Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1881-02-24
Earth's Lone Children.
Detroit Tribune.

n DOy, not over eleven years Old
whose pinched face betrayed hunger
and whose clothing could scarcely be
called by the name, dropped into car.
penter-shop on Grand River Avenue
the other day, and after much hesita.
ton explained to the foreman.
eve want to get a grave-board fol
ma. She died last winter, and the
graves are so thick that we can't hard
ly find her no more. We went up last
Sunday, and we came awful near not
finding it. We thought we'd git a
grave-board SO we wouldn't lose the
grave. When we thought we'd lost
it, Jack he cried, and Bud she cried,
and my chin trembled so l could hard
ly talkr'
"Where is your father?" asked the
carpenter.
ooh, he's at home, but he never goes
up there with us, and we shan't tell
him about the board. guess he hated
ma, for he wasn't home when she died,
and he wouldn't buy no coffin nor moth
ing. Sometimes, when we are sittin' on
the doorstep talking about her, and
Jack and Bud are cryin', and I'm re-
memberin' how she kissed us all afore
she died, he says we'd better quit that
or we'll gel what's bad for us. But we
sleep upstairs, and we talk and cry in
the dark all we want to. How much
will the board be?'
The carpenter selected something fit
for the purpose, and asked,
"Who will put it up at the grave?"
well take it upon our cart" replied
the boy, "and l guess the graveyard
man will help us put ii up."
"You want the name painted on
don't ycu?"
Eyes, sir, we want the board white,
and then we want YOU to paint on that
she was our ma, and that she was for
ty-one years Old, and that she died on
the End of November, and that she's
gone to heaven, and that she was one
of the best mothers ever was, and that
we are going to be good all our lives
and 60 up where she is when we die.
How much will it cost, SIR"
How much have you got?"
"Well," said the boy, as he brought
out little calico beg and emptied its
contents on the bench, "Bud drawed
the baby Tor the woman next door and
earned twenty cents; Jack he weeded
in the garden and earned forty cents,
and he found five more in the road; l
run of errands, and made kites, and
fixed a boys cart, and helped carry
some apples into store, and l earned
sixty-five cents. All that makes a
hundred and thirty cents, sir, and pa
don't know we've got it, cause we
kept it hid in the ground under a
stone"
The carpenter meant to be liberal,
but he said,
ga grave-board will cost at least
three dollars
The lad looked from his little store
of metals to the carpenter and back,
realized how many weary weeks
had passed since the first penny
was earned and saved, and suddenly
walled out.
"Then we can never, never buy one,
and mas grave will get lost
But he left the shop with tears of
gladness in his eyes, and when he re-
turned yesterday little Bud and Jack
were with him, and they had a cart.
There was not only head-board. but
one for the foot of the grave as well,
and painter and carpenter had done
their work with full hearts, and done
it well.
"Ain't it awful nice nicer than rich
folks hevew whispered the children, as
the boards were being placed on the
cart; "won't the grave look nice, though
and won't ma be awful gladw
Ere this the mothers grave has beer
marked, and when night comes thu
three motherless ones will cuddle Close
together and whisper their gratitude
that it cannot be lost to them, even il
] the storms and drifts of winter.