Mrs. Bird slowly opened the drawer. There were little coats of many a form and pattern, piles of aprons, and rows of small stockings; and even a pair of little shoes, worn and rubbed at the toes, were peeping from the folds of a paper. There was a toy horse and a wagon, a top, a ball, --memorials gathered many with a tear and many with a heart-break! She sat down by the drawer, and, leaning her head on her hands over it, wept till till the tears fell through her fingers into the drawer; then suddenly raising her head, she began, with a nervous haste, selecting the plainest and most substantial articles, and gathering them into a bundle.
"Mamma," said on of the boys, gently touching her arm,"are you going to give away those things?"
"My dear boys," she said, softly and earnestly,"if our dear, loving little Henry looks down from heaven, he would be glad to have us do this. I could not find it in my heart to give them away to any common person -- to anybody that was happy; but I give them to a mother more heart-broken and sorrowful than I am; and I hope God will send his blessing with them!" |
