Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-06-23

not have come into your house of mourn
ing tonight. feeling that the Lord could
speak to your hearts better than |; but
remembered that it was twenty-four years
ago this very month when you brought
Reuben up to the altar TO dedicate him to
God, and | felt that had a right and a
title to come.
And these words unlocked Mrs. Pal
mer's face. She turned suddenly toward
the old man as the vision of that Sabbath
morning rose and walked up its long
path of years and stood before her.
II see him! see him. she sobbed out,
with his little brown curls dancin'
round his face. and the merry brown ey IS
blinking under them. My little Reuben,
he was the sweetest baby that ever glad.
dened mothers heart. and l was so
proud of bim and thought God would
spare him TO be the staff of his mothers
old age, because had given all the others
to Him. o. Parson Hunter, it cant be
true that shall never see his face again,
never hear the sound of his voice, that
he's lyin' off there on the battle-t field, and
his mother was not there to smooth away
the hair from his forehead, or give him the
kiss when he looked up for her face the
last time"
The old man sat still, overwhelmed by
this mighty burst of n mothers agony.
He closed his eyes for the tears that filled
them. and felt that for her he had neither
help nor consolation.
"The Lord gave and the Lord hath
taken away; blessed be the name of the
Lord"
The low solemn tones of the preacher,
scarcely above a whisper, fell into the
hearts of the hearers and stilled them, as
a mans never could, as only Gods can.
Blessed Bible words, which we read over
in the morning lesson and evening service,
and never know the fulness and richness,
the depth and meaning there are in them,
till some awful sorrow of our own touches
the springs, and then we 90 in, and 10!
the old familiar passages are like stately
rooms resting on massive pillars, and
garniShed and adorned with all fair and
beautiful things; or they rise before us
like gardens filled with trees whose branch
es are burdened with gold and purple,
whose winds are full of the breath of
sweet flowers and whose silence is stirred
by the voice of oft-falling waters, amid
which the soul may walk and be refresh
ed. o, reader, for you, too, sooner or
later, must come this time when all earth
ly help must fail you, when no human
words can be of avail or healing to you,
and in those silent and awful sorrows,
when only the voice of God can speak to
the heart, you too, may find what it is to
have the windows of the promises opened,
and your soul shall sit down under their
blessed shadows and be healed.
DAYS passed away. A young man
walked along the country road slow and
weariy, leaning upon stout oak staff,
His face was ghastly white. and he wore
the blue uniform of the "Continentals." )"
He had terrible wound in his right
shoulder, and had been left for dead.
He opened the back gate softly, and
gazed all about hm-at the voodpile in
one corner of the great yard near the
sunnower stalks, and the small ounce
trees which grew on one side of the old
brown homestead of Deacon Palmer. Sud-
denly the kitchen door opened, and
Rebecca Palmer came out of the door
with tin basin in her hand, and the man s
heart leaped as he heard her say. in her
quick way: Never mind sprinklin'
them clothes, mother; III attend to it as
soon as I've hunted mp few o. them
winter pears to stew for supper;" and he
saw the light, rapid figure hasten round
the corner of the house to the old pear
tree just in the edge of the pasture, which
he remembered climbing SO many times
in his boyhood and amid whose branches
he had gathered the faded birds uests
every fall.
He followed the quick figure stealthily,
and stood still n moment Just outside the
bars, and she did not see him, for her
back was turned, and she had dropped
down on the yellow grass, and was
searching amid it for the fruit which the
wind had shaken off.
Becky, Becky, say'
She turned quickly, and as her eyes fell
upon his face, a ghastly pallor crept over
hers. She covered it, with shrek, not
loud, for it seemed to lie for very terror
in her throat.
"Why, Becky, do look up herel Now
haven't yos got u better welcome than this
LOT your urOlutt Wllcu uc y COlue DdCh
from the dead lke?"
But she covered closer down in the
grass, and moaned and shivcred like the
leaves in the old pear tree.
"See here, now, what on earth ails you?
If you take me for spirit, jest look, and
III be able to convince you I'm flesh and
blood yet"
lie lifted her up with one arm, for she
was too weak betwixt fright and wonder
to resist, but the old familiar hearty tones
half reassured her. She lifted her face
from her hands and looked at her brother
n moment with strained, wild glance,
and then the glad truth broke into her
heart, for the hazel eyes had their old
roguish glance, though they were set in a
| pale, wasted face.
80, Reuben, Reuben! thought it was
II ghost;n and she fell back upon his neck
with wild sob of joy.
1t was long before he could get her tc
talk nationally. She would throw her
arms around his neck, and hugging him
tightly, murmur such tender words over
him betwixt sobs and laughter rs Reu
ben Palmer had not heard since he lay II
babe in his mothers crib. You precious
darling fellow, have you really come back
to us alive? Bless your heart, how white
and changed you are! o, Reuben. darlin
is it really you, or am dreamin' p'
At last the girl grew calmer. and was
able to tell her brother of that terrible
night when the awful tidngs came of hi
death, and how they haden't one of then
smiled since, and how. though his mother
tried to "bear up" every Que who looked
in her face could see that her heart wa
broken. And then both the young maj
and maiden sat down on the grass ant
wept as though they were little children
At last Rebecca rose up. 80, wha
will mother sayP You must come rlgh
into the house. Reuben, only perhaps II
better break it to her slow like, for she's
weakly now, and the sudden Joy Nigh
kill her. o, there's fatherH'
And they saw the old deacon CONF
lowly into the yard and alight from his
horse Just before the barn door, and re-
move the heavy bags of flour from the