Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-09-16


victory by casting herself into her fathers
arms. Then shouting arose, in which
we blush to say the overweight SPY
joined, thus bringing condign punishment
upon her eyes, for, discovering the publici
ty, the actors withdrew. Baby, throned
on her fathers shoulder, beat a tattoo
against it with her wee blue kid feet, and
Helen, grasping his arm, laughed in
sweet triumph.
Only a week after we heard that baby
was i'll. Very i'll, the report was as the
day wore on; and more than one pair OF
eyes filled when it grew plain that there
was small hope Of her recovery. Baby
lay on the bed with the clutch of diphthe.
ria at her darling throat-her soft, milk
white throat, which we had so often kissed
lifting the coral the better to see its fair
ness and plumpness. She suffered, moan.
ing constantly, sometimes catching at her
throat with both hands, turning entreating
eyes on her mother.
Her mOther who pored over her with
deathless love in her face, who was fain
to suffer torture for her child and could
not, who was smitten with the sense that
in her physical ease she was uni ust to her.
90 Godn' she groaned, take her to
Thyself, if it be Thy will, but give me her
pain, pray"
She would stand for hours caressing
baby with lips and hands, soothing her
90 g.
at her with a smile-such a smile!-in her
eyes.
"You must take rest" kind friends said.
" I rest!" she would answer, pointing
to the restless little child. God was good
The day the baby lay a-dying she had no
pain. She knew her father and mother,
and constantly smiled weak little smile
upon them, often held up her mouth to be
kissed. At sunset she turned her great
pathetic eyes upon her mother and held
out her arms, and when Helen raised her
head from that embrace and looked in her
face she found baby had hidden her good
by.
For little while she lay in pale, lovely
all among flowers, and then there came
the day when her parents. shut the light
Of their eyes from their sight when they
left their dearest in her lonely bed. Helen
asked so piteously to go none could resist
She stood like a statue until the mound
was heaped. Then every mothers in
stInct seemed to draw her down and she
fell on it in deep swoon.
In a few days Bob carried her to her
own mother, in whose household chroni-
Giles such loss had more than once been
written, and together they mingled their
tears.
That autumn Miss Ray came to spend
a week in the city.
Miss Ray was forty. Her attire was
in good taste, but it hung sharply off
her angles, as is the treacherous wont of
old maids clothes; and it had the other
fault ascribed to that order-extreme
neatness. She was thin, her hair was
threaded with gray, and her features
were not beautiful; but on her brow
dwelt peace, and love shone from her
eyes.
Miss Ray was one Of the few mortals
who know all the three chords of the
glory to God in the highest, and content
that there should be "peace on EARTH;
but who practices goodwill toward
men,? She did. She had not the love of
tho NH n tb rO11i CT for ,o,o,, IN +I,o ,,,oc,
but an individual love for each one as for
brother, sister. The outgrowth was
quiet enough, but if you laughed first the
tears of genuine admiration fastened after.
She always mended torn bills because
she never forgot the distress in a poor
wOman's eyes when her tattered money
was refused in the shop, and her own
modest means, promptly rendered, were
insufficient. Her course through the vii
lage street was a devious one because Of
the Feelings, the broken glass the rusty
nails she gathered and put into the gutter
The child we have all met crying because
he has lost the money for bread, or broken
the milk-pitcher, was always cOnsoled by
her, and gazed after the dear slim figure,
with relief shining through his tears, the
assuaging coin clutched tightly in his fin
gers. Old men found their empty tobac-
co-canister mysteriously replenished. Old
women found the shawl they had coveted,
with the "desire Of the moth for the star, -
waiting in the drawer to be worn on
Christmas morning Tired washerwomen
were cheered by the package Of tea
that appeared on their table when
they lit their late lamp after a
hard day out, and as they slipped the
steaming brew and felt reviviication steal
through their veins they gave up the CO.
nundrum: Who thought it? in placid
satisfaction. The lank-cheeked boy gaZ-
ing into the confectioner's window, the
forlorn girl fixing wistful eyes on the doll
in the toy-shop, had the treasure suddenly
put into their hands Her eyes grew
tender over drowning flies" and she duly
fished them out and laid them in the sun
to dry. How she has stopped dog-fghts,
tending the lame warriors on both sides
how she has snatched kittens from the
very jaws of the puppy, cannot be told
If you surprised her in these deeds she
blushed like a girl caught writing love