XVII. A SAD ORDEAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2732, 18 July 1906, Page 79

XVII. A SAD ORDEAL.

By llooliiian.

(Specially written for Special Subject Week,

The scene of my sad, sweet story is in a four-roomed cottage situated m a well-known country diitrict. Tn this cottage there dwelt a widowed 'ady, M<-s Haselden, with her three children — Ethel, Ruth, and Ernest. Four years befou Georgs Haselden, their soldier father, had lam down his life for his Queen on the battlefields of Africa, and his widowed wife, solely dependent on her own small private means, took this cottage, and brought her children here to live. They lived a peaceful, contented life, the mother striving to educate her girls and boy, and fit them to figh* theu way in the world, while the children, who fondly loved and appreciated her, did all m their power to assist her and lighten her burden. But now the mother's health had broken down, and she was reluctantly forced to take to her bed. When the doctor was called in he did his best, but could stive no hope for her recovery. Having never been a strong woman, the heavy strain of tSiose foil- rears of dup anMety had tol^ upon her nervous system, and she- lay, weak and helple-33 upon her bed. With loving rare Ethel a»d Rulh nurged her and ministered to her wants, watching with sad eyes her strength grow less and less each day One lovely afternoon Ethel came to me, told me that her mother was gradually sinking away, and begged mo to ccna» and watch with her to the end. I set off at once, and we fcoor reached the cottage I went into the room where she lay, harcHy realising that in that very room a death would so soon take placs

Mrs Haselden, a mere wreck of her former self, was lying in bed talking earnestly to the minster, who had .arrived during Ethel's ab&erce. They paused in their conversation, and th"2 mother's loving eyes lored round the room, and fell sorrowfully and lov;ngly upon LeT dear ones. firneex, her eldest child, a fair-h/aired, grey-eyed boy of 18. was cjeat«4 at the open window, with his head bowed in his hands, apparently deep in thought ; Ethel, a winsome girl of 17, stood dry-eyed at the foot of the bed, watching the changes which frequently crossed her darling mother's face ; and Ruth, a dainty maiden jusrt 14, knelt at the bedside. "Oh. how bard," theinother cried , ''how p.tifully hard it is to <Ue and leave them after watching them

through their childhood. I do not want to die." Do not tmnk for one moment she did not love her Maker and to obey His will. It was not that. It was the love she bore her children, and the fears she entertained for their future, that made her wish to live a little longer, and watch them grow up to manhood and womanhood Xo doubt :f she ccuid have obtained but one glimpse into their future ."be would have been moie content, but that was impossible. The minister soothed her, and promised fco^ give the children -a helping band. It * was painful to witness her struggling for liie, but by-and-bye she becam-e svibdued and still. Ths love she bore her God had conquered, and as the tvoning shadow? fell she beckoned ber children to heT. quiatly bade farewell to them, and calmly listening to the minister's words, telling of a sure and everlasting haven of rest, her spirit passed away. :