The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-05-26
THE WAY OF THK WORLD.

IHh WAY VI IHE WURLD,
"How very lonely it seems tonight
mother, said Mabel Richardson, as she
and her mother sat alone in the deepen
ing twilight. Both had been silent fol
some moments, occupied with their OWL
thoughts and each face, to a careful oh
server or student ofphysiognOmy, would
have been marked for its sadness Of ex-
pression-a wish to know why one Sc
young as Mabel Richardson should have
broken the painful silence with term
so Indicative Of deep feeling and mex
pressible sorrow. Although Mrs. Rich
ardson endeavored to hide her feelings
from her child by feigning Indifference
vet her face and voice could not deceive
the careful observer as she asked:
''Why should you feel any more lone
ly this evening than any other, Mabel p
"AII day long my heart has been
heavy, even the wind means to me like
the means of grieved child that refuses
to be comforted, and fills my soul with
| sadness. Old memories that ! have
vainly sought to keep within their locked
chambers come crowding upon my brain
as if refusing to longer heed my bidding,
and bring the gentle face of her, my
early confdant, who, nine yeass ago to-
night, left me in agony and tears. Moth
er, just nine years ago tonight, sister
| Alice went away"
'Mabel, why do you speak of her?
| That very night you were forbidden to
ever take her name upon your lips, or
utter it in your home. Has it been that
in thinking you have forgotten her that
| have deceived myself?"
Mrs. Richardson was very pale as she
said this, and turned her head away that
| Mabel might not discover how great was
her agitation, or the effort it was to her
to feign indifference or displeasure.
you certainly deceive yourself, my
dear mother, in thinking for a moment
that | had entirely or could forget my
sister Alice. Although was but eight
years of age, | remember the night she
came to my bedside and kissed me and
wept as though her heart would break
She babe me goodbye, and her last
words to me were: Mabel, do not forget
your unhappy sister. We part, perhaps,
forever Let not the cruel world teach
YOU to believe me whollyvile.' She was
really agitated | well knew, although |
was only child, and | wept until the
mornings dawn, because | knew that
Alice was wretched. Before she went
into the cold and darkness, she knelt be-
side my bed and prayed long and fer
ventlv That prayer | have not forgot
ten. 1t had all the earnestness of a
helpless soul. 1t was so indeliblv i'm
pressed upon my young mind that a
| lifetime can never take one title of it
from my memory. She prayed for father
er and for you, mother; and when she
breathed your name, she buried her face
in the pillow, and moaned as only a
sorrowful woman can moan. Child that
| was, | well remember how | kissed her
cheeks, wet with tears and smOothed
her dark hair, thinking to quiet the tu-
multi that was raging tiercely within her
heart and when | entreated her to
weep no more, she folded her arms about
me, and the agony of her voice is in my
ears now, as recall her words: Mabel!
do not let the story of my weakness es-
TRANCE you from me in the years to come
Ever be my sister, though We never
meet. Say you'll love me, love me =
And mother, | promised her that 1
would ever keep her in sisterly remem-
brance. Ny vow has been faithfully
kept, for care not what was her fault
or shame. the same blood that has kept
my heart and being alive all these years,
is in her veins. We have the same
father, the same mother. All day Eve
thought of her. Tonight the wind
seems to be but the echo of that night
when Alice left us@ and although you
and father have both forbidden me to
speak of her, yet can not think that
your mother-heart has not yearned for
your child Mother, these nine years have
changed YOU. The lines of sorrow and
anxiety are deeply marked in every fea-
ture of your face. Tell me, | am not
wrong in what | say"
MY child, you know not the strug-
gle it has cost me in my efforts to appear
cheerful, for my thoughts all these years
have never deserted my child. Her
face has ever followed me her sad re-
proving eyes in my dreams have ever
haunted me. Oh, Mabel do not for
one moment think a mother can so cas-
ily forget a child. God alone knows
how much | have suffered in these years
of anxiety. How have longed to fold
my arms about her, to feel that she was
indeed with me 1t was no fault of
mine Your father was too proud to
overlook her weakness, and his word
was law In our house. entreated him
not to forsake her, but my words were of
no avail. / dreaded to send her out
into the world alone and unprotected, a
fathers house forbidden her! | knew
how cold and cruel the world was to the
erring, and 1 longed to fold my arms
about her and keep her from the scorn
and sneers of wicked world-a world
that has no sympathy for the weak.
Oh Alice Alice" and Mrs. Richardson