The National tribune., 1884-03-20

her eyes shet, her white hands folded together
on the quilt. her yellow hair like gold fioatin'
around her on the piller.
Speak 10 her, Ben,' says Jim. Mirandy,'
says |, it's Ben My speakin' seemed to rouse
her right up. As soon as she see me- her eyes
lit up, jest as they used TO did, and she put
both her white, thin arms around my neck,
and drew me down and kissed me, notwith-
standin' Jim was standin' by. and she says:
1T was real good of you TO come, Ben
Then she told Jim to fix up the PLIERS, SO
she could set up little, and made Jim set Oh
one side of the bed and ine on the to'ther: and
after she'd got rested (she was so weak that
movin' seemed TO take all her strength, she
says: You and / have been wronged, Ben,
but 'twasn't nay fault, or Jims. However, L
wanted to see you, and right it as far as it ever
can be In this world, Ben; so l told Jim to try
and find yer, for my sake. When father lay a
dyln he called rae to him, and says he: Mi
randy, amt done the fair thing by you and
Ben he did write, and i kept back the letters;
you'll find EN- in my tin chest along with the
will. didn't mean no harm; thought Jim
had more money than Ben and nd make yer q
better husband. But twas all wrong, though
l didn't mean SO. Can yer furgive me,
Mirandyg" / tried TO furgiye him, SEEM he
was dyin', and / was married to Jim. Alter he
WAS dead found the letters where he said, and
that you was the same lovin' Ben as ever Here
they be, she says, takin' 'em from under the
piller.
There they was, sure enuG, and / took
'em, and Mirandy says, You can keep 'em or
not But ! want goin to keep what had been
so troublesome, so L throwed 'em all into the
IRE that was burnin' on the hurth. After they
was burned up Mirandy took my hand and
put II into Jims, and then Aunt Ruth brought
the little IN, and Mirandy says Ben and jim
alters be good friends when I'm gone. Take
care of the little 'un between yer. He's got
both yer names, shed called him James Ben
Jamin,) and l hope he'll never disgrace 'em.
Yell promise, won't yep"
:" We was too full to speak, and only nodded.
This seemed to satisfy her. Then they TUX
away the baby, and she lay quiet, with her
eyes shet. for a long time. AT last, she says !:
Sing, won't We, " There is a Land of Pure De-
light"?' Now, Jim was purity good at the
tenor and could manage the bass, so we begun
TO sing, although twas purity hard matter,
seem our hearts was in our Threats Almost of
the time. Willie we was a singin', boys,
Mirandy opened her eyes, smilin', oh, so beau
tiful, gave little sigh, and was gone.
" What happened next, or how the funeral
went of, l never could tell exactly. Folks
said 10 me afterwards that everybody, Almost,
was a-cryin', seem US two yonng fellers in the
first carriage, with the little 'un, KNOWN how
much we'd both sot by Mirandy.
After Mlrandys death. although Jim and
me was alters good friends, he never seemed
the same, specially as we soon laid the little
IN 10 rest by the side of his mother. One day
when Jim and / was a standin' by their graves,
Jim says: Ben. there amt nothin' more fur
me TO live fur in this world; the sooner I'm
laid here the better. and hope it ull be before
long. And in a few years he got his wish.
And there" continued Uncle Ben, his voice
broken with emotion, they have laid for fifty
years a-waitin' for me, and so, boys, when l
have done with this old craft, and got safe into
harbOr, you must lay me alongside of Mirandy
and Jim, and the little un. i often think, as
set alone at work, of the time when / shall
meet 'em all in the place, where, as scriptur'
says: They neither marry nor are given in
marriage where the wicked cease from
troubling and the weary are at rest y