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Entered according to Act of Congress, in June, 1868, by J. W. Burke & Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the So. District oi G eorgia. VOL. 11. Written for Burke’s Weekly. GRANDFATHER GRAY; Or, The Child Comforter. HERE was not, in tage just in the edge of the village. When 1 was a little girl, there was no thing I loved so much as paying the good old man a visit, and many a half holiday have I spent with him. Grandfather had been very comfort able in his day. My mother told me that she remembered the time when he was a rich and prosperous merchant, and the most influential man in the county. Then he had a happy family around him—a wife, and three beautiful children—two girls and a boy. But when I first remember him, he was a lone old man, living in this little cottage, with no companion except his old house keeper and servant, Mauma Philis, who had been his servant for many years, and his housekeeper ever since his wife died. Though living this lone life, Grand father did not generally seem to be un happy. He dearly loved us children, and always had a kind word, and nearly always a bright smile for us. But there were times when he looked sad and care worn, and at such times, we children had learned to repress our merriment, until the smile came back to his aged features and told us that the sun w r as shining once more., I remember one bright Saturday mor ning, that T took a pitcher of nice, fresh buttermilk, with a message from my mother, and made my way to the old old man’s cottage. Everything around it was quiet, as usual. Mauma Phillis was busy in her neat little kitchen, and saw me enter the gate. She beckoned MACON, GEORGIA, JULY 4, 1868. me towards her, and said in a low voice : “Old maussa in de house, little mis sie. He be berry bad dis mornin’. He bin readin’ some letters, and dey make him sorry for true.” As I entered the open door, I saw Grandfather sitting near a window, his head bowed down on one band, while in the other he held a miniature upon which he was gazing intently. He did not hear me, and I went up to him and put my hand genlly on his head. He then looked up, and said : “ My dear child, you see me in trou ble. A package of letters, discovered this morning in an old trunk, and this picture, have brought back the past and its memories, and for a time they almost overpowered me. But the Lord is good, and has sent you, like an angel, to bring me back to reason once more.” “ Dear Grandfather,” 1 replied, “I have never seen you so bowed down be fore. Will you not confide j'our griefs to me, and let me share them with you?” “My darling child, it is a long and sad story, and it would pain you to hear it and me to relate it. It must remain pent up in my own bosom.” But I plead with the old man, and at last overcame his objections. His story was a long one, too long for me to give in his words. But I will relate the sub stance in as few words as possible. Grandfather Gray at the death of his father had a very handsome property. He married, at an early age, a young lady whom he loved very dearly, and who loved him in return. Soon after his marriage he removed to Springdale, and became a merchant. His business prospered, and he became a rich man. In the meantime, three children were born to him —first two girls and then a ! boy. When Harold, the boy, was about ! ten years old, his mother died very sud- I denlv, during his father’s absence from I " 7 home. There were no telegraphs in those days, and Mr. Gray knew nothing of his wife’s death until he arrived at home. This sudden and unlooked-for misfor tune very nearly unsettled Mr. Gray’s mind. He had been a devoted husband, and he felt his loss the more keenly, be cause he was not a Christian, and was denied the privilege of casting his care on One who has promised to “ comfort those who weep.” At the death of their mother, Ella, the eldest girl, was sixteen years old, and Anna nearly fourteen. They were pret ty girls, but Ella was headstrong and wayward. She had caused her mother no little pain, and now that no mother’s eye was present to look after her, she soon became noted for her vain and giddy ways. Her father’s business em ployed most of his time, so that he was scarcely aware of her ways until they were so confirmed upon her that she re fused to listen to him when he remon strated with her. Anna had always been delicate, and after her mother’s death, she seemed to droop without apparent cause. Medi cal aid was called in, but in vain, and about a year after her mothers death she quietly and peacefully passed away, leaving her afflicted father almost dis consolate. To add to his misfortunes, Ella, soon after the death of her sister, eloped with a wild and worthless young man, against whom she had been ten derly warned by her father. For several years, the almost heart broken father heard nothing of his weak and misguided child, when he one day received a letter from a distant Western town, informing him that his daughter, in great want and destitution, was lying there dangerously ill. He went to her as quickly as possible, but too late to be of service to her, as she was dead and buried before he reached his destina tion. Her husband had led a life of wickedness and crime, but had managed to keep himself and wife above want, until a month or two before his wife’s death, when he had been killed in a drunken brawl, and had left his wife to die among strangers, of a broken heart. NO. 1.