Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1880-09-16

a
many thai can't; It costs cipht "a Ton
dofiafs a trip for that alone, and on an.
count OF the glass sides, the casket must
% handsome one, aud that costs ali
! tpe way from twenty to one hundred
uo1ars and then people like TO have A
good many flowers, and they cost A
good penny, but il is a beautiful SIGHT.
boau-t'fuL When we first started Il
the women all along tho route would
come out and look after It, and cry.
ike It was their baby; older children
use II too-ns old ms twelve wears. INT
there amt so many of them dio."
was madep'' "''0
Carried them in their LAPS some.
times In the first carriage. or nut The
Saskot in the seat. or had the biz
hearse, just as they fancied; Il wasn't
SO comfortable and convenient way
eitheri there's lots Of babies die! Won
van see rows upon rowe bf little graves
up at EimwoSd or Mount Elliott i'm
some lots eight lying side bv side
S'aVes not over two and half feet
long There are all kinds of orna-
lilehls and keepsakes on them, too
TOYS they used to play with. half-worn
llttle shoes under glass case, and
marble lambs and dogs. Folks ALWAYS
take it so TO heart losing the babvl
why, I've seen middle-aged men and
women break down when time came
ior me 70 put on the lid; and It is hard
w shut out sweet little faee, that
looks as If it might be asleep. A baby
isn't like anything else. 1t will suffer
more man any grown person will, but
when 1t is dead there amt any hard
lines or pinched looks; it's just like
little sleeping doll, with smile on its
ips, I've seen heap Of them first
and last
AS followed him back through the
warehouse he stopped TO show me lit
Tie casket covered with white cloth and
lined with white merino with satin puff
ings; there was a silver gimp that ran
all around the inside edges, which
were festooned with white satin; there
was an inscription on the name-plate
that stopped to read;
Blossom.
Aged =.
ITO God we give, with tears"
at goes away tomorrow, said the
undertaken. "Now here's something
you might like to see"
IL was little handful of golden hair
wrapped in a piece of old newspaper,
the soft, lovely hair of a little child. As
! held it up fine dust sifted back into
Its grave dust. That hair has lain
in the grave for eighteen years. Il was
in the coffin of little child we took up
last fall in the old burying- ground, and
| saved IL, all there was left, and we
didn't know whose grave it was. Here
are the baby's robes, but mothers
mostly put on something they have.
Still, we sell one of these OCCASION
ally"
They were little merino robes, with
baby ruches in the neck and sleeves
and little bows and knots of white
satin ribbon, with n rosebud at the
throat, but | couldn't bear to look at
them and think they were waiting for
some poor little baby so die, so l just
glanced at the rows and rows of little
caskets, some of them not over foot
long, of white glossy wood, satin-lned
and so sweet and restful to look at but
oh, so sad and then / thanked the
man and came away. As | passed q
flower store l saw a white dove in the
window; it had just been made of How
ers -- all pure white ~ star-like and
sweet-scented; in the birds mouth was
a little painted card--a gaudy thing it
looked TO be, but written in one corner
were the simple words "auf wleder-
sehen.n and they made the tears start;
| asked the florist who it was for, and |
he said little German baby, and he
showed me pillow of white blossoms,
with scarlet border and the name
Bertha" traced in the center with |
purple immortelles. Then there was a
cradle made of fever-few and filed
with tuberoses and carnations.
Sometimes we have a rosebud funer- |
al, " said the florist, land we have to !
visit all the nurseries and rob them of |
their buds. Then we have what we |
call tinted funerals, where all the Tow |
ers are pale pink, pale blue aud just
touched with color; mixed pillows are !
now much called for--white, pink and |
lilac, intersporsed with smilaX and !
laurel; it's queer, but whenever flower |
grows ON baby's grave it's some little
tender thing, that never was seen out
of hot-house, but viii grow and
thrive without watching in that harsh |
soil; there's a little blue thing-we call
il baby's breath-there's lots of 1t up at
Elmwood; just grows OF its own accord
like"
thought of this all the way home,
and remembered little rhyme | had
often read in mothers serap-book:
A butterfly basked ON a baby's grave
Where a lilly had ohanoed 10 grow;
"Why art thou here of the gaudy dye
When she OF the bright and sparkling eye
Must sleep In the churchyard low"
Then II lightly spoke as IL shook It's wings