Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1879-04-10
A MOTHERS HEART.

A MOTHERS HEART.
BY T. s. ARTHUR.
1t was over. But of all that lay fold.
ed down and covered up in the heart OF
Mrs. Fleetwood, none knew or conld
know but herself alone.
You are happy mother" one had
eaid to her at the close of The ceremony,
when the sweet young face of the bride
was unveiled. "Happy in SO good and
lovely daughter, and happy in her
union with one so worthy to possess her
hand" How almost strangely the words
had sounded in her ears. Happy.
1t was over. The windows had been
thrown open, the lights turned out, and
the refreshments served. Then came q
hurried change of attire; orange bios.
SONS, and filmy veil, and spotless robes
were laid aside for the plain travelling
dress. How swiftly it all passed! Swift
~ as the changes in troubled dream.
One strong clasp to the maternal bosom
one clinging embrace of the daughter
arms; moments resting of the brides
cheek on the breast where it might never
be as of old again, and then!
Its the way with them ALL" said
one OF the guests. speaking with light
indifference, as he remarked on the
mothers pale face and wet eyes, out of
which she had striven, ali, 50 hard, to
keep the grief and tears. cts the way
with them all. Crying is part of the
programme"
I" couldn't have worn face like that
If the bride had been my daughter"
said another of the guests. "Men like
George Cleveland are not picked un
every day. But we mothers are selfish.
and it's a great trial to have somebody
else come in between Us and our chill
dren, whom we have loved and cared for
from babyhood-who are bone of our
bone and flesh of our fesh-and to be
set aside as having no longer any prop
erty in them, or right to claim the small
est service. To be second where we
have always Leen first. 10 have the
love, which had once been all our own.
divided, and the larger share given to
another. All me! It's sad enough
when you come to look it right in the
face. But, then, it's the old life lesson.
The one our mothers and grandmothers
learned in the years gone by, and the
one we shall have to learn when our
time comes"
hes a handsome young fellow" re-
marked third, speaking to his compan.
ION As he walked away. "But I can't
say that l like, altogether, the express.
sion of his mouth. It's little too
closely set, and has nothing of that wo-
manly scftness which is the sign of q
kindly nature, and which you 50 often
see in men of nobleness and great
strength of character. Everybody
sPcak * we'll of him, as young man of
good principles, and as one who is bound
to make his way in the world. But i'll
read his face Alright, he lacks generous
and tender spirit. He will love his own,
but he will be apt to love it very selfish
~. Poor Mrs. Fleetwood! Her face, as
1 saw 1t after she had kissed Marie for
the last time, and her child had turned
away from her to 60 with her husband.
haunts me as faces I have sometimes
seen in pictures"
Yes, it was over-the day and the
hour to which Mrs. Fleetwood had
looked forward for SO many months
with failing heart to come; and it had
wrought its change in the whole order
OF her own and her daughters life. It
mad been happiness to give the best that
was IN her love-love, care, devotion
every thing for the sake of her beloved
child. And in all the beautiful unfold.
lngs OF this precious human flower, its
exquisite grace and perfection and the
sweet perfume Of its love had been all
Tor her. But now, when beauty, grace
and sweetness had fully developed, an
other hand had plucked her flower and
carried it away.
Poor mother! She couldn't help her
self. And he had tried and was still
trying so hard to get comfort out of the
thought that Marie was going to be very
happy happy as she had been in the
days OF her own welded life, the ioy of
which still lived in her heart as one of
its me st precious memories.
Our hands are not skilled enough to
fold back the drapery and uncover her
heart; we can only let ysu see it beat
ing against the close investure under
which she is trying, but in vain, to con-
Zeal us InlODOlng pulse.
dearest Motherl" So the brief
epistle read. It was two days after
Marie had gone away. ~ snatch mo-
ment to write you. Pm we'll and hap.
py-so happy! George is hurying me
to 60 out with him, and I can only give
you line or two. Good-bye! and
ter. M1pIr1
Trembling hands and tear-flled eyes
made the letter hard to read. Was
me mother happier after it's receipt?
DID 1t comfort her? Was anything sup
Piled to the aching void in her 6eart7
We fear not. There was the sweetness
OF honey in the hastily scrawled letter:
and the bitterness Of aloes o. we1l'
".!George is hurrying me to 90 out with
MN, and can only give you line or
two. All, more was hidden in that
brief sentence than Marie had thought
or she would have never let it drift from
her pen, to be forgotten by herself al
most as soon as written. It came to the
mother as the FIRST confirmation of her
fears. The young husband meant that
his possession should be complete. That
br1et wedding ceremony had severed the
old bond, and made obsolete the old re-
!ations. The daughter must now be lost
IN the wife. So she read the sentence.
and it lay upon her heart like a great
stone.
1.-Two weeks, and the wedding journey
was over. The brief letters Which had
come from Marie were full of Loving
words hastily written; but in each az.
preston of endearment the mother's AZ
cav something which gave dash Of h;t.
terness to the cup she was holding tn her
lips; something which told her t6at tHe
new way into which Marie's feet had
turned was already losing it's parallel
with her., + ~ '
She might b ave known how it would