The Democratic advocate., 1893-04-01

grab you" That surely would not be
pleasant. he pondered moment; the
longing to see Earl, the jolly, blithesome
playmate once more, was too great. Love
overcame the fear; it's way Love has.
Tucking his Sunday hat under his arm
and clasping tighter the white flower, he
went up the broad staircase.
His footsteps we're light, yet the quick
mother ear caught the sound and knew it
for that of a stranger.
Her first impulse was to bid him leave.
She looked at the bright, expectant little
fellow coming up slowly with his fragrant
burden, and with reverent look on his
face. She would tell him kindly how i'll
her laddie was. He must not come in.
How could Hulda have been so forgetful
as to leave the door ajar; of what was she
thinking? No one wanted sunlight while
the dearest thing on earth, to her, lay mo
tionless, and in death-like stupor.
A sudden thought entered her brain.
As drowning man to the rope, so she
chung to it. Possibly Oh Father in
Heayen-if it might be true.
Ben advanced on tiptoe. There was no
one that he could see. He knew the room
well enough Had not the anxious faces
in the cottage fixed their eyes on that cur
tanned window day after day? Yes, he
knew that window by heart. He softly
opened the door of the sick room and
peered in. There, in the corner lay his
little friend, wan and white. The slightest
motion of thin hand moved the silken
cover; Earl must be waking up. Ben was
glad; he was just in time to show him his
lily the first thing.
"rve brought it, Earl" were the words
the listening mother heard behind the dra-
perry. give brought it, said Ben, softly,
sand it's the beautifullest thing you ever
saw. It's Easter, you know"
The eyelids moved and the blue eyes
began to open.
On one side of the bed sat the Major,
his head bowed in his hands; his pale face
had lost all trace of pride. He looked up
at the sound of strange voice, and won
dered if he were dreaming, when signal
from his wife warned him to keep silent.
Slowly the blue, eyes opened; then the
weak hands stirred, but, oh so slowly, and
the faintest wee bit ofa smile played around
the fevered lips that fashioned themselves
to speak,
"Why, Ben 7 they said, 81 forgot. It's
the Easter lily-ain't it?"
aYes,' Ben replied, Il brought it to
you, cause you know what you said bout
its blooming first. And then" he contin-
ued, placing the flower on stand by the
bedside where the sick boys eyes could rest
on it, 'you said we'd give the first bloomer to
Him. Don't you remember bout that?"
"I'll-try to- came feebly from the
bed.
"You mustn' talk now, said Ben, stoop-
ing to pick up his hat which had fallen to
the floor; 'but we've been sayin prayers
for you, we have,-me and Mint and Tilda
and Jed and mother (father, he's been so
awful busy, he couldn't very welD and 1
just k'leao you'd get we'll"
He tucked the hat under his arm and
walked on tiptoe to the door,
"Good-bye," he whispered back, and the
door closed behind him. Presently whis-
pered "Mother's going to make you gin
gerbread horse with currant eyes, and Til
dali parch you some sugar corn to-mor
row" came through the keyhole like half
forgotten postscript. Then all was still,
while the sick boy leaned forward to catch
the perfume of the flower.
Back from the shadows of death into
the lightl-feeble, Pickering light though
it was. Back to the arms Of the dear ones
once more Had the prayers of "me and
Mint and Tilda and Jed and mother
avaied? Who knows?
The leaden-hued clouds that hung so
heavily on the hearts of the proud Major
and his gentle wife we're lifted, and let in
the blessedest ray of sunlight that ever
shone through the stained glass windows
of the costly home, The crisis was past.
The heart of Major Winslow went out to
the sturdy son of Adam Collins, whose
brown hand he shook FeveFently, mentally
making note of the best bicycle In the city
that should be forwarded to Benjamin
Collins that very week.
But far sweeter than touch of aristocratic
hands was the kiss imprinted by the lady
mothers lips on the forehead of the lad who
had broken the dread fevers spell.
And Mikes loveliest lily blossom sent up
its perfume and bloomed its sweetest on the
altar of Christ church as the boys gift to
Him who had called back from death to
life the sunny-haired laddie Of the house of
Winslow, that sweet Easter morning.
Wonders of Olden Times.
Nineveh was II miles long and miles
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