Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-03-19

| chat she saw and heard. II was sOme-
thing 10 be remembered--the baby air
/ OF mystery as she went tiptOeing into
/ the softly-lighted parlOr 10 hang her
| stocking on the doOr-knOb, and then the
swift, half-irightcned run back 10 NAM
ma in the sitting-rOOm, and the wild
| glec and hand-clapping at the successful
accomplishment Of the mysterious rite.
Tommy, too, Of his own motion, hung
his stocking, but his captivating air Of
heroic daring, OF patronizing protection
toward the baby-girl, and his awe Of the
mysterious-all this the mother missed
in her absorbed watch over Lucy.
The next morning all the house con-
| gregated to witness baby's opening Of
the stocking. 1t was her wide eyes
her rwonder-words, her innocent delight,
which engaged the attention and made
the delight Of all the others. And when
they returned from the breakfast-room
II was not the little, grotesque saint sit
ting by the CRATE which everybody
studied: 1t was the wondering, half
frightened baby face. And when, at
night, the double doors glided apart, il
was not the marvellous glittering Christ
mas tree which chained the interest. or
the mysterious, far-off tinklinp bells
ringing elHn music: it was the little
soul locking out Of baby's eyes, speak
ing from baby's lips, which entranced.
As for Tommy, thrilled, enraptured bov,
he was hardly noticed.
On the day after Christmas, baby
again sat for her picture.
" Mayn't | 60, mamma?" Tommy
had said: "mayn't l have my picture
taken? Baby has hers taken all the
time"
Some day, you may" said mamma,
"but not now. Some day you may 90
with papa"
Tommy she was to have always
baby for only four months more. She
could not afford to have her study in
terrupted: she must be able to repro
duce all the unfolding, to re-live all the
sweet life.
The next day baby was sick.
"Shc is very il" said Mabel.
This startled Marc: she had never
been i'll before. 1--WE must have the
doctor at once,n he said.
"Of course we must" the mother
replied: everything must be done
that can add to her comfort" "
at is a sharp attack" the doctor
said; cit looks now like double pneu-
monia."
This it proved to be. Marc thought
the child must die; the doctor at one
stage said that she could not live. Ma
bel through the whole worked and
watched with tireless devotion, but it
was to still the means, to ease the
breathing, to rest the worn little body,
to cool the dry mouth, to tempt the
feeble appetite; it was not to save the
child's life. AT the worst moment she
did not fear death for her darling
"She will not die till April 29th," she
said over and over "This sickness
may drag on till then, but l am not ex-
pecting Death to come in this way.n
Day and night for weeks the watch
ing and the nursing went on, and then
the turning-pOint was passed, and Lucy
was nursed back-past her birthday,
past the bleak March-to health and
strength. "Only," sale the mother,
weeping, "that she may be ready to
dien
The spring opened early. Through
the inetfable sadness Mabel had a vivid,
a preternatural realization of the
Astounding life about her. She could
not get away from the carnival of life;
she heard and saw when she would not
and all the gladness was only sad, only
mocking TO her poor heart. She felt
an unreasoning resentment against the
joyous life, and this while seeking to
withdraw from all else to the child
Mares and Tommy's comfort was left
to chance. The mother lived and
moved in the little Lucy. During this
month the entries in the diary were
brief, like, for instance, this on April
81: Yesterday l found little time to
write: she slept only half an hour, and
in that time my breaking heart could
do nothing but cry to Heaven for
mercy! mercy! Tommy came to the
door and walked her. He had got a
thorn under his nail, and wanted his
mother. 1t will soon be his turn to be
mOthered: he has only eight more days
to wait"
This week was one of prayer and al
most fearless grief. Sunday was the
twenty-seventh. Marc made ready to
90 to church. He would have been
grateful for a day at home, for he was
heavy of heart, but he feared to give
in to MabeIs "whim," as he had al
ways called it-feared the effect on her
strained mind.
81 should think" Mabel said that
you would want to spend the last Sab
bath with herPn
With cheerful smile he took up the
little Lucy and set her on the piano;
Look what picture of health she
is! Do you think that in two days she
can sicEen and die? As for any acci-
dental death, you keep her always with
you; there is little occasion to fear ac-
cident. How is the death to comeP'
81 have imagined it in every shape.
This waiting for the sword to fall is
agony; it seems to me that shall be
glad when it is all over"
son Monday, the twenty-eighth, ~
Mabel said, with kind of exaltation.
"TO-morrOw, Marc, we shall have an
angel. Stay by me to-day. You and
Tommy and must stay with her; you
must help me to catch and to keep the
picture of her life on this day, that we
may be able'to recall all her words and
all she does"
And Mare, trying to laugh at the
folly, but trembling and heavy-hearted,
stayed
The twenty-ninth came-an ethereal
day of inellable charms. The home
was in perfect order. While the baby
was yet sleeping Mabel had bathed and
dressed and placed an ivy-branch in
her hair. Then she had gone about
the house arranging the plants and
flowers. Shutters and curtains were
adjusted for the harmonious mingling
of light and shade. She ordered that