The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-09-26
Nloral anb Religious.
She Gave Her Dinner.

A dejected-looking man and his frail,
care-worn wife sat in one of the seats
of crowded car, each holding child.
The elder was little girl of about four
or five years, pale and delicate, as
a scanty table. The younger was still
at the breast, at which he alternately
fed and cried, the poor mother being
too nearly exhausted by hunger and
weakness to satisfy her child. A few
bundles neatly wrapped up in news
papers filled the rack above them,
while two old valises that had seen
their best days, and now holding family
possessions, were crammed into a seat
with them. 1t was no unusual sight,
and the well-fed passengers gave them
hardly passing notice. Whence they
came or whittier going, no one knew or
cared. The poor man and his family
were lost in the crowd. The train
rushed on, and the passengers talked
on, as if there could be no case of dis
tress within thousand miles. Directly
the little girl leaned over and. asked her
mother for something. The mother
shook her head, and looked quickly
away. The father pressed his child's
head to his heart as if to stop its pain.
But the child began to cry, and soon
her voice attracted the attention of all
the passengers. Some wondered what
could be the matter; some felt annoyed
at the crying. In the rear of the car
sat a lady who had been riding all day.
She had noticed the poor mans family,
and had seen the traces of suffering
/ nd ~ IN - hn lNo
child cry. She, too, was a mother.
She had heard her own children cry
and she knew what it meant. She took
the lunch she had brought to break her
own fast on the train, and, going for
ward, handed it to the mother as she
sat holding her child. AS their eyes
met, both mothers eyes filled with
tears; they had read each others
hearts. The child stopped crying and
eagerly began to eat. The lady walked
back to her seat in the rear, but her act
had opened the hearts of her fellow
passengers. Here and there lunch.
baskets were opened and food was
brought from all over the car and
laid in their laps. Pocket-books were
lOosened and silver pieces came pouring
into the poor mans hand in a grateful
stream. But they could not eat. The
mother bent over her child and wept
The father sat looking bankly at the
money and the food. He had beer
thinking bitterly of the cold, Indifferent
world, till his faith in man and in di
vine Providence had almost gone. NJ
work, no food, no money, and this wife
and these children to be provided for
! S,,11 hn = fo, ~
in God has triumphed. God has sen
his angel into the car to meet him will
cruise and cake, as did Elijah back yon
der under the juniper. The dark da,
has given him sudden burst of sun
light. He has awakened to find LITTLE
sympathy in the human heart, and h,
blesses God for the revelation. H,
soon after left the car with the CLEAN
of a newly-kindled hope in his face
His wife looked back to smile her graft
tude. They were gone, but they hat
left blessing behind them. In thi
seat and in that heart felt richer anC
happier for the little good it had done
The food and the money sown hat
brought back quick fruition. Think
ing only that she had done little NOR,
for her Lord, the mother in the rea
rode on homeward, happier in her fast
ing than the richest meal could hav,
made her. For God fed her that da,
as she had rarely been fed before, ant
gave to her as precious memento tn
remembrance that she had lifted loaC
from a fathers heart and dried a moth
er's tears, and that she had touched tn
springs of fellow hearts till they, too
had opened to feel the happiness o
giving .-Philadelphia Methodist.