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24
THE STORY OF A MOTHER.
There the little one lay, white and dying,
And beside its bed, with sorrow wild,
Wailed the mother, unto heaven crying,
“Spare my baby! spare, O God, my child!”
And beside its bed, with sorrow wild,
Wailed the mother, unto heaven crying,
“Spare my baby! spare, O God, my child!”
Then the darkness, death, arose before her,
Laid its hand upon her baby's heart;
And, a nameless anguish creeping o'er her,
From her infant saw she life depart.
Laid its hand upon her baby's heart;
And, a nameless anguish creeping o'er her,
From her infant saw she life depart.
It was dead, and fixed before her eye was
That dear face that on her should have smiled;
But a moment dumb with grief, her cry was
Straight, “O God! O give me back my child!”
That dear face that on her should have smiled;
But a moment dumb with grief, her cry was
Straight, “O God! O give me back my child!”
Then it was as if God willed to send her
Answer to the wail that from her rose;
And it seemed as if, with accents tender,
Death breathed, “Fate, what might have been, disclose!”
Answer to the wail that from her rose;
And it seemed as if, with accents tender,
Death breathed, “Fate, what might have been, disclose!”
And with anguish that she might not smother,
Looked she through the distant years with awe,
All the child had lived to, saw the mother;
All its grown-up life the mother saw.
Looked she through the distant years with awe,
All the child had lived to, saw the mother;
All its grown-up life the mother saw.
And she saw her babe, her heart's dear treasure,
Fated, not to peace and joy, alas!
Fated, not to know a pure life's pleasure,
But through want, and woe, and guilt to pass.
Fated, not to peace and joy, alas!
Fated, not to know a pure life's pleasure,
But through want, and woe, and guilt to pass.
Then the mother knew her human blindness,
And, even through her tears, she brightly smiled,
“Blessed be God!” she cried, “that in His kindness,
Bore from earth, and sin, and shame, my child!”
And, even through her tears, she brightly smiled,
“Blessed be God!” she cried, “that in His kindness,
Bore from earth, and sin, and shame, my child!”
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