The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1879-09-12
For the Democrat-Star.
"ONLY A BABY'S GRAVEP'
BY LEONA LEA.

Reader, were you ever IN Is vii
lage church yard : Did yon ever
enter ore softly noisesessly srd
unattended, threading yoat way
carefully aloHg, lest you should
tread nDon son!e hallowed, time.
worn resting plrcef Did you pause
and note tlie many original inscrip,
tiOns that riot your curious and in.
guiring gaze7 Z II You have never
visited Onej do 20 at your esrlieat
opportunity, and you will be amply
repsid for yonr hour OF solitude
and quiet communion With the blest.
A few weeks ago I werded my
way to the wayside graveyard in
tho vil.ags OF G.; to visit
"Cnfy a baby's grave "a tiny
mound OF earth unadOrned save by
nature, whose gifts here are so
lavish that it is fit resting place
for SO pnre u bnd as that trans
planted there. Beautiful, majestic
oaks surround this church.yard,
while within its enclosure the va
rious roses CLEAN in the sunlight,
and the tender blooming vines ars
waited back and forth In the gentle
breezes until they seem to chant a
sad but holy requiem over the
loved and "gOne before" And
here, amid these earthly gems of
beauty, our tender darling is laid
away to rest, never to waken again
until the resurrection dawn.
"Only baby's grave still, hearts bowed
down with sorrow
Doth miss 80 much the precious face at
dawning of each morrow;
The noise of little feet is hushed; sweet
hands are cold and still;
Oh surely desolatim's felt-grief7s cup is
at its fill"
"Only a baby's grave p Only q
small space OF earth occupied by
the remains of our smiling pet,
yet the spoils of Peru, the mines of
Golconda, the untold wealth of
Cresus could not purchase this
treasured spot. OBJ, long tried
mothers, whose hearts beat in uni
son with mine, have you not laid
away some tender, earthly idol to
rest, striving to say: "Thy will,
not mine, be done " Have you
not watched tile tide of life slowly
ebbiug away, until you would have
bartcred rnul all for the priceless
boon of hayiup this ransOmed spir
it remain Oh earth with you7 If
not, I have! And pleading to
high Omnipotence, in agonized ac-
cents, lifting the tiny head, catch
ing his last smile on earth, hearing
his last lisped accents: "Mam-ma,"
seeing his beautiful blue eyes
brighten with immortal brightness
| felt that my treasure was saved.
And saved he was, but not to er-
ring mortals, save as afuture. guide
to tairer climes than ours. In an
instant the little flutteriug life had
fled, the rejoicing spirit winged its
flight to it's celestial home above,
our noble Marvin, our family idol,
"Mamma pet, )" the loved of friends,
had left our beauteous earth for
ever
I" And now it seems surpassing strange to
me-
That while wore the badge of mother
hood.
I did not kiss more oft and tenderly,
The little child that brought me only
good"
"Only baby's grave" but q
mound of priceless worth, contain.
ing our rarest gem. The dimpled
hand has slipped from out our
own; the golden head will never
nestle on our breast again; the
.potless feet have tripped into this
tiny grave; and to Us this raised
heap is enhanced by rumberless
ties. "Only q baby's
grave" but to us an immortal
guide BOARD, a souvenir left to re-
mind us what the casket ouce con
aimed, fowery oasis In the desert
If life.
Only a baby,s grave; still deep in the
hearts that loved il,
That little mound a treasure seems, where
roses bloom above it,"