The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1878-09-26
Earfh's Lone Children.
Detroit Free Press,

A boy, not over eleven years old. whose
pinched face betrayed hunger, and whose
clothing could scarcely be called by the
name, dropped into carpenter-shop on
Grand River avenue the other day, and,
after much hesitation, explained to the fore
man:
"We want to get q grave-board for ma.
She died last winter, and the graves are go
thick that we can't hardly find hers no more.
We went up last Sund: =, and We come awful
near not finding it. We thought we'd git
grave board, so We wouldn't lose the grave
When we thought we'd lost it Jack he cried,
aud Bud she cried, and my chin trembled so
could hardly talk!''
"Where is your father?" asked the car
penter.
"Oh, he's home, but he never goes up
there with us, and we shan't tell him about
the board guess he hated ma, for he
wasn't home when she died, and he wouldn't
buy no coffin nor nothing. Sometimes
when we are sittin' on the doorstep talking
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
upstairs, and we talk and cry in the dark
all We want to. How much will the board
be?''
The carpenter selected something fit for
the purpose, and asked:
''Who will put it up at the grave?''
*'We'll take it up on our cort, replied the
boy, land guess the graveyard man will
help US put it up.''
"You want the name painted on, don't
you?''
t'Yes, sir; we want the board white, and
then we want you to paint on that that she
was our ma, and that she was forty-one
years old, and she died the second of Novem-
Der, 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 go up where s.e is when we die.
How much will it all cost, sir?''
elbow much have you got?"
"Wen," 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 more in the
road; run of errands and made kites and
fixed boys cart and helped carry some ap
pies into store, and I earned sixty five
| don't know we've got it, cause we kept it hid
| in the ground under a stone.''
The carpenter meant to be liberal, but he
said:
"A grave-board will cost at least three dol
lars.''
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 sud-
denly walked out:
*sThen We can't never, never buy one, and
mas ave will get lost"
But he left the shop with tears of gladnest
in his eyes, and when he returned yesterday
little Bud and Jack were with him, aud they
had cart. There was not only head
board, but one for the foot of the grave a
we'll, and painter and carpenter had don'
their work with full hearts, and done it well
"Ain't it awful nice-nicer than rich folk
have!' whispered the children, as the board
were being placed on the cart: ''won't tn
grave look nice, though, and won't ma b.
awful glad.''
Ere this the mothers grave has bee1
marked, and when night comes the thre
motherless ones will cuddle close togethe
and whisper their gratitude that it can nc
be lost to them, even in the storms and drift
of winter.