Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-03-19
A MOTHER,s VISION.

baby for her waiting arms the mother
passed into a sleep. 1t was a brief
sleep. When she woke her husband
came to her side. Perceiving strange
ness in her face, he bent over her with
q look of surprise. whats the matterP
You look ike a materialized angel" he
said.
"Where is the babyPn she asked.
1.-The little thing isn't quite rugged
yet" he answered, trying to speak
lightly; he did not like the weirdness in
her face.
"Yes, she's all ready" the nurse
amended, and the baby was brought and
laid in it's mother bosom.
"LucyW she said, with indescribable
tenderness, cuddling her baby close.
"LucyP' repeated the husband; "you
have said all along that if a girl it was
to have your name.h
Il know l did, but her name is
Lucy"
"Why, what put Lucy into your
headP There's not a Lucy in your fam
lily or mine. Do you like it better than
MabelP'
"Mabel is prettier, but-pll tell you
about it some time" she said, in tone
which dismissed the subject.
The next morning, after she had taken
her breakfast, she told her husband
this:
"When fell away last night-it was
not into a sleep-I had vision. There
was one instant of darkness, and then l
was in sunny cemetery. 1t was in the
spring-time, for over the fence beyond
the grass-plats saw fruit trees in bloom
and the red-bud. Itwas our cemetery,
Mount Hope Cemetery. l knew the
gentle slopes and the winding roads
and the memorial-stones with their
familiar inscriptions. And there was
one, marble headpiece, standing under
a small Norway pine, and on this read,
Lucy, second child of Marcus B. Gold
en- and his wife Mabel and then the
two dates, February IA, 1876 and
five O'Clock p. M, April 20, 1872 The
first is the day of baby's birth; we shall
keep her three years, two months and
fifteen days; she will die at five
O'clock"
"Oh, nonsensep' said the husband,
laughing. Il couldn't have believed
you to be such goose as to be fright
ened by dream"
but, Mare she said, in solemn re-
monstrance, "it was no dream: it was
all as vivid as the day. There was no
indistinctness: everything was as de-
fined as your face is this morning. 1t
was vision, Marc-a revelation of the
future. know l shall see it again: l
shall some day see my shadow ON the
grass lying beside the shadow of the
Norway pine and of the marble head
piece, Just as l saw them in the vision,
and shall read those two inscriptions,
and shall feel the agony of a mother
bereft of her child. Oh, Marc! this
agony is something indescribable; it has
gone from me now, but the memory
stays. When it comes to me in reality
it will not be strange: shall recognize
it."
Again the husband smiled.
She got hold of his hand. "Marc!
Marcp' she cried, "you must not treat
this with incredulity. In three years,
two months and fifteen days we shall
lose our Lucy: know it. Now, if God
had appeared visibly to us and warned
us of this, what would be our course?
What would you doP You would be-
Gin at once to get all the enjoyment
possible out of the loan: you would
make it your study that the little life
are to do, Marc. We must see to it
that she never has a pain if we can
help it, and we must get all the good
must not look that way" she con-
tinued, in earnest entreaty: 81 cannot
have you slight the warming"
"Why, Mabel, in the Insecurity of
our hold upon any earthly good we
have a constant warning to make the
most of it,
Yes" she said, "but we do not
make the insecurity real: it is vague to
us; it is doubtful; there are more chances
for us than against us. But now we
are warned: in three years and two and
half months God will take our baby: /
know it. Be persuaded, Mare, and let
us do with the child as we shall wish
we had done when we stand beside the
little grave. Now, bring her to me- l
must keep her always with me-"
With a grasping, tender awe, as
though the little life was already slip
ping from hers, the motherreceived the
child. She studied the face with long,
steadfast gaze, such as We give to face
we may never see again. 81 want, !"
she said, "to stamp it upon my men,
Ory, the face with which she came to
me-"
"Here's Tommy, come to see his 'itty
sitter" said the father, in cheerful
tone; he hoped to exercise the ghostly
fancies from Mabels mind.
Tommy was burly fellow, with the
Judgment usual to boys of three and
thereabouts. With laughing shout he
pulled himself up by the clothes on to
the bed, and in purely animal delight
threw himself on the baby and squeezed
her hard. The feeble little being re-
sponded by a cry of pain. 1t hurt the
mothers heart to the quick; so soon had
she failed to shield the devoted child!
With swift, unmeaning resentment she
ordered Tommy to be taken from the
room, needless of his pleadlngs, while
she brooded the baby, laying it against
her face and in her bosom. But when
the baby cries were hushed she had
Tommy brought back, bethinking her
that he must not be set against the ba-
by; he must be trained to love her; to
get all the good possible from their loan,