Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1875-03-25


scarlet fever, that came near finishing us
both up together. This last danger over,
/ began to breathe more freely.
If the little orphan had proved great
care, she had also proved great treas
ure. Here Is the one advantage a single
or childless woman has over the mother
who has natural right to her children
She must take whatever is sent her,
whether ugliness or beauty-an angel in
embryo or a devil in disguise. But we
are free to choose the child of our adop-
ton, and from given number take the
one that suits our fancy best. 1 stand
By sensible woman's rights, and this is
one of them
No choice could ever have been more
fortunate than mine. She WAS one of
those children so often found in books
so rarely seen IN real life. A little figure
fashioned most daintily, every movement
full of grace-the soft, dark eyes, gentle
and tender, well-shaped head with
wealth of brown, wavy hair, and the low,
musical voice, when it rippled in laugh
Ter, was the sweetest 1 ever heard.
This was the outward showing of a
lovely disposition and well-balanced
mind.
Through her earlier years, so broken
by sickness, took her education into
my own hands. / was her mother, play
mate, teacher, friend and never was
there more entire love and confidence
between a child and a person of ma
turer years. What happy hours We
had In that dear old sitting room
How easy study was, with the
elm shadows dancing in at the
open window, and playing hide
and seek with the sunlight on the floor
The earlier routine of knowledge came to
her SO pleasantly and easily in this natr-
raj home way, it never brought a thought
of distate and WEAKNESS. The cabinet
was perpetual fund of interest. How
many lessons of other lands, their eli
mate, people, resources, were learned as
one lesson grew out of another, and then
her awakened curiosity and eager inter
est led her to books to find out more.
This was the carrying into practice of
one of my pet theories it worked
admirably. l always pitied the long
rows of weary little childrenin crowded
school-room, trying to learn lessons of
not the slightest interest to them, or the
least practical value.
How full of quiet JOY those summers
were! How pleasant the lessons for both
teacher and scholar. Often on the back
verandah, with the sweet music of the
brook, and the green woods so near, and
oftener in the still depths of the woods
themselves was the studying done, and
then, the books thrown aside, we both
learned better lessons from Gods own
works than ever books contained. If
her education in this way was not
by rule, it went ON rapidly and
thoroughly, and when, with health
established, she was able to go
into school, she took her place at the
head of her companions.
AS her young life unfolded in beauty,
and came near the point where the girl
and woman meet, how anxiously 1
watched, guarding, all . so carefully, from
all companionship that could harm. 1
never shut her away from the pleasant
pastimes of her young friends. 1 had
seen the folly and wrong of this in some
of the over-careful mothers of my ac-
quaintance. Youth seeks youth, and it
is far better to give to children the COM
panionship of their own age than to shut
them up, through feisr of imaginary evil,
to the company only of their elders.
But while she was the life of her circle
of young friends, it was Joy to me to
know that my loving sympathy had won
her so entirely, that she always came
back to me to find her greatest pleasure
and happiness. How anxiously / thought
of her future. / knew her loving and
lovable nature would never stand alone
as mine had done; and trembled lest
my darling should some day give herself
to one who would not deserve. All
how needless were these fears. Even
then there was home preparing for her
that should never have faint of mortal
weakness or inirmity. Tender as my
care had been, she was to pass to keep
ing infinitely more tender Mercifully,
"my eyes were holden " that they should
not see the gathering shadows.
She had just passed her sixteenth
birthday, and the happiest summer of
her life was drawing to the close. Could
| guess it was taking with it all the sum-
mer beauty and brightness of my lifeg
I shall pavar foroof {bof oo,.lxy So,,fa,v,l,o