Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1878-09-12
EARTH,S LONE CHILDREN.
'swe Want a Grave.board for MAJ
From The Detroit Free Press.


"We Want a Grave.bOard for Ma"
From The Detroit Free Pressl
A boy. not over eleven years old,
whose pinched face betrayed hunger,
and whose clothing could scarcely be
called by the name, dropped into a
carpenter shop on Grand River ave-
nue. the other day, and after much
hesitation explained to the foreman:
ave want to get a garve-board for
ma. She died last winter, and the
graves are so thick that we can't
hardly find hers no more. We went
up last Sunday, and we come awful
near not finding it. We tho ught we'd
git ve-board, so we wouldn't
lose 1t, Jack he cried, and Bud she
cried, and my chin trembled so 1
could hardly talk!"
AWhere is your father?" asked the
carpenter.
~Oh, he's home, but he never goes
up there with us, and we shan't tell
bin about the board. / guess he
hated ma. for he wasn't home when
she died. and he wouldn't buy no
coffin or nothing. Sometimes when
we are sitting on the door step talk
ing about her. and Jack and Bud are
cryin'. and I'm rememberin' how she
kissed US all afore she died, he says
we'd better quit that, or We'll get
what's bad for US But we sleep up
stairs, and we talk and cry in The
dark | We wan =, II - m',cl -,
thu bo trd be?"
The carpenter II ed SOM hl =
fl f'r he pup -. aud ask a.:
~wh will p'i il AZ a. rh' grs
We'll take h up ON our ear;, -
piled the boy. ~and guess the grave
yard man will help us pur it up"
you want the name painted or,
don't you?"
lto, olt, WO w dnl luC DOdiu
and then we want you TO paint on
that she was our ma, and that she
was forty one years old, and that she
died the I'd OF November, and that
she's gone to Heaven, and that she
was one OF the best mothers ever
was, and that we are going to be
good all our lives and 60 up where
she is when we die. How much will
it cost, sir?"
How much have you got?"
"Well," said the boy, as he brought
out little calico bag and emptied its
contents on the bench. bud drawed
the baby for the woman next door
and earned twenty cents; Jack he
weeded in the garden and earned
forty cents, and he found five cents
more in the road: / run of errands
and made kites and fixed a boys
cart and helped carry some apples
into a store, and I earned sixty five
cents. All that makes a hundred
and thirty cents, sir. and pa don't
know we've got it, cause we kept it
under a stone."
The carpenter meant to be liberal,
but he said:
"A grave board will cost at least
three dollars"
The lad looked from his little store
OF metals to the carpenter and back,
realized how many weary weeks had
passed since the first penny was
earned and saved. and suddenly
walled out:
"Then we can't never, never buy
one, aud mas grave will get lost"
But he left the shop with tears OF
gladness in his eyes, and when he
returned yesterday little Bud and
Jack were with him, and they had q
cart. There was not only a head.
board. but one for the foot OF the
grave as well, and painter and car
penter had done their work with full
hearts, and done it well.
"Ain't it awful nice-nicer thar
rich folks have?" whispered the chill.
dren, as the boards were being placed
on the cart; won't the grave loob
nice, though, and won't ma be awful
glad?"
Ere this the mothers grave has
been marked, and when night comes
the three motherless ones will cud-
die close together and whisper their
gratitude that 1t cannot be lost tC
them, even In the storms and drifts
OF winter.