The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1900-11-15

was. There amt many women that
would OF been as patient an faithful as
| you have been, Sarah l don't say that
1t was easy to be patient, an uncom-
plalnln, for it was not, for amt any
thing but human, an there's been
times when | have been fearfully tired
an discouraged, but | believe in God.
hard as he deals with me- an ! reckon
it will be all right sometime and some
where l git off here. It's been real
comfort to have some one to talk to
about my affairs, although | am afraid
| it has been a kind of a bore to YOU to
set an listen to me-.
'Oh, no, it has not | made haste to
say. TRY to keep up brave heart
My land. I've got to. What'll be-
come o them three babies o. mine if |
don't? | got to tussle along some way.
an | can do it a good deal better if |
keep my spirits up
Six weeks later | received note from
the pastor of the church of which |
was member. asking me to go to the
city hospital and call on young fellow
from the country. who was sick and
almost friendlesS. | found him in one
of the free wards, and after spending
half an hour with him | left him to
| speak to the superintendent of the hos
| pltal about my young friend. | WAS
| passing through the corridor in front
of a Woman's ward. and, CHANGING in |
saw on a bed near the door, Mrs.
Wight, with face that told plainly
that the sands of her life were almost
run. But the bright and CHEEKY smile
came to her white face when she saw
me, and she tried to give me one of her
| hands, but it fell back on the counter
| pain when she had lifted it a few inches.
| Il am so sorry to find you here |
said
| 'Of course | am sorry to be here but
| then "a violent paroXysm of coughing
cut the sentence short When she could
| speak she said, Its quick consumption
I've got. My lungs never was overly
| strong, an bein out in all kinds o.
weather. an gittin' wet to the skin so
often, an not havin' proper food, to-
gether with overWork, has finished me
up. | ant one o the kind of consump-
tives that think that they are goin' to
git well, for | know better. My baby
has died since | saw you, an the charity
society folks has got my two other chill
dren INTO a real nice home, where |
reckon they will be better fed an cloth
ed an cared for than they would evero'
been with me-the poor little things. |
L
ag i'll me, an have had to give up the
fight. wouldn't if ! had the strength
to keep it up. I'd fight poverty an care
an sickness as | have fought 'em all MY
life, but I've got to give up tryin to
sail such a feeble craft as mine ag'i in the
wind. I've weathered a good many
storms, but I'm not goin' to weather
any more. I'd be glad if you would go in
an see my little boy an girl sometimes.
They are i'll that home for children
OH the corner O. X an Cedar streets.
You've got babies O your own, so you
know how to feel for little boy an'girl
without either father or mother. | wish
they were both boys Seems to me this
is hard world for wimmen. It's been
so hard for me that | would be only too
glad to leave it if it wasn't for my ba-
bies. But then, there is a lot done by good
folks for helpless little ones like mine,
nowadays, an am hopin' for the best
for 'em. | have always hoped for the
| best,an' believed that whatever the Lord
willed was right, an think that still
reckon that ID.
There was another fit of coughing, so
violent and so prolonged that it left her
too weak to talk any more and l went
away telling her that | would come the
next day to see her; but when | went
the next day the bed she had occupied
was empty.
There are lives like dry leaves driven
before the wind, and tossed hither and
thlther by the gales, never to rest until
they become part for the soil from
which they sprang. We may wonder and
question why they have ever existed, but
He who knows all hearts and all mys-
teries knows why these storm-tossed
souls have been sent into the world
When we see as God sees we shall know
why these helpless ones have been so
steadily driven before the wind. J. j.
Harbour in Good Housekeeping.