The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-05-11
"LITTLE ONE"
How He Came to Us, and How He
Slipped Away.

It suited him somehow. the name
Little One.
In all his brief life he had not known
or answered to any other. 1t seemed
to be part and parcel with himself, and
IL had tenaciously chung to him from
the hour he had been thrown friend
less waif upon our mercy until the
present, when ut ten years of age he
was no larger than most children of
four and five.
We were a childless couple-my hus-
band and /. Our luxurious home had
never resounded to the pattering of
baby footsteps nor the music of baby
voices, and so when on that bitter win
ter's night we had found him lying in
mute helplessness upon the threshold,
we thanked God, and ut once adopted
him into home and heart. And in
homo and heart he had reigned tri-
umphant ever since.
Who he was-from whence extracted
we had never thought to question.
1t mattered little if honor or shame
was his heritage. He had come to us
in time of sorest need; he was help
less and innocent and fair to look upon.
and so we had straightway enthroned
the tiny stranger.
From the very first he was possessed
of a touching, appealing sort of beauty
and of most endearing baby ways;
and as day by day discovered some
new charm in mind or body, we grew
TO love him with q love that was akin
20 idolatry. Oh, how we loved our
Little One! And now. when l stand
beside the mound that covers his ashes,
how the hot tears gush to my eyes;
and how throbs my heart in keenest
anguish, as / recall the winsOmeness
that so endeared himi
Had we been gifted with prophets
vision, we would have foreseen that
the jewel had been lent us for season
only, and the blow had not then fallen
so suddenly as to find us unprepared.
The many-veined transparent tenn
ples-the large. melancholy blue eyes
ever bent upon the Unseen, as it were
tho gentle tones-the spirit-like
tread-told a story all their own; but
love had blinded us and we could not
read "between the linesr
For him the future was to be one
unonding dream of delight; for him
we built castles in Spain, and planned
and boarded, so that when manhood
should come to him he would take
his place among the proudest in the
land. Could we but have known that
this frail life, so dear to us, was fast
receding from our grasp-that the ten
der feet were even now approaching
the shores of the Mystic Sea, think We
we would have so dreamed and
plannedP True, there were moments,
even in our blindness, when a vague
fear would send a pang sharper than
sword-thrust to the heart, as we caught
his rapt, PARKWAY gaze, or marked an
unusual languor in his movements.
But all such fears were dismissed as
quickly as they came, and we would &C
on planning and dreaming as before
Always a quiet child, he grew more
and more so as time sped on, until now
none ever saw him engage in romp and
play like others of his age, nor heard
his voice raised in boyish laugh ol
shout This was unnatural and should
have caused us timely alarm so thai
we might have tried the efficacy Of
more vigorous measures. But We
were blind and could not sec wha
was best for the child. For hours anC
hours he would amuse himself in hi
own subdued fashion with his books
and toys while / sat sewing near him
And 1, who loved him better than life
was content to have 1t thus.
But when the twilight shadows filled
the room it was his habit to throw his
playthings aside, climb my knee, anC
nesting his golden head in my bosom
beg me to tell him the dear old Bibl
stories, and of the angels with thei
harps aud crowns-stOries to which n,
had listened from infancy, but o
which he mover wearied. Then whel
bedtime came and had robed him II
his snowy nightdress, he would knee
ut my feet, reverently fold his waxel
hands and pray with an earnestnes
that was almost uncanny in so youn,
a child, after which he would coax T.
be taken i'm my arms TO be rocked an,
sung to sleep. 1t was n baby trick o
his which he had never outgrown, an,
one in which / delighted to indulg
him. 1t all comes back to meth
tiny white-robed form, the Grooming
lullabies, the saint-like prayer, the con
iiding, golden head. the touch of ching
ing arms around my neck-and
great wave of agony breaks over m
soul at the retrospect
We had made for our Little One
downy nest; we had sheltered an,
hedged him about with the tenderes
care; but alasl no earthly love, how
ever tender, could screen him from tn
Destroyer Scarlet fever of a mos
virulent type broke out in the village
and in spite of all human precautiol
our 'ono eve lamb" was an early vic
tim. How we battled with our fierc
despair as we lowered in breathles
suspense above his pillow. How alter
Rately elated we were by hope, G
depressed by foreboding, as we watche
ehe crimson cheek. or noted the fitfU
pulse, let those tell only who have thu
enduredl One by one loves tendril
were being wrenched from their hol
on the heart-one by one, our hope
were going out from the sands of
life. and we wero forced to bow TO IN
nscrutable.
II was glorious evening in earl
June. The sun had gone down i
oore than usual pomp, leaving a
afteroIow of liquid radiance, which j
turn bad given place to the solem