The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1878-11-28
Faith that Heaven will Reward.


There is one bed-or, more strictly
! speaking, a bundle of rags-in the corner
! The household consists of an old man as
ragged as Rip on the mountains, a woman
whose face the wrinkles have twisted
and furrOwed so deeply that it requires
an immense sweep Of imagination tC
! think that it was ever young. FOu
| children, from five to fourteen years of
age, pale and hungry, dart about the
room like dock rats. Except one, the
| little one, whose hair lay back on hel
white forehead as if it had been swept
there by the winds, whose hands were
! like shadows, and whose eyes seemed
/ to be fastened on the dingy and desulate
| looking ceiling. She lay upon a pallet
and the mother sat on the floor beside
/ her and administered now and then q
/ taste of water.
'She's the only white one in the flock, -
said the man as he tugged at his short
and bristing beard.
"She's the only one of the gang that's
! fitted to be an angel, she Is" he continued
as he stared upon the sick face before
| him. "She won't never get out of it;
there aint no use tryin' it on her." he
went on in an abstraCted way. owe have
| had the county doctor, but such as them
! aint given to hangin' round a sick bed
| like her'n. He left some truck and she
! took it, but it never mended her ailin'
and I guess he'll not come back"
The little face turned over on its
mothers arm, and there was hardly life
enough in it to be perceptible. "Byme-
| by" the father said, a few minutes later,
"sOme Weemen came in here and left a
pOne of bread and made her somethin'
| that kind O. seemed to make her peert-
| like, as she was when she crossed the
! 'hiO, and then they read piece Outen
| the book, and one of 'em-she was a
smart lookin' woman, and wasn't afraid
of dirtyin' her clOthin' nor nOthin',
! though hergoods was fine-she got down
on the floor thur, and shut her eyes
| kinder close, halfway, and held her
/ hands, one of 'em on her busum, and
tother on the child's head, and the brats
quit runnin' round, and it was awful
still. And the woman turned her face
up agin the Ceilin'" He paused for a
moment, as if he had to gather little
strength. And then: ''Talk about
prayin'l She put up the best one I ever
heard south of the 'hiO, and I reckon il
was as solid with Him as heard it as any
that was got of. 1t kinder made things
more hopeful around, and the child
| opened her eyes wide, Just as if she
knew the woman was putin up for her
1t got down intOme, though there wasn't
any stakes put up for me at all. When
she went away I said to Emily-that's
Wife-that l would try my hand on lust
| one prayer, it seemed to help things so.
The old woman shook her head, cause
I never thought of such a thing before.
But l got down and put up every cent
1 had-I mean everything 1 could think
of. And when l got to the last word,
the amen, it stuck in my throat, but
Emily got away with it. She said it
right out like it was in meetin'."
81 guess I made a misdeaI somewhere -
he continued rather mournflllv. "The
little one didn't look up any, and she's
been grOWin' weaker every day. Emily
said had spilled the whole business, and
! crowded the poor wOman's prayer out.
But I never ment it. Eff I'd known I
was interferin', Pdneyer put up agin her
hand"
There was a blast of wind that came
and ratified the window, and kind of a
moan, and then the head of the sick child
and its face turned over in the mothers
lap. Its thin Epsmet the wrinkled ones,
and the struggle was over.
The grim-faced, hardy-looking man
bent over the pallet, but there was a
good deal of good sense left in him
still. He turned to the reporter, who
had gone to the scene of misery, and
said: "But am not the man to 20 back
on good prayin', even if I didn't win.
reckon the hand that the woman put up
will win for somebody else's little one,
ef it don't for ours. For it was the solid
est hand I ever see, not 'ceptin' the south
side of the 'hiO in old Kintuck."
A pauper child was buried yesterday.