The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-03-14

der with grief, with dread, with rebellious-
ness. But she is calm and the gentle stroke
of her hand upon his hair soothes him and
at length imparts a touch of that sublime
peace of hers (which passeth understand
ing" and he goes out more nearly recon-
ciled than ever before.
Death always comes suddenly. no matter
how long expected or how breathlessly
awaited. The boys mother passed away
with a swiftness that was paralyzing Kind
providence has set limitation TO human
sorrow and the boy had reached this in an
ticipation; and now everything took place
as in a familiar, oft-repeated dream Like
an unreal rehearsal, the funeral ceremony
proceeded. He knew just how the minister
would look and what he would say; how
at the close, strangers would gather about
the bier and the merest friends would wipe
their eyes and moan; he knew how the
black-frocked. white.gloved pallbearers
would creep softly in to carry the vanished
casket away; how the sleek hearse horses
would prance and shake their heads: and
how the carriages would creak creak.
creak on their slow march to the cemetery.
But the desolate ome-coming-he had not
imagined that.
When they arrived home the boy .slipped
away TO the woods. Cheerful neighbors had
tried to brighten things about the house as
if in the hope of making him forget his loss.
and this grated on him. But nature was i'm
the same mood as he. A drizzing. all-per
vading rain was falling-drippng from lea
to leaf through the autumn foliage i'm sad
monotones. There was no living thing i'm
sight, no sound of life to be heard Despair
seemed traced in every lineament of the for
est. and desolation lowered in the air He
had never seen such weather before. and
he wondered if the sun would ever have the
heart to shine again.
AT night, after the rest of the household
slept. he crept out again A harsh wind had
risen, before which the clouds had vanished,
leaving the sky infinite and clear. Unmind-
full of the chill blast he sat down on the
doorstep and, resting his chin between his
hands fixed his eyes upon the heavens I'm
der such conditions the stars shed an in
describably- desolate influence earthward
The very spirit OF their stiffness and soli-
tude seems 10 descend, until the whole
shadowy universe is filled with a loneliness
incomparably vast and oppressive. How
coldly, how pitilessly, those stellar ewes
stared down at the poor waif of a boy.
through the unreasonable, bleak barren
spaces of the night. They We're all millions
of miles away; and yet. he reflected. his
mother must now be still beyond them. And
only last night she was here. at home.
What terrible. inconceivable separation.
And yet, as he brooded. he felt that this
could not be. God was i'm heaven. vet He
was everywhere. Perhaps she was also.
and as he continued to mediate "A sense of
her immediate presence came over him-a
sense which abided In his heart to cheer
and sometimes 10 chide him through MANY
years. Whatever he should do now-what-
ever he had done, even the little things of
which he had been ashamed to tell her
she would know. Her invisible shade would
follow him through life. rejoicing in his
achievements. sorrowing i'm his failures
watching over him faithfully all the while
Perhaps this childish little conceit of his
was not orthodox. Perhaps il was unscrip-
tural and inconsist mt; yet it was a blessing
To the motherless boy and. perhaps. after
all,
Human hopes and human creeds
Find their root in human needs
+. O. LAUGHLIN.
...l....
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