The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1883-12-07
John b. Coughs Boyllood.
sarah X. Bolton in Wide Awake.


Sarah K. Bolton in Wide Awake.
His life had been peculiarly bite
one. Born in q very humble bone a
Sandgate, on the English coast, cleaning
with his mother and sister after the
reapers, that they might have ::bread t.
eat, or cleaning knives or shoes in thu
gentleman's house where his father wa.
servant, there was little to make s
boys life bright. When he was IL, /.
family offered to bring him to Americs
it his parents would pay $50 for his pas
sage. It was difficult to earn this; bu
his mother thought, after the manner o
mothers, Perhaps in the new world
our John will be somebody" So, witt
tears, she packed his scanty clothing
putting in little Bible, and pinnine
these lines on shirt:
Forget me not when death shall close
These eyeiids in their last repose;
And when the murmuling breezss wave
The grass upon your mothers grave,
O then, whate'er thy sge or lot
May be, my child, forget me not
JANE GoUGlI.
Then, again and again she pressed he,
only boy to her heart, and stole out be.
hind the garden wall, that unobserved,
she might cast a last look Of the stage
which carried him to London.
The voyage was long. one of nearly
two months. The little lad OF.
ten cried in his cabin, and he wrote
back, II wish mother could wash me to.
night" showing what tender mother
boy he was: When New York harbor
was entered. and he was eager to see
his adopted country, he was sent below
to 6!ack boots and shoes for the family.
His school days were now over. :.After
two years of hard work in the country,
be sold his knife to buy q postage stamp,
and wrote y. his father, asking
and and learn a. trade "a :" Consent msm 1 9ss
given, and, in the middle Of the winter
our English lad of IA reached the great
city, with no home, no friends. and onlv
fifty cents in his pocket. Hundreds
passed by as he stood ON the dock.
holding his little trunk iu his hands.
but nobody spoke to him. But ut last.
by dint of ernestness, he found place
to enter as err 4nd.boy and learn book
binding. receiving 1925 a week, and
paying $500 for his board. How his
employer supposed he could live on 81
q month, for clothes and washing. has
never appeared.
Inc first night he was placed by his
boarding mistress in an attic, with an
freshman who was deathlyill. The SEE.
ond night the man died, and the hor-
ror stricken young boy STAYED alone
with the dead till morning.
Nearly two painful years more went
by. Finally. though he earned but S.
q week, he sent to England for his moth
er and sister. When they arrived, two
rooms were rented: the girl found work
in straw bonnet factory, and, poor
though they were, they were very hap.
py. John was now l6, devoted to his
mother, and still a noble, unselfish. per
servering boy.
At the end Of three months, through
dul!nees OF business, both children lost
their places; and now began the strup.
giles which the poor know so we'll in ouf
large cities: They left their two decent
rooms, and moved intoa garrett. Winter
came on, and they had neither fuel nor;
food. John walked miles out into the
country, and dragged home old sticks
which lay by the roadside, He pawned
his coat, that the mother, who had now
become i'll, might have some mutton
broth.
One day he left her in tears, and went
sobbing down the street.
"What is the natter" said astranper.
"pm hungry ana 80 is my mother"
well, can't do much, but I'll help
you little, and he gave John three-
cent loaf of bread.
When the boy reached home. the
good woman put the Bible on the rickety
pine table, read from it and then ali
knelt and thanked God for the precious
loaf.
In the spring he obtained employment
at n: % q week, but poverty and priva.
ton had fallen too heavily, rested too
long upon the mother. One day; while
preparing Johns simple supper Of rice
and milk, she fell dead. All night long
the desolate boy held her cold hand in
his; then, in that Christian city, she Was
put in pine box and, without shroud
or prayers, carried In . cart, her two
children walking behind it, was buried
in the Potter's field.
For three days sfterward, John and
his sister never tasted food. Probably
the world said, Poor thingsW but t. IL
certain that nobody offered to hep
them. Il q d sss O.. T. &
d AZ Es.o ~lAvv :, - n USe rV~.l =