Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-03

Aged eighteen
MN years and thre G
days." was engraved
on the silver plate on the casket lid.
pushed the flowers aside. so that could see
1t. / remember, as though 1t was yester-
day, the day / went to see a young moth
er, and she held out to me her week-old
girl. A round, pink and white little wad of
flesh, with sunny curls and sleepy eyes, and
two pink hands that clutched aimlessly at
nothing. Through all those eighteen years
/ watched the flower unfold, always with a
trembling fear that the one perfect BIOS
som would be blighted, through overmuch
training and ignorant neglect. Paradoxical
Perhaps so.
Last June a year ago my pretty maid
graduated, and less than a year ago she
blossomed into a full-blown rose, that de-
lighted all the social world in which she
moved; and now-"earth to earth; ashes to
ashes; dust to dust" A "dispensation of
Providence" the minister called 1t, as he
played with exquisite touch on quivering
heart strings. "a cruel bereavement" was
the cry of the lonely mothers heart: but
she who had borne so much could endure
yet another straw, and say, with Lowell:
"Condole if you will, can bear 1t;
IT'S the well-meant aims of breath;
3
Cannot make Death other than Death"
DEATH and know that the mother of my
dear maiden has all but thrown her price
less treasure into the hands of the grim
reaper. When, into the blue eyes, dim with
approaching dissolution, there came the
brightness which told that the glory of
another world had dawned upon them, the
gray old physician, who had heard the
babes first wall, and grown to love the
x-fN,e-z htJ yxytt Cnh
emphasis, as he turned from the weeping
mother:
God knows I tried to save you this Bit
terness:" and she. in her short -sightedness.
believed that he referred to his unavailing
skill in physics! l knew, however, that he
was thinking of the frail little life that ne
had watched over from the first and know
ing the delicate constitution, had warned the
mother that her daughter was untitled to
brush up against the world in competition
with her more robust companions. The
warnings dinned in that mothers ears,
year after year, were unheeded, and when
the blow fell she was as utterly unprepared
for 1t as though she had not invited 1t.
The Forcing Process.
This child has not the constitution to
endure any long continued strain, physi-
cally or mentally; but If you are carefully
methodicai with her training, and regulate
her life by a square and level. as 1t were,
till she is grown then it is safe to say that
she will live to be an old woman. But If
you crowd her In her studies, and neglect
her physical condition, as you have started
out to do, don't blame me, If your daughter
hunts a pair of wings to reach the height
of your ambition.
heard the old doctor say that to the moth
er one night after we three had stood Tor
four helpless hours over the seven year-old
daughter who was tossing in wild delirium
of brain fever, after an exhibition or his
trionic talent that had won for her the loud
plaudits of the public, which spoke or her
as a child of great beauty, wonderful talent
and a brilliant future. All that dreary
right she ranted through her repertoire OF
| pieces" kissing hands to imaginary audi
ences, and anxious1y asking her mother II
she had done well, and If she was proud OF
her little daughter You would think that
the mother would have learned lesson oil
experience, but she didn't, and year after
year, the bright, beautiful, brilliant" girl
expanded in the unhealthy atmosphere OF a
| forcing house. her ambition feeding upon
her mothers pride, and her own vitality un-
dermined by her close application to mental
| studies with an utter disregard or the
| physical being.
| lures memorable laws, she was taken sud
denly from all her prettypursuits, Provi-
dence had the burden to bear and an arnbf
tious, self-wiiled, short-sighted mother go
off scott free. Death Is unwelcome In any
guise, whether he comes to our friends oil
somebody else's, but 1t seemed to me, as
| heard the clods fall over that daughter
| coffin, that If had been her mother, with
| all that mothers warnings ringing In my
ears, 1 would feel as though had sent hel
| to her untimely death.
How many other mothers are thus lend
| ing their assistance toward their daughter:
early translation?
called on friend yesterday, who con
fided to me the fact that she feared thai
"Bene" would not be able to complete the
years course in school, unless she wa:
| crowded. Bene Is her daughter and deli
| cate, rather commonplace girl, whom hel
| of her class.