The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1879-06-18

old; tnere being nomentlon OF others,
we may presume she was alone; a
widow-a friendless, old, solitary
widow. Yet, did she despair? Did
she sit down and weep, or read a
novel, or wiring her hands? No! she
acent to The cupboard. And here OBJ
serve that she vent to the cupboard
She did not hop, or skip, or run, or
jump, or use any other pcripatetic
artifice; she solely and merely ecent
TO the cupboard.
"We have seen that she was old
and lonely, and we now further see
that she was poor. For, mark, the
words were The cupboard Not one
of the cupboards, or the right
hand cupboard, or the 'left-hand cup
board or the one above, or the one
below, or the one under the floor,
but just the cupboard,-the one
humble little cupboard the poor
widow possessed. And why did
she go to the cupboard? Was it to
bring forth golden goblets, or glitter
ing precious stones, or costly appar-
Ell, or feasts, or any other attributes
of wealth? Nuas to get herpoofdog a
bone! Not only was the widow poor,
but her dog, the sole prop of her age,
was poor, too. We can imagine the
scene. The poor dog crouching in
the corner, looking wistfully at the
solitary cupboard, and the widow 60
ing to that cupboard-in hope, in ex-
pectation, may be-to open it, al
though we are not distinctly told
that it was not half opensor ajjlr=-to
open it for that poor dog.
But when she sot there .hc cupboard was
bare,
And 50 the poor.dog had none.
"'When she got therel' You see,
dear bethren, what perseverance is.
You see the duty of perseverance in
doing right. She got there. There
were no turnings and twistings, no
slippings and slidings, no leaning to
the right or faltering to the LETT
With glorious simplicity we are told
she got there.
sand how was her noble effort re.
warded?
"'The cupboard was barep twas
bare! There were to be found neith-
er oranges, cheesecakes, nor penny
buns, nor gingerbread, nor crackers,
nor nuts, nor lucifer matches. The
cupboard was bare! There was but
one, only one solitary cupboard in
the whole of that cottage, and that
one, the sole hope Of the widow, and
the glorious loadstar of the poor dog,
was bare! Had there been a leg of
mutton, a loin of lamb, a fillet of
veal; even on ice from Gatti's, the
case would have been different, the
incident would have been otherwise.
But it was bare, my brethren, bare
as bald head, bare as an infant
born without caul.
"Many of you will probably say
with all the pride of worldly sophis-
try, the widow, no doubt, went out
and bought dog-biscuit.' All, no!
Far removed from these earthly
ideas, these mundane desires, poor
Mother Hubbard, the widow, who
many thoughtless worldings would
despise, in that she owned only one
cupboard, perceived-or I might ev-
en- say saw-at once the relentless
logic of the situation, and which had
enabled her without deviation to
reach the barren cupboard, She did
not attempt, like the stiff.necked
scoffers of this generation, to war
against the inevitable, she did not
try, like the so,callod men of science,
to explain what she did not under
stand. She said nothing. The poor
dog had none!' And then ut this
point our information ceases. But
do we know sufficient? Are we not
cognizant of enough2
"Wbo would dare to pierce the veil
that shrouds the ulterior fate Of old
Mother Hubbard, the poor dog, the
cupboard, or the bone that was not
there? Must we imagine her stand
ing at the open cupboarddoor, depict
to ourselves the dog still dropping
his disappointed tail upon. the
floor, the sought-for bone still re.
naming somewhere else2 All! no.