we had a tedious interval
of waiting at a dleary station. We
sat for two hours on narrow plat
form, which the sun had scorched
till it smelled Of heat. The elder
boy-the little lover-held the young
est child, and talked to her, while
the tired mother closed lltr eyes and
rested. Now and then he looked
over at her, and then back at the ba-
by; and at last he said confidentially
to me (for we had become fast friends
by this time), "Isn't it funny to think
that | was ever SO small as this baby;
and papa says that then mamma was
almost a little girl herself"
The two other children were toll
ing up and down the railroad track,
picking ox-eye daisies, buttercups
and sorrel. They worked like bca-
vcrs and soon the punches were al
most too big for their little hands,
Then they came running to give
them to their mother. "Oh, dear,
thought |, show that poor, tired wo-
man will hate to open her eyes! and
she never can take those great bunch
es of common, fading, flowers, in adj
dition to her bundles and bags" |
was mistaken.
ooh, thank you, my darlings!-
How kind you were! Poor, hot, tir-
ed little flowers, how thirsty they
look! Ii they will only try to keep
alive till we get home, we will make
them very happy in some water,
won't we? And you shall put one
bunch by papa's plate and one by
minc."
Sweet and happy the weary and
flushed little children stood looking
up into her face while she talked,
their hearts thrilling with compass
sion for the dropping flowers and
with delight in the giving Of their
gift. Then she took great trouble
IN oct 4 strinr and tie m the flowers