, 1875-03-21
s. Little Dnu.s3

Detroit Free PFtsS.
4ou Sea- the people at the Poet-Oface 200,
I recognize faces and names and after man O.
woman has appeared at the generRl-deliver1
window three or four tunes they are pretty vel
Known. II ls real pleasure to hand oat letter.
to SONS. while the clerks care ittlo Tor the cell,
Of others to get hold Of sLel1 cris,les
| One day a year or Two ago fuunT-iookina,
little old woman, wearing faded garments, bat
| having tidy look and motherly fnce, appear.
ed at the window and asked for = 1stsar. There
was Que for her, cent from distant city, and
| any one could have told that an unlea1ned boy
directed the envelope. There was little '.l''
| In - Det,oit" with big "T"' to end the word.
and it seemed wonderful that tho letter eve,
reached its destination.
The old lady felt 80 good that tears in ha,
eyes and yet trying hard to smile, abe put ne,
head into The window and said:
Thanks! It's from my bov Dan, snd yo1
don't know how much good it does me- i"
The lady delivery clark ross dp to look afte1
the Cid woman, and when secoEd letter can't
she was looking and ~Rtchins for "inother"a
whole day before the latter was passed out. .
its from my little Dan sgain." cried the OLD
WOMAN as she noted the auperBcription. "HeT
IN Buffalo. learning t.ada LEX ouIy bit Of
BOY, aud there wasn't show for hAn in Detroit
ing to the bad. sent him away aud he's work-
ing hard and trying to be good. God bless ny.
Dan! I'm a lone widow with only him to love,
and hope he'll! be goodl"
II hope co. too, added the clerk, and afte1
that the two were friends. 5ouoetlnea The Iesters
were far between, and when the old woman would
wory over the delay, and the big tears would
fall, the lady would almost shed tears with har.
"Mother" would opon her letters at the window,
and It Dan vas feeling bra7e-hearteda and getting
still be anxious If he complained and was dis
couraged
Almost every week for year and half the
Old lady received d letter, and Just IS regularly
She eama to post m answer. She wrote in =
quaint old hand, but the boy could mako out
svery word, and once when he wrote that her
writing vas improving she fell all the pride
which shool-giri could have shown. ae i'm
proved ss we'll. By and By he wrote .'Deteoitn
plain and fair: and he took extra pains to con-
md to add something extra alta he worda:
= Your Son DAN"
Those letters we're food and d.in3 to the old
ady aud she seemed to actually grow younger.
4ittle Dan had many friends in tho Post OMca,
nd had the mother been III any carrier would
ave hunted till midnight to tnd her and baud
er the looked-fo1 letter. Three or four weeks
so when she opened her letter ebe wept and
lnlled ~ ore1 tbs first. Dan wrote that ha
'ss M coming home lor week. and her heart mas
Ee new for him, and she'd b. At tho depot to
elcome him first Of ali. Everybody fett xlad :
ith her, and the lady clerk Was to 70 uu
'me evening aud have tea With her and see
skl6 Dhu AQu pIaa6 HuU 6uCQQ18R4 MIN. Tor tina
ore kind words boy can have the better viii
> seek to do.
There wae no letter the next Tuesday, but tha
70 excused its absencs BY saying that Dan ras
'trng ready TO come home. That 1as early in
ehruafy, and be WAS to como about the Lat OF
arch The next Tuesday there ,ras 1stter.
It the handwriting was not little Dams Il
a6 strange, business haud, and the clerk felt
chill 50 over her as ahe turned it over Il
light be good news, but abs feared not,
Mother" came 10 i. the regular hour, aud eho
med pale 40 she: took The envelope Her
lge1s trenhled a. she opened it, and she had
wipe the mist out Of her eJes before sha
uid decipner word. She hadn't read over
VI q i've lines when ahe uttered = moan and .
nk night down, like one crushed by son,o
'fu, weight. They lifted her up and took her
me. the latter cl4sped in her. stir fngcrs:; and.
ouRh she came out Of the faint after a while.
+ heart Was broken, aad in veek she was in
( grave
Dan was dead! The letter said that he had
en- taken suddenly i'll, aud that no,hins could
re him. The blow MAS too heavy for ona
III her gray hairs Aod childish heart, and hor
lie old cottage ID without tenant.
No more letters commencing Dear Motba.1
ne for the 1ead, and the trembling banda
icb used 70 linger'1ondly over the wcrie'
dy dear hos. Dxn. ~ ARE fo!1ed ovex lSe,
> breast tbers 70 1ess tn the angels uncIasp