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Show 64 UNCLE TOM'S CABIN : OR, "True enough, :Miss Eva," said Tom; and Tom sang- "0, bad I the wings of the morning, I'd fly away to Cannnn's shore; Bright angels should convey me home, To the new Jerusalem." "Where Llo you suppose new Jerusalem is, Uncle Tom?" said Eva. "0, up in the clouds, Miss Eva." " rrhen I think I see it," said Eva. " Look in those clouds ! -they look like great gates of pearl ; and you can seo beyond them -far, far off- it's all gold. Tom, sing abeut ' spirits bright.' " Tom sung the words of a well-known Methodist hymn, "I sec a. band of spirits bright, That taste tbc glories there; They all nrc robed in spotless white, And conquering palms they bear." "Uncle rrom, I've seen tftmn," sa.ld Eva. Tom had no doubt of it at all ; it did not surprise him in the least. If Eva had told him she had been to heaven, he would have thought it entirely probable. " They como to me sometimes in my sleep, those spirits;" and Eva's eyes grew dreamy, and she hummed, in a low voice, "They nrc all robed in spotless white, And conquering palms they bear." " U nclc 'fom/' said Eva, '' I 'm going there." '' Whei·e, Miss Eva 1 '' The child rose, and pointed her little hand to the sky; the glow of evening lit her golden hair and flushed cheek with a kind of unearthly radiance, and her eyes were bent earnestly on the skies. LIFE AMONG TIIE LOWLY. 65 " I 'm going there," she said, " to the spirits bright, Tom; I'n~ going, before long." The faithful old heart felt a ·sudden thrust; and Tom thought how often he had noticed, within six months, that Eva's litt1c hands had grown thinner, and her skin more transparent, aml her breath shorter; and how, when she ran or played in the garden, as she once could for hours, she became soon so tired and languid. He had heard Miss Ophelia speak often of a cough, that all her medicaments could not cure ; and even now that fervent cheek and little hand were burning with hectic fever; and yet the thought that Eva's words suggested had never come to him till now. Has thoro ever been a child like Eva? Yes, there have been; but their names are always on grave-stones, and their sweet smiles, their heavenly eyes, their singular words and ways, are among the buried. treasures of yearning hearts. In how many families do you hear the legend that all the goodness and graces of the living arc nothing to the peculiar charms of one who is not. It is as if heaven had an especial band of nngels, whoso office it was to sojourn for a season here, and endear to them the wayward human bea1·t, that they might bear it upward with thom in their homeward flight. When you see that deep, spiritual light in the eye,- when the little soul reveals itself in words sweeter and wiser than the ordinary words of children,- hope not to retain that child; for the seal of heaven is on it, and the light of immortality looks out fi·om its eyes. Even so, beloved Eva! fair star of thy dwelling! Thou art passing away ; but they that love thee dearest know it not. 'l'he colloquy between '£om and Eva was interrupted by a hasty call from Miss Ophelia. VOL. II. 6~ |