The story of Johnstown : its early settlement, rise ... - JohnstownCafe

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232 THE STORY OF JOILXSTOWX.
Where Little coffins were e\'ery\vhere—little forms tigluK clasped in the
embrace of ilead mothers — tiny babes whose eyes had never seen the liLjht of
(lay lay stilf and cold with the rest. The small mounds in all the Johnstown
cemeteries tell where the children are. Rachel was the protot\pe of
weepini,' mothers whose li\c-> arc shadowed because the sunliL;ht died with
their little ones in the tl(5od. A community bereft of its cliildren is the bitterest
evidence of
the horrible devastation.
Last Christmas there were stockint;s to hant: up in man\' a fohnstown
home—stockiiiLTs with a hole in one little foot and the heel \vorn thin in the
other. For the Christmas of isS(; there are none in hundreds of these desolate
dwellin;^s. Last \'ear peoj^le hunted the to\-stores antl confectioneries
for the newest ,md nicest thing's fur their confiding; little ones, who longed for
Santa Clans. This year they pass the Liedecked windows with bowed heads
and a strange pain tugging at their heart-strings. Tears come to childless
mothers as they see little hands lield tightly by doting parents and hear the
laughing-eyed elf tell of hopes and plans for the winter. Lips cannot keep
from trembling and tear-dimnied eyes from gazing wistfully at dear little pets
witli golden curls nestling in a parent's lap whde their own treasures are under
the sod or hing in th.e iniid somewhere along the Conemaugh. Their
own child had walked the street.-, climbed on their knees and ridden home in
the horse-cars on. Christmas e\ e a year ago. After they had coaxed him into
liis night-clothes that night, and heard his little prayers, with the final God
bless papa and manima." they put him to bed and filled the two little stocking
so full and piled high the chair on which they hung could hardlv
'.
sleep for thinking of what he woiiii.l do and sav when Christmas morning came.
This year they are alone. They sit silently. The wife tries to read her
favorite magazine, but her eyes are closed behind its pages. The husband
sa_\s he will go out on the pc>rch and smoke. But the cigar was not lighted
in the whole Imur he remained without. The\' were having a Christmas tree
for a neighbor's little bo\- across the street. He could see the tree and the
bov dancing around it. He knew and felt that his bo\" was safe in the arms of
of the One who carries the youui,' lambs in His bosom, but he could not help
crving out :
"My baby, I want > on my-ielf My heart is lonely and empty '.vithout \ou .'"
Tlie curtain may be up a few inches, and he might see his wife on her
knees. What did she ha\'e in her hands, kissing them accain and again with
sobs and tears The little stockings that were hung up last Christmas. She
may • out-grow it " or get used to it." luit this is the first Christmas she has had
to live through since th.e joy and pride of the housidiold went down in the tlootl.
\Vc sh.lll roani ..ii the h.-inks nllbc river 01 i.eace.
And one uf the
The little be