Newspaper Page Text
Entered according to Act of Congress, in J une, 1869, by J. W. Burke k Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the So. District of Georgia.
Vol. Ill— No. 21.
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
HARRY COOPER'S BIRTHDAY PARTY.
MS _
T was Harry Cooper’s birth-
Wch as avor^e cock
crowed loud and clear, he
rubbed his eyes, jumped up, and ran to
the window, to see if day was breaking.
Yes, the day was at hand, for the sky
was red in the east, showing that the
sun would soon be up from his rosy
bed; and again his cock crowed loud
and clear, as if he were calling Harry to
come down and unfasten the door and
give him his breakfast. So Harry
dressed as quickly as he could, and he
dressed himself nicely, too, for his mo
ther had taught him to be neat, and he
ran down stairs, full of joy, because this
was his birthday, and his Cousin Mari
anne and her brother Willie would be
there soon to help him make wreaths
and nosegays, for his mother gave him
a large party on each of his birthdays.
And when he thought of all this, and of
the candies, fruits, and nice cakes, he
gave a whistle and went leaping and
jumping into the yard. But his whistle
had called up two Newfoundland dogs,
who came running to him and leaped
on him.
But the sight of the dogs, instead of
making Harry more gay, seemed to
make him sad, for he sat down on the
ground and began to crj\ The dogs
came up to him and rubbed their heads
against him, and put their paws on his
neck, but he said, “Go away, Jock;
begone, Dragon!” and he cried more
than ever, for he knew that one of the
dogs belonged to him, and he loved him
very dearly, but he knew that the other
dog had belonged to his brother Fred,
and he knew that Fred was dead, for he
often went with his mother to carry
flowers to the grave.
And Harry cried more than ever when
he remembered that this would have
been Freddy’s birthday, too, and if liv
ing he would be there that very minute
playing with Jock and Dragon, and
helping him to feed the chickens.
But his cock crowed again, louder
MACON, GEORGIA, NOVEMBER 20, 1869.
than ever before, and Harry stopped
crying, and ran and filled his basket
with corn, and opened the fowl-house
door. And, 0, what a sight! There
were turkeys and chickens, ducks and
guineas, but there were none so pretty
as Harry’s favorite cock and hen, both
entirely white, with such red combs.
The hen he called “ White Bess” and
the cock was “ Peter Pindar, and when
Harry opened the door they flew out
and perched one on each shoulder, and
began to eat the corn from his basket.
But lie did not stay long with them
this morning, for he heard the gate shut,
and looking round saw his cousin Ma
rianne and little Willie coming into the
yard with a basket full of such lovely
flowers. So Harry scattered his corn,
and ran to put up his basket, and he
welcomed his cousins with a kiss, and
carried them into the garden, and help
ed them to gather more flowers, and
they sat down in an arbor, shaded with
roses, and Marianne began to make
wreaths and nosegays, and Harry and
Willie picked out the prettiest flowers
and held them for her, and watched her
as she twined them in and out. Harry
laughed and talked, but now and then
his eyes would fill with tears as he
thought that this would have been Fred
dy’s birthday too.
When Marianne had finished the nose
gays, she made a cross of evergreens,
and filled it in with white flowers. She
did not put any colored ones in, all were
pure white, and it made you think of
the angels in their robes of light. And
when Harry saw the cross, he laid his
head on Marianne’s lap and cried. Wil
lie and Marianne cried too, for they
the children playing games
knew it was to be placed on Freddy’s
grave, and they bad loved him while
living, and mourned him when dead.
But Marianne wiped the tears from
Harry’s face, smoothed his hair, and
taking up her flowers went with him to
the breakfast table.
It seemed a long time to Harry from
breakfast until afternoon, but four
o'clock came at last, and the little boys
and girls came with it. Harry greeted
them with a smile, and looked so happy
it made them happy, too. There was a
lame boy, drawn in a nice little buggy
by two of his companions, and Harry
could not do too much for him. He
Whole No. 125.
helped him out of the buggy, gave him
his crutches, and led him into the house,
for you must know that this little boy
used to be Freddy’s friend. Before he
died, his mother gave a party to Harry
and himself on every birthday, and on
the table were placed two purses, with a
bright new gold piece in each purse,
and they could spend that money as
they pleased. Fred gave his to the
lame boy. He sent him to school,
bought him books and new clothes and
the nice buggy he rode in. And when
he was dying, he asked his father please
to place his purse on the table, as he
had always done at the birthday par
ties, and to put his gold piece in it, and
to spend it for the lame boy. This is
why Harry loved him so much.
When all the children had come, the
supper room was thrown open, and the
tables were more beautiful than I can
tell you. Harry’s table was filled with
beautiful cakes iced over, and some had
figures of boys and girls dancing, on
them, and some had bird's nests, and
the eggs were large sweet sugar plums.
On one of them was Cupid shooting his
arrows, and on another was a company
of sugar men marching away with fife
and drum. And there were candy dogs,
cats and birds, apples, nuts, and every
thing good. And Harry had a cake for
each of his guests, some with flowers
painted on them, and some with verses
written.
But there was nothing to eat on Fred
dy’s table. It was filled with flowers,
and the nosegays and wreaths that Mari
anne had made. And the two purses
were there, with bright gold money in
them. And Harry’s Sabbath School
teacher gave the wreaths to the girls
and the nosegsys to the boys, and they
carried them to Freddy's grave in the
church yard, and Marianne covered it
with the wreaths, and put the nosegays
in the marble urn ; but the cross of
white flowers was placed against the
stone cross that marked the grave, by
the lame boy, and he put a white wreath
over the tw r o crosses to bind them to
gether. Then the children sang,
“ Around the throne of God in Heaven,”