Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-08-10
"rhs Littlo One Ia All Right"
lMary !. BeDson.


 lMary 4. Benson
 Well bury her just 4s we aid the other two. were the words We heard ea nearing a litde eabin-beat on the edse of the sand bar that the low water had left i8 front of the village. Rowing our heads, from necessity as well as reverence. we entered the nar- goa. l0w-framed door, near which was small, rude coffin, resting on two broken chairs. A dark, stern-TIsaged woman who was frying bacon on iit5le stove in tae center Of the room, looked up seo###HgIE= =a5 our entrance, but said nothing. An old man, whose long gray hair and beard framed face more defiant than sorroWfoLarose from the bed in the corner, kicked an cid black jug to one side. and con fronted Us.
 What do you want here. anyaoW@ said he. "The lIttla unu get along all right. When the two others died. we didn't have no church folas around aor preacher. nor funeral business. We inst dus a hole an put 'em ia it. aa they didn't have no $60 coGias. neither. We'll GO the same with this ln. aH We dont want none q you rich folks around us. You wouldn't care if #e #as starYtn'. you cal us river ratst you make fun af as if we go near TOUT fine churches an We d5nt want H05h- tH Of EgH. Hghe# The old man stopped, and running bo5h hands through his shaggy hair, seemed 10 listen to the dolefaI pIashing Of the water on the keel of his floating house. Very gently Ne assured him tlat aJ a5mpat y was with all the sorroWing; that our little village was famed fer it's kindness to strangers, it's care for the sick and the suffering, it's substan- tial help to all who were in need
 "Dor,t blieye notain of the sort retorted he. walking backward and forward with heavy tread that rock ed the boat to and fro. We was tied up at Portage for six weeks with the children sick Bith the measles, and not 2. woman came a-nigh us the whole endurin time. Folks is all alfI ,, most ly. an we'd rather they'd stay away from us. The little an is all right. without any of you; an as for me. don't b.lieye in nothin', nobow. Fve lived up'ards of thirty year on this old Mississippi river have been over TOO miles of it, up an down, an never bothered nobody. I s.pose if you're boun all determined to haul the little un away. an put it in the ground, funeral=libe, you can do it. though tHould be just as well, 'cordfa to my thinkingf. if we was 10 roll il up an drop it into the river. Your siagia' an prayin can't hurt it, nohoN. no m0re'H they can do 1t any good. cause you see, don't you tbe lit1le un's all rigbt"
 The eIoudless sunshine of the Easter morning erept over tRe bluffs. touch ing the river waves with crystal and making of the brown sand bar plain of furnished gold Afar off. from cathed Il tower, Easter chimes were ioyously vibrating on the sweet spring air. Birds were singing meIrfly from the budding branches on the river banks. and all the visible world seem ad joining in the Easter chorus of tbe Resurrection and the Life. Two or three wagons were on the sand bar near the eabin=boat, and wfth gentle hands the tiny coffin was covered with flowers and carried from its water tossed home 10 our silent village" on the hill. dozen or more church folks" stood by the parents. as a hymn was suns. a prayer was offered and the wee grave was covered. then the quaint funeral procession woQD6 85und the hills and into t6e valley again. N dile in the soft air Of the calm Easter morning the defiant fathers words echoed more pleasantly thaa before. sThe little un ts all rfsAt.
 To Prevent Pneumonia.