The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-11-30
cHIaD-s DREAM OF A STAR.
IBy Charles Dickens.I


They used to say to one another,
"Supposing all the children
upon earth were to die, would the flow
ers, and the water, and the sky be sorry?"
They believed they would be sorry.
For, said they, the buds are the children
of the flowers, and the little playful
streams that gambol down the hillsides
are the children of the water; and the
smallest bright specks playing at hide
and-seek in the sky all night, must sure.
ly be the children of the stars; and they
would be grieved to see their playmates,
the children of men, no more.
There was one clear bright shining
fore the rest, near the church. spire,
above the graves. 1t was larger and
more beautiful, they thought, than all
the others, and every night they watch
ed for it, standing hand in hand at the
window. Whoever saw it first; cried out
81 see the starr' And often they cried
out, both together, knowing SO well when
it would rise, and where. So they grew
to be such friends with it, that before
lying down in their beds, they always
looked out once again, to bid it good
night; and when they were turning round
to sleep they used to say, "GOd bless the
star"
But while she was still very young, oh
very, very young, the sister dropped, and
came to be so weak that she could no
longer stand in the window at night; and
then the child looked sadly out by him
II i 1,
around and said to the patient pale face
on the bed: II see the starI' and then
a smile would come upon the face, and a
weak little voice used to say: "God
bless my little brother and the star!'
And so the time came, all too soon
when the child looked out alone,
and when there was no face on the bed;
and when there was q little grave among
the graves not there before; and when
the star made long rays towards him; he
saw it through his tears.
Now, these rays were SO bright, and
they seemed to make such shining way
from earth to heaven, that when the
child went to his solitary bed, he dream
ed about the star; and dreamed that
lying where he was, he saw q train of
people taken up that sparkling road by
angels. And the star, opening, showed
him a great world of light, where many
more such angels waited 10 receive them.
All these angels who were waiting,
turned their beaming eyes upon the peo-
pie who were carried up into the star;
and some came out from the long rows
in which they stood, and fell upon the
peoples necks and kissed them tenderly,
and went away with them down avenues
of light, and were so happy in their COM
pany, that lying in the bed he wept for
Joy,
But there were many angels who did
not go with them, and among them one
he knew. The patient face that had
cnce lain upon the bed was glorifed Eand
radiant, but his heart found out his sister
among all the host.
His sisters angel fingered near the en-
trance of the star and said to the leader
among those who had brought the people
thither-
SIS my brother Gomez"
And he said ''No"
She was turning hopefully away, when
the child stretched out his arms and
cried: ooh, sister, / am herel Take
me!' And then she turned her beaming
eyes upon him and it was night; and the
star was shining into the room making
long rays down towards him as he saw it
through his tears.
From that hour forth the child looked
out upon the star as the home he was to
| 60 to, when his time should come; and he
thought that he did not belong to the
earth alone, but to the star too, because
of his sisters angel gone before,
There was a baby born to be brother
to the child; and while he was so little
he had never yet spoken a word, he
stretched his tiny form out on his bed
and died.
Again the child dreamed of the open
star, and of the company of angels, and
the train of people, and the rows of an
| gels with their beaming eyes all turned
upon those peoples faces.
Said his sisters angel TO the leader
as my brother Gomez
And he said: Not that one but an
other"
As the child beheld its brothers angel
| in her arms, he cried: ooh sister, | am
here! Take mel" And she turned and
smiled upon him, and the star was shin
ing.
He grew to be a young man, and was
busy at his books when an old servant
came to him and said:
"Thy mother is no more. I bring her
blessing on her darling son."
Again at night he saw the star, and all
that former company. Said his sisters
angel to the leader:
SIS my brother GOMEZ"
And he said. ''Thy motheri''
A mighty cry of Joy went forth
through all the stars because the mother
was reunited to her two children. And
he stretched out his arms and cried
"Oh mother, sister and brother, 1 am
herel Take mel' And they answered
him, "Not yet" And the star was shin
ing.
He grew to be man whose hair wa:
turning gray, and he was sitting in HI
chair by the Preside, heavy with grief
and with his lace believed with tears
when the star opened once again.
Said his sisters angel to the leader:
SIS my brother Gomez"
| And he said: "Nay, but his nader
daughter"
And the man who had been the child
saw his daughter, newly lost to him,
celestial creature among those three, anC
he said: ''My daughters head is on m!
sisters bosom, and her arm is around M
mothers neck, and at her feet there
the baby of old time, and / can bear tn
parting from her, God be praised!
1
Thus the child came to be en- old maj
and his once smooth face was wrinkled
and his steps were feeble, and his bacl
was bent. And one night as he lay upoI
his bed, his children standing round b
cried as he had cried so long ago
fI see the starp'
They whispered one to another: "Hl
is dying"
4 And he said, 81 am. My age is fall
;. ing from me like garment and / NOV,
toward the star as child. And o, m!
Father, now ] thank thee that it has s.
often opened to receive those dear one
who await mer'
And the star was shining; and it shine
upon his grave.
satisfying TIE Majesty Of the Law.
, Texas Sfftings.I
II There is Justice of the Peace out IL
Crosby County. Week before last b
found man guilty of shooting bull
. that did not belong to him, and fneC
him S75.