Year: 1873




tune to be seated in railway car, near
a mother and four children, whose re-
lations with each other were so beau
tiful that the pleasure of watching them
was quite enough to make one forget
the discomforts of the journey. 1t was
plain that they were poor; their clothes
were coarse and old, and had been
made by inexperienced hands. The
mothers bonnet alone would have been
enough to have condemned the whole
party on any of the worlds thorough
fares. l remembered afterwards, with
shame, that l myself had smiled at the
first sight of it's antiquated ugliness;
but her own face was one which gave
you sense of rest to look upon--it was
SO earnest, tender, strong and true.
1t had little comeliness of shape or col
OF in it; it was thin and pale; she was
not young; she had worked hard; she had
been evidently much ill; but l have seen
few faces which gave me such pleasure.
| think that she was the wife of a poor
clergyman, and l think that clergyman
must be one of the Lords best watch
man of souls. The children-two hoys
and two girls-werea all under the age of
twelve, and the youngest could not
speak plainly. They had had rare
treat; they had been visiting the noun
tains, and they had been talking over
all the wonders they had seen, with a
glow of enthusiastic delight which was
to be envied. Only word-for-word rec
ord would do justice to their conversa-
ton; no description could give any
idea of it, so free, SO pleasant, so genial ;,
no Interruptions, no contradictions, and
the mothers part borne all the while
with such equal interest and eagerness
that no one not seeing her face would
dream that she was any other than an
elder sister. In the course of the day
there were many occasions when it was
nee essary for her to deny requests, and
to ask services, especially from the eld-
est boy, but no young girl, anxious to
please lover, could have done, either
with more tender courtesy. She had
her reward; for no lover could have been
more tender and manly than was this
boy of twelve. Their lunch was SIM
pie and scanty but it had the grace of
royal banquet. At the last, the mother
produced with much glee three apples
and an orange, of which the children
had not known. All eyes fastened on
the orange. 1t was evidently a great
rarity. 1 watched to see if this test
would bring out seltishness. There
was little silence; just the shade of a
cloud. The mother said. GLOW shall
l divide this? There is one for each of
you; and 1 shall be best off for all, for l
expect big taste from each of you.'


"Oh, give Anna the orange. Anna
loves oranges" spoke out tho Oldest
boy, with sudden air of conqueror,
and at the same time taking the small
est apple himself


Oh, yes let Anna have the orange"
echoed the second boy, nine years old


Yes, Anna may have the orange,
because that is nicer than the apple,
and she is lady, and her brothers are
gentlemen said the mother quietly.
Then there was a merry contest as to
who should feed the mother with the
largest and most frequent mouthfuls;
and so the feast went on. Then Anna
pretended to want apple, and exchanged
thin golden strips of orange for bites
out of the cheeks of Baldwins, and, as
l sat watching her intently, she sud
denly fancied she saw longing in my
face, and sprang over to me, holding
out quarter of her orange, and saying.
" Don't you want taste, too?" The
mother smiled, understandingly, when
L SAID: "No thank you, you dear,
generous little girl. I don't care about
oranges


AT noon we had a tedious interval of
waiting at dreary station. We sat
Tor two hours on a narrow platform,
which the sun had scorched till it smelt
OF heat. The oldest boy-the little lov
er-held the youngest child, and talked
to her, while the tired mother closed
her eyes and rested Now and then he
looked over at her and then back at the
baby; and at last he said confdentially
to me (for we had become fast friends
by this time), Isn't it funny to think