The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-09-11
A CHILD'S DREAM OF A STAR
From '"The Reprinted Pieces" of
Charles Dickens.

All right. If you have a son or daughter !;
II you have brother or sister; if you have
neither, take up this paper and read aloud
Dickenss matchless prose-poem, which is
printed herewith.
If you have home gather your family and
friends about you and read it to them. If you
have no home get a sympathetic friend or SO
i'll your bachelors room tins evening and read
it to them Wherever you read and to whom
soever, it win DO the best sermon either you
or they will hear on this blessed day.
There was once child, ana he strOlled about
good deal, and thought of a number Of things.
He had sister, who was child, too, and his
constant companion. These two used to Won
der all day long. They wondered at the
beauty CT the flowers they wondered at the
height and blueness of the sky; they wonder
ed at the depth of the bright water; they won
dered at the goodness and the power OF God,
who made the lovely world.
They used to say TO one another, sometimes,
supposing all the children upon earth were to
sky be sorry? They believed they would be
sorry. For, said they, the buds are the children
of the flowers, and the little playful streams
that gambol down the hill-sdes are the chill
dren OF the water; and the smallest bright
specks playing at hide and seek in the sky all
night must surely be the children of the
stars and they would all be grieved to see
their playmates, the children of men, no more.
There was one clear, shining star that used
to come out in the sky before the rest, near the
and more beautiful, they thought, than all The
Others and every night they watched for it,
standing hand i'll hand at a window. Who
ever saw it first cried out, 81 see the star"
A nd often they cried out both together know
ing so well when it would rise, and where.
SO they grew to be such friends with it, that,
before lying down in their beds they always
looked out once again, to bid it goodnight;
and when they were turning round to sleep,
they used to say, "God bless the start"
n g "a xFoa at oh,
very young, the sister dropped, and came TO be
so very weak that she could no longer stand in
the window at night; and then the child look
ed sadly out by himself, and when he saw the
star, turned round and said to the patient pale
face on the bed, 81 see the STAR" and then
smile would come upon the face, and q little
weak voice used to say, God bless my broth
or and thc start"
And so the time came, all too soonl when
the child looked out alone, and when there
was 20 face on the bed and when there was n
little grave among the graves, not there be-
lore; and when the star made long rays down
towards him, as he saw it through his tears.
Now, these rays were so bright, and they
seemed 10 make such shining way from earth
to heaven, that when the child went to his
solitary bed, 10 dreamed about the star; and
dreamed that, lying whore he was, he saw
train OF people taken up that sparkling road
by angels. And the star, opening, showed
him great world of light, where many more
such angels waited to receive them.
All those angels, who were waiting, turned
their beamins eyes upon the people who were
carried up into tho star; and some came out
from the long rows in which they stood, and
fell upon the peoples necks, and kissed them
teudery, and went away with them down
avenues of light and were so happy in their
company that lying in his bed he wept for
JOY.
Bat, there were many angels who did not
go with them, and among them one he knew
The patient face that once had lain upon the
bed was glortied and radiant, but his heart
found out his sister among all the host.
His sisters angel fingered near the entrance
of the star, and said to the leader among those
who had brought the people thither:
us my brother Gomez
And he said NO"
Sine was turning hopefully away, when the
child stretched ont his arms. and cried, 80,
sister am here! Take men and then she
turned her beaming eyes upon him, and it was
night; and the star was Singing in the room,
making long rays down towards him as he
saw it through his tears
From that hour forth, the child looked out
upon the star as on the home he was to go to,
when his time should come; and he thought
that he did not belong TO the earth alone, but
to the star, too, because of his sisters angel
gone before.
There was a baby born to be n brother to tho
child; and while he was so little that he never
yet had spoken u word, he stretched lis tiny
form ont ON his bed, and died.
lrpo.ln.i of IA etc
- 500 tlo GU" VI soN u 'ie open star
az" , ~ ma Xxx - r v of .iC yam or o.
beoip,1n eTes alI nrncd mon tIos Si' ,oo Ies
faces.
81 81" ,,' ,,' hrt6or c'n - ~ '''0
Ana Ea s,id IN, tGa. o,o l,,,+ o,,,+,.,.
A. tl,o ciiIi babo,5 his IT, ~ l,, =
80 Sis - AZ ,''S UtU1"e1 ahsel IN
~ rai,s E'A -, t,,u,,,l - 81, lleAc'
IN, a tl,o - ,tf,,, '''' s''''ieu upon
~ a.r, 80. =, ,
~, 80, w" NS uuSS az
n,,a ia ~ -" S'" S0' '""' ''ilo 70 MN
"fLy ,,o,her - ~, ,,,oro ,,r,,, H.
;rc ~, bnr Sarii"c o., - '''AS he' o'esS-
"a Va -, ~, - oV ~. .,.
,,,,Ia6, ne gar; ana an tnat
ioaSnr S"''' ms ''s'eI s"hsel tot he
~ 49, ,,~,+,,c~ .,,,,,,o,,
An5 ~ Sa1''O .irS SU'i,,
n,icJ ~ cr, % ;o, ,,a, f,,.., -,
~ ~ ~ ~, Ky W. "uFlh through All
fnr ~, ~, iirsr ,.3 W"S FV-uhted 10
-, - ,,N A., Sl'cNNHtu ON ms