The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-03-16

.ho ncirhbors' little girls found out
,b.v were here. They always find
49,, and so they came over and joined
.,e procession and it was an un5roken
frolie all the day long. The little
ones brought their dolls along, for the
~ma,.rnal instinct begins early. They
made ~playhouses under the trees and
,l,yed mumblcpeg withmy two knives,
a,i rode in the hall and veranda on
The tricycle. and dressed up in all the
zine old clothes my wife could find in
the trunks and closets, and paraded
,~ns,,irs and downstairs and outdoors
Nth their trains dragging after them,
and they played going to call and re-
Giving calls. When the dinner bell
rang they all came running and it took
all nv time to wait on them, and their
Grandma got out every good thing she
lad in the house, and about the mid
die of the afternoon they wanted to
rive a little party and had to have
more cakes ana crackers and pie.
some of the little ones got hold Of
some chalk and colored crayons and
marked all over the veranda and tried
to make pictures Of dogs and horses
and monkeys on the walls, snd..hen
! ,hey called for scissors and fashion
/ hooks and cut out pictures and scat
/ tered them all over the room. They
rot hold of my mucilage bottle and
l pasted things all about and even ven
turcd to my little table to write let
.ers while l was working in the gar
den, and all their grandma said was:
"You had better watch out, your
grandpa is coming" I'm going to
4 lick EN- sometime when she is not
about. But in due time they had to
60 home, for
= = Tho DAY was done and the darkness
a Fell from the wings Of night"
81 Our own girls went visiting after
81 supper and my wife and I we're alone
and not a sound was heard in all the
house save the ticking of the clock
"a upon the mantel. The contrast was
SO great that it was impressive and we
Nfelt lonesome and almost sad. Each
q Of us had our corner and table end
8|lamp and tried to read che war news,
but our old eyes were tired and we
@gazed upon the fire and ruminated.
For some time we had been in silent,
serious reverie about these little, hap
by children and breathing a prayer
zzaa;;AAa; they might always be happy and
that no calamity or affection might
befall them, and then our minds
81 urned to our absent boys, who are
battered far and wide, from New
ork to Mexico, and we breathed
mother prayer for their health and
happiness and their return to us some
ri these days-yes, some. Of these
Jays before we die they will come: we
but it may be to a funeral in
}tead of a feast.
We we're Illuminating about all this
b silence, when suddenly my wife
3ecmed startled and whispered, 81
Aeard a football at the window. There
SIS s. somebody there" Before I could
nswer, the sweet, sad strains of min
]trel music began low and soft and the
lQlins and guitar played to the fit
So ne song of cold Folks at Home"
he minstrels he'd ~reconnoitered and
sPund that only we were at home.
they gave us but n song and were
pne- but these little episodes sweet
The passing hours and comfort us
q our golden age. Forty-nine years
20 to-day We were welded. It is like
fyersing a telescope to look back to
pat day and time, when the glow Of
puth and health and beauty were up
- my Creole maiden's cheeks, when
4z74me .dcraed her raven hair, when
Be evening light vas upon her brow
pearls upon her breast as che
81 }ood beside me at the marriage altar.
il like locking through . kaleide-
tops to recall Che days aud weeks
d nsnths and years chat have inter
2hed since-a kaleidoscope that. at
lsry turn Of the sands % time pre-
}nts another picture Of life, It's Soys
~ sorrows, its trials and les bless
Sss. What changes, what surprises,
q in the midst Of il all q var-a
Pc and horridswap:that. slways lesms
before our memories ana eclipses
that was before OF after. But on
'E|| whelo the lines, have fallen to us
pleasant places and We have had
Pre Joy than sorrow, mere eomfort
7R5an distress. God gave as ave chill
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