Year: 1875

Mother loves me though she up there.
! Mrs. Bunn's heart smote her. Ths
child had been thrown upon her care
desolate and bereaved, confided to her
by the great God. There had been
bread for the child to eat. il she could
eat. There had also been q shelter, bu,
there had been no koms for her, nc
place in . loving heart. Pity for the
little one tock possession 81 her sks
would be very kind to her for the fu.
ture. and would love the child and show
her that she was loved. She was be-
ginning to repent, but the repentance
came too late. It could not avail much
now.


4 will get You some boiled bread and
milk said Mrs. Bum, suddenly re.
membering how little the child had
eaten for DAYS. Tt will be nice and
soft for your poor little throat. Mother
will bring it up to you, and you will
try to ent it won't vouf'


oh! please don't; don't speak so
kindly to me- said Nellie; 4 can't bear
it. It's so like my dear motherin Hea-
ven, when I was her pet, and she was
here. Nellie sobbed afresh.


Was this incomprehensible to Mrs.
Bum? Not at all. She saw it now.
1t was rs though thick veil had been
taken from before her eyes. and reveal
ed everything. Little Nellie, that pure,
sweet blossom, had carried about with her
heart yearning, aching, aud distressed
for the love that she, in her hardness
and ignorance, had denied her.


1t was useless now. Much as Mrs.
Bum might have repented-and repent
she did-she had no time given her to
declare her sorrow and to comfort the
child. Nellie became delirious, and
pierced the heart Of Mrs. Bum in her
loud cries for her dead mother, and her
urgent entreaties to be taken to her
The doctor thought it was her step
mother that the child thought of in her
fever, and attributed the rcmorse and
agony depicted in Mrs. Bunn's counte-
nance to grief at the fear of losing her
There is no rcmorse SO deep as that
which is unavailing. Oh, that we could
all of US remember this in time!


is there no hope p said Mrs. Bum
to the doctor, greatly agitated; I do
not want to lose her.


None, whatever; her strength has
gone down so rapidly. She must have
been very weak when the fever tool;
her. She should have been kept up
from the first. 1t will soon be over
Have you thought about n grave?'


She must be laid by the side Of her
father and mother, in the cemetery of
this parish said Mrs. Bum, breaEi-.. :;
down quite. and wringing her hands in
her grief Oh if she could have charge
of Nellie over again!


sYou are not her own mother then 2
said the doctor. 1t is her own mother
that she talks so much about in her de-
lirum, is it?'


Yes, sir


She will soon be with her


just before Nellie died, or rather
went from a dark chamber through a
short passage to the light one, she re-
covered consciousness, and when Mrs.
Bum, with tears rolling down her
checks, called her darling, and kissed
her, Nellie threw her arms around her
neck and returned the caress. She was
too loving and too young not to for
give, and in that kiss the memory of
her slighted childhood seemed to pass
away.


She was SO happy. so perfectly hap
pv-going to mother, to father, and to
Jesus This Jesus her own mother had
told her about, and she had not forgot
ten Him. 1t was an unfamiliar name
to Mrs. Bum. And SO little Nellie
passed away.


Mrs. Bum became achanged woman.
She went sorrowing many months. Ev-
erything spoke to her Of the child
Here by the old armchair she remem-
bcred how she had fingered, longin Z
for the kiss that did not come; how at
other times. when spoken sharply to or
slighted, she had turned away before
her tears could be seen, to weep. But
we will not dwell upon it. May such
sorrow never be ours rs that which Mrs
Bum passed through, caused by self
upbraidiLg. But we are reioiced 10
say that she carried her grief to the
Great Healer of every wound, even Je-
sus that little Nellie had talked of in
her mortal sickness. He bestowed upon
her tenderer and penitent heart, and
she is now looking forward through
His grace, to meeting the dear child
again, whom she did not know how to
cherish, and whom Jesus took TO him.
self


There angels do always behold the
face of my Father which is in Heaven.