The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-05-30
Two Dollars a Year.

leaves anxiously, when two Of the out
laws passed.
"Are you grubbng up roots there.
Mother Belzebub" asked one.
How she would have cursed him once:
but now she answered mildly that she
was only looking for violets.
''Niolets !" cried the robber, with a
Oud laugh.
"Hush :" whispered the 6ther " lis
for the sick child. | saw some in bloom
yesterday. Wonder, mother" he said
round the old ash root" He pointed to
the place, aud, thanking him, she went
to gather them.
When she put them into the child's
hand he was so pale aud his face wore
a look so strange, that she fell by his
side in terror and anguish, believing he
was dying
As she lay breathIess she felt his arms
twined round her neck, and she heard
hi. tender voice saying:
Granny, do you think Jesus is coming
for me?"
Not yet, my child, not yet 1 cannot
bear it y she cried.
Granny, | have told Jesus in my
prayers that | cannot die here, and He
whispered back that the angels shall
come for me when / am in France"
That night, whenever the child opened
his weary eyes, he saw her sitting 10y the
fire, swaying herself to and fro, with that
look, like the steady shadow of rock,
resting on her still. If he moaned or
moved or asked for water she came with
swift, soft steps to his bed, and kneelng
by his side soothed and comforted him (;
but when he was silent and seemed TO
sleep she went back to her seat by the
fire and rocked herself to and fro, with
that look growing white and steadtast on
her face.
Toward morning he fell asleep, aud
waking with the thought Of something
strange about him, he saw the wintry
sunshine paling the fire, her place empty
and the hermit standing by his bedside.
All that day the good man watched 10y
him, and the next likewise, but in the
evening his granny returned footsore and
weary, and falling on his bed she clasped
him tightly in her arms, crying out:
ooh, my child my child you will
get well now, for you will soon see
France"
With flushed cheeks and eyes Devil
dered he started up and listened with
parted lips while she told him she had
found a ship bound for France going Il
sail in April, and she had taken passage
in it, and would take him safely to his
mother.
She did not breathe a word Of the bit
ter truth that in giving him up she yield
| ed her life far less did she think Of tell
ing that she had spent for their passage
all the money, saved through long year,
of pain, to pay for masses for her soul
The child heard her glad tidings with {
happy flush upon his face, and clappine
his little hands he laughed aloud -sh,
had not heard him laugh through all tn,
dreary winter-then he talked fast anC
feverishly of home, and 50 talking fel
asleep.
Round one of her bony fingers wa
twined the clasp of his tiny wasted ones
and she would not free her hand from
that loving touch. She sat looking OF
him, her face quverIng Mt times, bu
when he awoke she smiled
No need to tell him to be brave an,
get we'll. Day by day he grew better
4 and soon could sit up and peer about tn,
cave for pretty things to play with anC
ask a hundred questions in day. b
and by she brought him news of the frs
birds nest she had found, and he woulC
be dressed and 60 himself to see it, anc
he made her lift him up twenty times t
look at the shining eggs. Soon the cav
grew bright again with spring flowers
snowdrops, wood anemones, lilies an,
daffodils yellower than gold.
He was still too weak to go far so h
played by the brook side, where she ha,
seen his angel, and she sat under the roe
spinning Bat she often let her whee
rest while she watched him with achin,
eyes that were ever saying farewell. Sh
did not always know when her wheel wa
idle, and sometimes the child would com
and smooth her aged hands and say =
Us granny too tired to spin?'
Then, with start, she worked again
and heard the sound Of the sea, and sa'
the ship reckoning and France--whic
was home no more-awaiting her like
grave.
All his talk day by day was of HON
and his dear mother and the little siste
who had promised to tend his rabbit
When night came and he lay on his be
of leaves he would peer above the cover
let and say:
Granny, are we aRGther day neare
France? How many days more is it now
granny"
Then she would tell him, and, chokin
back her grief, kiss his pretty face an
turn away. So April came, full ofswee
scents and flowers, and the days wer
counted on his little hands. First Of
both, then on one, and 10 the very de-
was herel
He was little silent, little aw
struck when they started-not full Of joy
as she had thought he would be; and a
she carried him through the woods sh
felt the tight cling of small arms abou
her neck, and many a kiss fell upon he
withered cheek. She carried him all til
way to the seaport, and he slept in he
arms through the voyage.
When he first came to the cave he &c
membered the name Of the tOwn whence
his fathers ship had sailed, and she haC
treasured it in her memory but the
did not land at this place. So now the
1 Hau many ledBues 10 lTdNtFsSs aAlu ~ wa
bright June before they neared his home
She begged her way on, and they wante
for nothing on the road, for his beaut
moved all hearts.
| When they got close, quite close to hi
home, his poor granny walked very fas
and eagerly, as if there were some ferc
struggle in her heart and she feared tn
evil would conquer.
Once in the town the little Gabriel
house was soon found, for it was the bes
there, with bright garden, and window
covered with twining flowers. All til
people knew the story of his fathers shi
having been captured by the English
and a seafaring man who had sailed a
IL 90,