Year: 1878

tlon. Inc moJner VINO sees her child
laid away IN the grave may for time
consider her sorrow very great; but, at
length she becomes reconciled, knowing
that "the Lord giveth, and He taketh
away" But the parent whose child is
lost in the forest, or in the heart of a
great city, is frantic with grief, and
overshadowed with the most terrible
forebodings until the child is found. If
the child is not found, the parent never
ceases to mourn while life and reason
exist. The child may fall prey to the
beasts of the forest; it may be captured
by lawless savages on the other hand,
it may perish in the streets of the vast
city it may wander to the dock and be
drowned, or it may be caught up by
some vicious person, who will rear it af-
ter the manner of his own vile heart.
Such conjectures will constantly oppress
the minds of the afflicted parents, and
they will never know a moments rest
this side of the grave, for they know not
the fate of their lost, lost child. The
scenes of the long, gloomy night in
which every street in the city was ram
sacked, or the phantoms of the trackless
forest pursued, in hopes to find the miss
ing one, are ever fresh in their memory.
Soon after battle in Secessia, mother,
learning that the regiment to which her
son belonged was in the engagement,
looked, to find his name, not with the
killed or wounded, but among the num-
Der that were missing. Weeks passed
before any of the particulars could be
ascertained. She then was informed that
all the missing, except her son, had re-
ported themselves. He had never been
seen or heard from since the day of the
battle, and. in all probability, he was
then wounded or killed, and fell among
the cane brakes, where he was overlook
ed, and had not since been discovered.


At this intelligence her grief was un-
utterable, still she INDUCED sweet
hope that he would be heard from again
and perhaps in time return home, per-
haps with his regiment, which was ex-
pected in few weeks. Thus she re-
mained in an agony of suspense until
the day on which the 600 who had sur
vived the perils of war returned to their
Northern home. They went away a
thousand strong 400 of them perished
eluner on the DaUuIe-neIu OF Dy Jne mana
of disease. On their arrival they met
with cordial reception from the public.
AS the train hove in sight, cannons were
fired, church bells were rung. and the
streets resounded to the strains of mar
tial music. There was also a magnif-
| cent arch erected, beneath which the
soldiers proudly marched, adorned with
wreaths of evergreens, and notices, such
as "Welcome home,' "We are glad you
have come etc. Then the soldiers par
AIDED through different streets, and
thence to the park, where a collation.
awaited them. To many it was a sea-
son of rejoicing, but to those whose
friends had not returned it was day of
mourning and regret.


To her whose son was lost, alas there
was no one whose grief compared with
hers. When she was told that ne was
not with the regiment, and they had
brought no further tidings of him, she
dropped senseless in the street and was
carried home.


eff could only know" she often ex-
claims, "what became of him; even
could l hear that he died, and had de-
cent burial, could not murmur, but
this terrible suspense and uncertainty is
uncomfortable"


| Her only son. on whom she dotted.
her only dependence in her declining
years, is lost, and she will probably nev-
er know the particulars of his death, or
the intensity of his suferings.


And how many there are who have
perished in the gold regions when they
were in pursuit of riches, or on the wide
sea and no tidings ever reached their
friends of their demise. They, too. are
not only dead, but lost. God grant that
day may come when all the lost may
be found, and that they may again meet
the friends who have mourned for them
so long and SO bitterly, never again to
be separated.