Year: 1859

LIES GREAT MYSTERY.
Mamma, what makes your cheeks look so
whiter said little fair headed girl of some
Eve summers. as she held up bunch of flow
ers for her mother to smell. They used to be
red, like these roses.'


She looked at her mother thonghtfully for
few moments, but as she received no reply
to her question: she added, putting her face
close to her mothers


will they put you in the ground. too, as
they did papa when he looked so white, and
went to sleep SO we could not wake hTm!'


The mother folded her child to her heart
and prayed to Him who hath said he will be
the Father of the fatherless. and who carries
the lambs of his flock in his bosom.


Yes, my child she at length said, L feel
shall soon fall asleep as papa did-so sound
that even your dear little voice cannot wake
me. I must leave you for time, but you
must be good girl and we shall meet again,
never more to part


But as the gentle mother gazed upon that
innocent face upturned to hers, she saw that
the pure spirit within had not yet been an in
habitant of earth long enough to learn the
great mystery of death. and she almost wished,
if it were Gods will, that her sinless child
might be permitted to go with her to that bet
ter Land.


| A few days after this, little Ella stood by
her mothers grave, and as they lowered the
coffin into it. and began to throw in the earth.
she burst into tears. and said in piaintive &C.
cents which moved the stoutest hearts,


o, put me il there with my darling nam.
ma! there is room enoughl Oh, please let me
sleep there with my mammal


Her aunt good, kind lady. took her by the
hand, and tried to explain to her the sad les
son which all must learn that it was more
than sleep, it was death! But what could she
know of death, who had not learned what life
is? How could she understand the great mys
terry which the wisest cannot fully cempre
hendf o, how it must chill the young heart
thus to meet death on the threshold of lifel-
Happy are they who are spared when young
the awful lesson which makes them orphans,
casting a shadow upon the bright morning Of
their existence


Fila strove to understand what her aunt said
| to her, and asked


Must we all def


Yes said her aunt, kindly, but we shall all
live again.


will my mamma live again, and shall see
her?


4 Yes replied her aunt, you will see her in
better world. trust and as she led her
away from the grave, she added


But not until you too have died like her
and your body has been consigned to the
grave


May not ask God to let me die no,o. said
Ella, that may see mamma? She always
told me to ask God for everything


My dear child said her aunt, when she saw
how hard lesson it was for one SO young to
understand, 'the Lord does all things well.
and he will take care Of you, and in the judg-
ment morning when sll shall rise, you will see
your mother again, and may you be prepared
to meet her,


As her aunt pronounced the last words, lit
tie Elias face frightened up, and she did not
ask any more questions. But when at night
she had retired to her little bed, she said to
herself


i 4 will be prepared euery morning to meet
my mamma. and then shall surely see her on
that one aunt told me about


A few weeks after, little grave was made
beside the one so recently covered with green
cod; and little Ella was laid to rest by the side
of that mother she had loved SO we'll in life
. that death could not long separate them, and
those who laid her there wept not, for they
knew she had been called away by the voice of
love from world of sin and suffering. She
will stand beside her in the brightness of her
glory in the solemn grandeur of the Resurrec.
ton Morning