St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1892-12-31
a HARD STORY.


RlaAly aympathy and True faet shown b
the Breaking OF sad News.
Looking over the journals Of old Fa-
ther Ward. for many years y pastor In
Ironburg, a railroad and mining center
Of Pennsylvania, writes correspon-
dent, came across . narrative which
shows the difficulty of breaking the
news of accidental death. and also re-
veals the fact that the roughest natures
have in them true sympathy and tact.
The engineer of whom Father Ward
speaks was a well-known character in
Ironburg. He died two years ago Fa-
ther Ward was writing in his study one
morning. when the bell rang and his
wife came mp to cay that . rouRh-look-
ing man wanted to see him. He went
down. at once. and there stood . rail-
road engineer. evidently just on from .
run. He was standing in the hall. and
the minister asked him to come in and
sit down.
''Much obliged. but I'd rather not.
said the engineer. 81 haint time. Fact
| is, we run over . boy comm in. and
thought maybe you wouldn't mind COM
in down to see IL you knew his folks
like"
"Why. of course, I'll 60 Mt once" l
| went along with the messenger, asking
questions as we walked hastily down to
the tracks.
'How did II happcn?"
"Well. that beats me. You know the
big embankment this side the bridge?
We were running by it. when the boy
seemed to fall from the very top OF It.
| rolled down to the track and under the
! engine wheels"
"Was he. killed at once?'
Twas dreading the whole affair. and
especially the telling the news to hia
mother. whoever she might be.
"Yes; I don't think. he was conscious
when the train hit him. He was spared
suffering. We picked him mp. and
| when / reached the station at the end
| of NV run I had him carried right into
my house. and then l came up to see
you. You remember when you came
and broke the news Of my willie's sud.
den death to me, parson. 1t seemed to
me then that il anybody could sympa-
thize, you could"
| Irecalled the time when ! had been
obliged to go to this man and tell him
of distressing death in his own family,
death that had occurred while he was
of on long run.
The engineer spoke again, after a
slight pause.
Death is awful sudden sometimes.
I hope you will be able to comfort the
mother. parson. 1t will be . great
blow to her."
"Yes, a great blow. How old was
the boy?'
about ten. A beautiful boy. Brown.
curly hair and blue eyes About the
age of my Willie. You don't think. do
you, parson. that You will dread too
much to go and tell the mother that
her boy is in Heaven?'
"No; but, Of course, dread the duty.
Think If it should be my own boy-'
"Yes; and, Of course, It might be.
Same as mine was taken sudden when ]
had no thought of it. We ought al
ways to be ready, oughtn't we. parson?''
Il i
feeling Of dread upon me. We had
reached the house. There was crowd
about it. They parted silently and
respectfully for us ~ we passed in.
And even as grew near the bed where
the mangled form lay, did not realize
what had actually happened.
Ny friend the engineer laid one hand
on my shoulder as he drew . covering
from of the face Of the dead, and said,
in tones Of sympathy which nothing
but his own sad loss could have taught
him: "Parson, it's the hardest thing
ever had to do. and I've bungled about
Il. but God can help you and the mothel
to bear it."
And I looked into the face Of the
dead, and it was the face Of my OWL
boy!
Ihad forgotten that he was At play
that morning with . neighbor near the
embankment. In some way, we never
learned how, he had fallen over. But
to the day Of my death, come It soon On
late, I shall never forget the feeling
that came to my wife and myself when
time had healed the wound Of our loss
the feeling of kindred sympathy and
tact which sorrow teaches even the
roughest hearts to show 70 others in
bereavement
Those words, ''God can help you and
the mother to bear IL" proved to me
the value of my own consultations in
the presence Of the last grim enemy
and my own great loss.-Youth's Com
panion.
Testimony differs a. 10 the feeling