The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-06-25
eRANoMoTHER.s wooINo.
PART I.

Musing by the f1re)
.Ah, we'll. this life is almost done,
And l am glad It's So" she said;
I've worked SO hard. from sun to sun,
To earn the clothes and daily bread
For all the children God has given
That l begin to long for heaven.
Each one brought care and work and love;
/ murmured at my helpless brood;
But when their father went above
l thanked the Lord, and called it good
Tina. these should mind me of the dead,
And, struggling, l was comforted.
81 spun and wove and knit and sewed
For all the ladies of the town..
And saw my children neatly clothed,
Though b a. scarce a shilling gown.
l never cared how coarse my food,
So they had what was plain but good.
"And so the years went swiftly on;
The baby was too frail to raise;
And then death took my eldest son..
The boy | hoped would cheer my days.
Till all my work below was done;
But, then, we can not judge Gods ways.
"And FIVE are left; John went away
And now is rich, ] hear them tell;
And Harry married young; they say
A stylish wife becomes him weQ;
] wonder would she smile on me-,
Who have been bred in poverty.
"And Wilbur, I am proud he's mines.
He breaches from the blessed word;
/ love to hear those truths divine
From lips I offered to the Lord.
And Chloe, she is my sowing seed
Beside all waters, SO to feed
All hearts that of the Christ have need.
"And Jane, she has a noble soul,
And does for me what none have done;
But yet she does not seek the goal
Her father sought, and early won.
Her little ones are very dear,
But oftentimes their noisy cheer
Makes me desire another sphere.
They've built me rooms beside their home,
And made them cheerful as they could;
And yet l feel as though, alone,
In more than L stood.
They have the present. l the past,
And both the future, at the last"
PART II.
(She has a lover)
Tn grandmother .smoothed her thin gray
hair;
These rooms grow prettier," she said,
And the fire In the CRATE has a cheerful air;
I'm younger in heart and head.
Perhaps 1 am foolish, and childish, too,
To let him come at an age like mine,
With his hair SO white, and his years but few
Before we shall cross the n
Hes buried the wife of his youth SO long;
His sons have left him; alone he stands;
We are weights in our weakness, while they
We could stay each others hands.
Last night he told me his love for me;
Perhaps 1t was not with the fire of youth,
But these ink cheeks, in my ecstacy,
Grew flushed at his words of truth.
ssThe wants of the heart are undimmed by
age;
We pine for lack of a constant friend,
For a human love is Gods heritage,
And we need it to the end.
"And janet wonder what she will say
To mother loving SO late in life?
And his children, too, will they scorn the day
When he brings him home a wife?
at -o,,ld ho n -oxhor :, ho.trx
They have no need for a mothers care
Already my life seems wondrous bright,
l forget its wear and tear;
Perchance he will come tonight"
The grandmother smoothed her thin gray
hair;
,'These rooms grow p~rettier, far" she said
sAnd the fire in the CRATE has a cheerful air,
Am l too old to wed?"
PART III.
tAgain musing by the flre)
'0nly a dream, as when a soul awaketh
From the bright Wis ons of a blessed sleep
And finds the same old sea of sorrow break
Athwart its hopes, with a resistless sweep.
''Qnly an ienis-fatuus DER the meadows,
Luring one on to an endless tread:
Only q CLEAN of sunshine with the shadows,
Which makes them darker when the light
has fled.
W thought to be so happy with each other,
But Jane and all her brothers scorned it so
They might nave been more tender to their
Had death robbed them, like her, SO long
ago.
"His children, having all that this world
OF wealth and goodly home and fertile
Forbade the marriage, lest their weIl-Hlled
Golfers
Be lowered any for another's need.