Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-04-13

1
But the sister was not to be COM
forted. Tom was all the world to
her. TO lose him was to lose every.
thing.
The day wore on. Night came.
Tom lay looking at the lily, and no
one knows how very many sweet
thoughts it suggested TO him Now
and then his sister left her work and
came to see if be wanted anything.
fIe always thanked her with a smile.
Father is late toni sht,' he said at
last, when darkness came and he
sighed
lie will soon be here said Llzzy,
nttering words Of hope, in which she
hardly believed herself Try to sleep
a little, dear
50 Tom at last fell off into doze.
Fen O'Clock came and yet no father.
Worn out with fatigue and anxiety.
Lizzie crept into bed by her brothers
side and sank to sleep also
1t was midnight when the father
came in. The noise woke Tom up.
He halt rose on his elbow and looked
| around. At that moment the moon
emerged from cloud aud its light,
falling through the window, lit up the
sick boys face with glory as SER
aph's
The father started back, sobered at
once. 1t seemed to him as if halo
direct from heaven encircled his
boys head.
Father said Tom, come here,
please
The man went softly to his sons
bedside, sank on his knees and took
the lads warm hand tenderly in his
own. He was awed.
BE kind to Lizzy,' said Tom, visit |
fully looking into his fathers face
SHE won't have anybody but you
when | am dead, father. Let her 90 |
to school again, please she is so
fond of school
Oh my son, my son interrupted |
the now patient father, bursting into |
tears, you will get well yet
j shall never get WELL said Tom.
But don't cry, father; | shall see
mother, you know, and by and by
and strange look came on his face,
look of faith and JOY indispensable
by and by Wen meet again, shant
we? Kiss me, please, and then 90 to
bed or wen wake sister
The father, choking back his sobs.
kissed the boy. 1 promise to be kind |
to Lizzy. he whispered. she shall
60 to school. | will never drink an
other drop. As God is my witness,
| never will, he added solemny.
Tom took his little thin arms from
around his fathers neck, where he
had put them for the last kiss, and
then sank back on his pillow very
much exhausted.
GLOW sweet the flower looks in the
moonlight" thought Tom. "What
happy boy | am to have it, and to
have fathers promise to do better,
and to say he'll love Lizzy, and that
he'll send her to school, then
he forgot himself in sleep.
The night passed. Morning dawn.
ed. Lizzie woke before the sun rose.
Her first thought was of Tom.
GIVE slept all night she said re-
proachfully, s'and | didn't mean to
sleep five minutes. Wonder if Tom
wanted me in the night? lie must be
better or he'd have called"
He was better As she leaned to
look back at him, she was startled
by the strange vet beautiful look on
his face, look Of divine Joy, as when
a martyr had passed through fire in
to everlasting rest. He would never
suffer more.
The lily had done its work. 1t had
sweetened the last hours of the suffer
ing boy, suggesting pure and beauti-
fu thoughts; and as Ella Bronson
called early in the morning to see
Lizzy, she found it lyius on the breast
of the dear child, clasped in his thin
waxen hands and she thought of the
lilies Of paradise and Of the saints
who held them and of the words Of
scripture again, "Inasmuch as We have
done it unto the least of one of these,
We have done it unto me-"
A better work, even, than this had
been also. The last words of Tom
were never forgotten by his father,
who from that night, became a re-
formed man. Lizzy went to school and,
more than that, never again heard a
harsh word at home.
Ella and Lzzy became great friends
the former, from her superior posi-
ton, was able to do much for the lat
ter. 1t was not chance, rely nit, that
made Ella give away, at some sacri-
flee at the time, that lily.
As We sow, so shall We reap"
EssNas1HsSSA~'n @zszzzzaz<1z@@S.sE%saN
say Old 81 struck y streak OF luck