The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1876-10-28
Subscribers out Of County, $1.2

preaching through the gloom. and ss
she unlocked the door, which she had
been obliged to fasten 10 keep them
from straying away, they all sprang to
her arms at once.
"God bless you, my babes" she ex~
claimed, gathering them to her heart,
"you have not been q minute absent
from my mind this day. And what
have you suffered, !" she added, clasping
the youngest, sckly, attenuated- look
ing object, to her breast. "Ohl it ls
hard, my little Mary, to leave you to
the tender mercies Of children hardly
able to take care Of themselves"
And rs the baby nestled its head
closer to her side. and lifted its pale,
imploring face, the anguished mothers
iOrtitude gave way, and she burst into
all agony of tears and sobhings.
By.the. by, do some mothers, as they
sit by the softly. lined cradles OF their
own beloved babes, ever think upon
the sufferings OF those hapless little
ones, many times left with scanty
supply of food, and no fire, on cold,
wiuter.day, while the parent Is earn
ing the pittance which is to preserve
them from starvation? Aud lest some
may suppose that we are drawing large
ly upon our imagination, we will men,
tion in this place, that we know OF a.
| child left under such circumstances, and
lf.perishing with cold, who was near
ly burned to death by some hops (for
there was no fuel to be found) which
it scraped together in its ragged apr0nr
and set on FIRE with coal found in the
ashes. '.|
Phoebe did not long indulge in grief,
however, she forgot her weary limbs
ami, busting about, soon made upa
fire, and boiled some potatoes, which
constituted their supper-after which
she bursed the children, two at time
for while, and then put them tender
ly to bed. Her husband had not come
home, and as he was nearly always in
toxicated, and sometimes i'll. treated her
sadly, she felt his absence o relief. Sit
ting over handful OF Goals, she at
tempted to dry her wet feet, every
bone in her body sched. for she was not
naturally strong, and, leaning her head
on her hand, she allowed the big tears
to course slowly down her cheeks, with
out making any attempt to wipe them
" Twenty-six dollars q year gone |
What Is to become OF US? cannot get
help from those authorized by law to
assist the poor. unless agree to put
out my children, and I cannot live and
SEE them abused and overworked at
their tender age. And people think
their father might support US but how
can help 1t that he spends oil his earn
ings for drink And rich as Mrs..
Percy is, she did not pay me my wages
tonight, and now / cannot get the
yarn for my ba5y's stockings, and her
little limbs must remain cold awhile
| longer ; and | must do without the
flour, too, that was going to make in.
to bread, and the potatoes are almost
gone"
Here Ph9be's emotions overcame her,
and she ceased speaking. After while
| she continued : "Mrs. Percy also blam-
ed me for being so slow she did not
know was up half the night, and my
head has ached ready to split all day.
Oh, dear oh, dear oh, dear tit
were not for my babes / should yearn
for the quiet Of the grave"
And with long quivering sigh, such
as one might hear at the rending Of soul
and body, Phoebe was silent.
Daughters of luxury, did it ever oc-
cur to you that We are all children Of
one common Parent? ? Oh look, here
after, with pity on those faces when
the records of their suffering are deeply
| craven and remember. Z" Be ye
warmed and filed" will not suffice, un-
less the hand executes the promptings
Of the heart. After awhile, as the fire
died out, Phoebe crept to her miserable
pallet, crushed with the prospect of the
days of toll which we're still before her,
and haunted with the idea of sickness
and death, brought on by over-taxation
of her bodily powers, while in case OF
such an event, she was tortured by the
reflection" What IL TO become of my
children %
All, this anxiety Ia the true bitterness
of death, to the friendless aud poverty
stricken parent. In this way she pass
ed the night, to renew, with The dawn,
the tolls and cares which were fast clo-
sing their work on her. We will not
say what Pheoe, under other circum-
stances, might have been. She posses
sed every noble attribute common to
woman without education or training,
but she was not prepOssessing in her ap-
pearanco and Mrs. Percy, who never
studied characters, or sinpathized with
menials or strangers, would have laugh"
ed at the idea of dwelling with compass
sion on the lot OF the washerwoman
with . drunken husband. Yet her
feelings sometimes became interested
for the poor she heard OF abroad, the
poor she read Of, aud she would now
and then discant largely on the few
eases OF actual distress which had
chanced to come under her notice, and
the little opportunity she bad OF bes5ow.
ing aims. Superficial In her mode of
tllnNing and ,oseryaLiOns, her ideas Of charity
were limited fOrgetful that TO be true il must be
prevailing principal OF life, ana can be exer-
cised even in the Oeetowal OF a gracious word or
smlie, which upder peculiar circumstances. may
rHlse q brother from the dust aud thus win the
approval OF hlm WHO. although the Lord OF an
gels, was pl plsased o say OF her w1O brought but
The box of spikeuards' With tears OF love. 'She
hath done what she cOu d"
|
Every man should be the father of his
own character.