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Entered according to Act of Congress, in J une, 1869, by J. W. Burke & Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the So. District of Georgia
Vol. Ill—No. 40.
THE LITTLE BOY OH CRUTCHES.
__
stood in the fast-falling
f'kMg* snow over the open grave,
just ready to let down into
its silence the beautiful form of a
little child about three years old.
All must have been struck by the
pale, the very pale face of the hither,
and have said in their thoughts:
“ Poor fellow ! you will soon fol
low her.”
All must have noticed the almost
wild look of the mother as her child
was about to be buried in the dark,
cold grave. The snow lay in the
bottom of the grave, and it lay white
on the coffin. But did they notice a
little lame boy, a few years older
than the little sister about to be
buried, as he leaned on his small
crutches over the corner of the grave,
and looked so earnestly into it ? He
was very small, and very pale, and
the first look at him showed you that
he must be a cripple as long as he
lives. He had lost his little sister—
his playmate, h.s other self. No
voice has been so gentle, and no
heart so loving to him as hers. He :
shed no tears. He stood like a mar-1
ble figure upheld by crutches. But j
his little bosom heaved as if it would j
burst; and, though he uttered no
sound, I felt sure he was sincerely j
mourning. (
From that grave the little fellow j
began to droop and wither. It was j
soon noticed that he ate but little, j
and in the night would be heard, as I
with a low voice he repeated over J
and over the little hymns that he
used to repeat with his little sister, j
They thought it the grief of a child, ,
and that new toys and new playthings
would banish it; but the arrow had
gone in too deeply to be thus drawn out.
For hours he would go and sit in the
little nook where he and Jessie used to
play, with his chin in his thin hand
thinking, thinking ! Sometimes h e
would ask if Jessie could “remember
now,” or if she would “love him still
MACON, GEORGIA, APRIL 2, 1870.
or if they supposed “ she sang the same
hymns where she was gone” which they
used to sing together, or if “ she wou’d
know him if she should meet him with
out any crutches, 1,1
The hymns that spoke of Jesus and
His love, of heaven and its rest, of the
angels and the redeemed, seemed to be
his delight. Though he seldom men
tioned Jessie’s name, it became after a
time well understood that he thought
only of her. He laid aside his play
things as of no use, but would bend over
her little drawer, and earnestly gaze at
what her tiny fingers once handled.
Slowly and gently his life began to
Whole No. 144.
( ebb out. He had no sickness, made
j no mention of pain, had no cough,
; and medicine could do nothing for
him.
When he was compelled to remain
in his bed from sheer weakness, he
begged that he might lie on the very
bed and on the same spot where
Jessie died. Sometimes in the night
he would be heard to utter a sup
pressed moan, and when his mother
hastened to him and inquired what
he wanted, he would only say :
“I want Jessie! Do you think
she has forgotten me? I want to
go to Jessie, and she will tell me all
about it.”
Once, just before the angel came
for him, he was heard to break out
| almost in a shout.
“ What is it, my son?” said his
mother.
“ Oh, I thought Jessie had come.”
“No. But, my child, you are go
ing to Jessie. You will soon see
her.”
The little crutches are now stand
ing in the corner of the mother’s
chamber, leaning against the little
bureau that held Jessie’s clothes and
things. His little hat hangs just
over the crutches. The pale face is
there no more. Side by side the two
small graves are seen under the great
hemlock that tenderly spreads its
shade over them. The cold winds
of winter whistle over them.
But where are the children? Did
Jessie know him ‘without crutches?’
Is he lame and pale and moaning
now ? Or is the Good Shepherd
leading them to still waters, and edu
cating and training them up in that
pure and bright world ? There is no
little boy on crutches looking into
the grave of a sister there !
Satan.
Satan would have me while away my
life in inactivity, under pretences of mo
desty, diffidence, and humility, and he
is never wanting to furnish me with
excuses for delaying, or shifting ser
vice.