Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-09-25
THE TWO ORPHANS.

pinched face betrayed hunger, and whose
clothing could hardly be called by the NAME
dropped into carpenter shop on Grand Riv'
er avenue the other day, and after much hes
itation explained to the foreman:
ave want to get a graveboard for ma. She
died last winter; and the graves are so thick
that we can hardly find hers no more. We
went up last Sunday and came awful near
not finding it. We thought we'd get grave
board, so we wouldn't lose the grave. When
we thought we'd lost it, Jack he cried, and
Bud he 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. I guess he hated ma, for he wasn't
home when she died, and he wouldn't buy no
coffin nor nothin'. Sometimes when we are
sittinf on the doorsteps talking about her, and
Jack and Bud are cryin', and I am remem-
berin' 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 all we want
to. How much will the board be?"
The carpenter selected something ft for
the purpose and asked:
"Who will put it up at the grave p
"We'll take it upon our cart" replied the
boy, "and I guess the graveyard man will
help us to put it up"
"You want the name painted, don't you p
"Yes, sir; we want the board white, and
then we want you to paint on it that she was
our ma, and that she was forty-one years old,
and that she died on the second Of Novem.
ber, 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 she is when we die.
How much will it cost, sir?" q"
"How much have you got p
"Well," said the boy, as he brought out a
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 on errands and make kites and
fixed boys cart and helped carry some ap.
Piles into store, and earned sixty-fve cents
All that makes hundred and thirty cents,
sir, and pa don't know we've got it, cause we
kept it hid in the ground under stone"
The carpenter meant to be liberal, but he
said.
"a graveboard will cost at least three dol.
lars" @
The lad looked up from his little store Of
metals to the carpenter apd back, realized
how many weary weeks had passed since the
FIRST penny was earned and saved, and sud.
denly walled out
"Then we can't never, never buy one, and
mothers grave will get lost"
But he left the shop with tears of gladness
in his eyes, and when he returned the next
day, little Bud and Jack were with him, and
they had cart. There was not only q head
board, but one for the foot of the grave as
well and the carpenter and painter had
done their work with full hearts, and done il
WE'LL
Z "Ain't it awful nice ?-nicer than rich
folks have" whispered the children, as the
boards were being placed on the cart; won't
the grave look nice, though, and won't ma be
awful glad?"
Ere this the mothers grave has bean mark
ed, and when night comes, the three mother.
less ones will cuddle close together and whis
per their gratitude that cannot be lost to them
even in the storms and drifts of winter.-De
troit Free Press.