The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1878-11-01
Broken Homes and Broken Hearts.


now in our beautiful South, and
God only knows how many more
there will be before the Angel of
Death stays his hand. AT the
threshold ofeach one OF these broken
homes we stand in spirit with rev
errnt heart and uncovered head and
would fain speak some word of com
fort to the broken hearts within.
but there is one broken home in
particular, the home of or uncle,
Mr.. Jacob Poitevent, of Grenada,
Miss, at whose threshold we linger
longest and most sadly. Only IL
short while ago there was no home
in Grenada 80 beautiful and happy,
so rich in love aud contentment and
all that makes home sacred, and
nowhere is naught left but the
desOlatc walls! Father and mother
and one child dead, another feebly
convalescing, and the other mem.
bers OF the household heart broken
aud scattered.
When the fever became epidemic
in Grenada, Mr.. Poitevent made
preparations to move his family in
to the country; three of his children
were sent out and his wife and re.
naming children were to follow the
next day.
Fatal delay, when every breath
of air that foated above doomed
Grenada was poison. Before the
morning came lovely cousin Mollie,
who had been nursing a sick friend,
was deliriOus with fever, and the
noise and hustle of departure gave
place to husbcd voices and soft
footsteps, and alas in a few days
more, to the wall of mourning, for
Mollie Poitevent, one of the lowell.
est maidens of Grenada and one of
the sweetest and most atfectionate
daughters, was dead.
Alas! in such evil days as these,
when plague and pestilence are |
holding carnival in our midst, there
is but little time to mourn our dead.
Scarcely had the bereaved parents
presse | ii farewell kiss on the cold
lips of their dead daughter, before
another was battling for life with
.he ineXOrable tiend of fever. 1t
vas then that our uncle wrote to Il
sister in Sardis, Miss; "Mollie is
lead. and Ora, we fear, will soon
ollow her; our family physician is
lead, our neighbors all dead or
moved out of town; no nurse or help
If any kind to be had for love or
money. | am doing the cooking,
md my dear wife the nursing. :
Fray for u.s." |
The next news we had from our I
lear ones in Grenada came flashing t
'ver the wires: c
"Mr. and Mrs. Poitevent both v
cad, Ora cOnvalescent." y
Then followed dreary days and t
'eeks Of waiting, but nothing far. q
her could be learned except that {
Ira, the only one left in the house, 9
oor child, had good nurse from ii
lis city and was attended by DR.. "
tone. h
After while there came feeble n
tile note from the sick girl: "They o
re all dead but me. | knew when n
Ither and mother died, but | was "
10 sick to kiss them gooi.by | Il
N better, and have kind nurse; 1t
ut oh, so few recover that | may t'
lapse and follow the others yet" tt
All, what an agony of dread and
nellness that poor sick girl must
ave suffered during those slow
ours of cOnvaleScence, with no one III
1T strangers to dry her tears and NJ
minister to her wants; but her nj
ttering could not have been gpeat. st
than the agony of suspense en- III
lred by the absent brother and lie
sters who could hold no commuui- bC
ton with the stricken town. er
ne of these recently wrote: "Ora he
Is come out to us, but SO weak ba
at | am Jealous of every breath 81;
at fans her white cheek. - Mother te
rs sick in the same room with clt
"a; father in the adjoining room. fol
lie Rev. Mr.. McCraken prayed wi
til mother before she died, and pit
len asked by that holy man of SC
ID if she had a last message to he
I'VE, she answered, tell my son to. he
good boy and meet me in gu
'aven.' Then turning her face to- frC
rds Ora's bed, aud said: kiss all sn
children for me, aud tell your ha
lr father good-by for a little sll
ile.' sli
'MOther died Oh the 9th of Au- nl nl
st and father ou the 18th. Fa. oa
RS nurse thought that he might p'
over, and did not tell him of
theirs death; he knew nothing of
Until he met her in Heaven. OF
hers last moments we know epi
hing; we only know that he was ch,
iays prepared for death, and, if til,
was conscious, felt no fear. All pc
our clothes. beds aud bedding ey,
re been burnt, aud as we hear that VIII
doors of the hotels are wide ne,
N, no doubt the table of SER att
c has been stolen as well as the the
niture. When cold weather the
nes we are going back home, if Ho
au be called home, where there Tn,
no father nor mother-nothing the
empty walls" a p
And this is all we know of the leal
ith of that devoted couple, Jacob fou
Mary Poitevent! but of the life OF