Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1883-07-18

MN still, and month after month boped
oh. She always greeted him with a
siiiie OF welcome, and strove to make
MS nome as attractive as she could. AT
one time he had narrowly escaped dis.
grace; but things had been tided over
The end was yet to come.
1t was gloomy winter evening. snow
was beginning to fall, and the lady turn.
ed from the window where she had been
standing with an aching heart. and drew
a chair close to the fire, that. cracking
ana 'danclng Enthusiastically. seemed Ia
cast wlerd reflections over a desolate
past.
FIFTY years might have passed instead
OF twenty to judge from the difference
between the young mother who sent up
agonlzed prayers for her baby's life and
the careworn, old-looking woman who
bent over the fire in the CRATE. Yet
everything about her was dainty and
beautiful as of old, and her dress was
TASTEFUL and elegant. 1t was all for her
boy, poor soul!-that he should not find
his mother aught but what he could
admire, never reckoning how little he
cared for any one but himself.
Eustace's birthday tomorrow" she
said aloud, ''IIe will remember to see
me! . God9' she cried. rising and clasp
ing her hands. ''Just twenty wears
since | prayed for my darling's life! Can
IT be It was for naught but suffering?
You were beautiful and good once; will
you ever come back to me?n And she
hid her face in her hands, and the tears
fell through her thin fingers.
Just then the portiere was drawn aside
and Eustace stood before her. But oh j..
what contrast to the fair, sweet baby
and the tall stripling of ten years ago,
His dress was disordered, his face ashy
pale, his blue eyes wild and suDken.
''MOtherr' He came up to her and
seized her hand '.You must hide me,
They are after me!'' And he looked
around the room in nervous agony. 1T
Is a horrible tale for your ears. poor
mother! There was quarrel-we were
all mad with drink and excitement-and
L have blood-blood on my soul, besides
its other sinsi'' And the miserable man
sank at the feet of his wretched mother.
She dropped beside him in wild par
Oxysm of grief, and tried to raise his
head TO her lap; but it fell back as if he
were dead. She rang for assistance and
had him placed upon couch. and medi-
cal aid summoned; he awoke from his
stupor only TO break into wild rawlings
and agonized cries. The doctor shook
his head, said dissipation had done its
work, and he was doomed. The myrmi-
dons of the law shrank from his wild
raving and CHASTITY face, and took their
station in a room down stairs; but
higher tribunal awaited him.
Again the agoniZed mother bent over
her child. He had sunk into a death
like Stupor. exhausted by his wild raw
ings. As in dim vision the past glided
slowly before her, and the baby of twenty
years ago was lying in his pretty crib,
and she seemed to hear the echo of her
owa wild prayer, ''Spare me my childr'
Still she watched on. Eustace never
stirred, and the shaded light made the
pale face and sunken eyes look vet more
weird. The calm, sweet Madonna
seemed almost to bend pitying look
from the wall, and the rounded outline
OF the veiled Psyche and her boy lover
glistened in the shadow. How unchanged
these dumb things, yet how different the
aching living hearts!
Suddenly the sufferer stirred, and the
mother would have called for he doctor,
who was waiting outside; but with all
his failing strength he clutched cOnvul-
sively her hand.
''Motheri''
She bent over him.
Il am sorry-forgivel Our Father"
And trying to grasp the long unSaid
prayer, the sin-stained soul passed from
earth.
The heart-broken mother made no
moan, but fell upon her knees and bur
led her face in the pillows. She knew
how her wild and selfish prayer for her
child had been answered. Too late had
come the awakening-her child had lived
to be a murderer, and she could only
hope now that perchance out of the in
finite mercy of the Savior, his dying ef-
fort 20 pray his childhood prayer was a
token of forgiveness. Sad, sad, is too
often the reality, but too true Is the
N ,.-.,