The North Carolina Standard

DEATH BED OF THE POOR.

The following highly wrought scene is from the last number of "Michael Armstrong, or the Factory Boy," a work by Mrs. Trollope, now publishing in England, in monthly parts. Miss Brotherton a young lady of rank, accompanied by her nurse, Mrs. Tremlett, has entered the hovel on purpose of charity.

"This woman is very ill, nurse Tremlett," said the young lady, drawing her close to the bed, "For God's sake, tell me what we had better do for her?"

"My dear, dear, Miss Mary come away, and send the doctor to her!" Answered Mrs. Tremlett; positively shaking from head to foot, as she contemplated the ghastly countenance of the woman, the filthy rag that imperfectly covered her, and the scanty straw upon which her stiffened limbs were stretched. "This is no place for you, Miss Brotherton, come with me, I say, this moment, and we will send the doctor, and money, and clothes too, if you like it."

"If I like it! Do you think I am amusing myself, Mrs. Tremlett? Feel her hand—feel her pulse! I believe she is dying."

These words though spoken very quietly and deliberately, were uttered in a voice so unlike what she had ever heard from the young lady before, that the old woman became dreadfully alarmed.

"Oh, good God! she is losing her senses!" were the words she uttered as she threw her arms round the person of Miss Brotherton, and vainly attempted to remove her from the spot on which she stood.

"Fie upon you, Mrs. Tremlett!" said Mary, sternly "do you fancy that you are doing me any good? Be satisfied that I am not losing my senses, and let me request that you will make an effort to recover yours. This woman's head is too low. My dear mother asked for pillows."

Here the steady voice faltered, but it was now only for a moment. "I want the cushions from the carriage, nurse Tremlett, will you get them, or shall I?"

Without answering a word, the terrified old woman hastened to obey her, and did so in the best manner; for calling to the tall footman, who continued to stand beside the open door of the carriage, he obeyed the summons, which he supposed to be preparatory to his young mistress making her exit, by very unceremoniously thrusting right and left the curious group that still lingered on the threshold.

"Find me the cushions from the carriage Jones." she said, "make haste, for God's sake!"

The man stared at her for an instant in utter astonishment, and then did as he was ordered.

"Now get upon the box, and bid the coachman drive as fast as he can go, to the nearest doctor's—that's Mr. Thomas, I think, in Cannon street. Tell him Miss Brotherton has sent for him, and desires him to get into the carriage directly."

Having uttered these commands as rapidly as she could speak, Mrs. Tremlett carried a couple of carriage cushions to the bed, and with the assistance of Mary and the elder child, managed to raise the woman into a position apparently less distorted and painful than before.

"Have you any thing to give her!" said Mrs. Tremlett, addressing the child.

The little girl without answering, stepped to a sort of cupboard in the wall, and taking thence a pitcher without a spout, and a mug without a handle, contrived to tilt up the former, so as to make it discharge a portion of its contents into the latter.

"It is water," said Mary, watching the operation. "It will not hurt her, will it?"

"Nothing can hurt her, my dear love!" replied Mrs. Tremlett, her eyes filling with tears as she listened to the altered voice of her gay hearted girl, whose smiles and frolics she had watched, and indulged for so many years; but of whose deep feeling she had never conceived any idea till now.

"I don't think any thing can hurt her now Mary. Her pulse flutters, and her forehead is quite damp. I have sent for Mr. Thomas, and he will probably be here immediately."

Mary's only answer was silently pressing the hand of her old friend as she took from it the broken mug of water, and then, kneeling on the floor, she applied it to the pale, dry lips of the sufferer.

The poor woman made an effort to meet it, and swallowed a mouthful eagerly; and then, relieved probably by the change of posture, and refreshed by the cool liquid, she stretched out the hand in which she still held Mary's half-crown, and said, "Go, Betsy, buy"

The child she addressed, eagerly seized the money in the hand that had fingers to close upon it, and flitted through the door in an instant.

The poor woman had again closed her eyes; but her breathing was tranquil, and Mary hoped she had fallen asleep. With this persuasion, she stood perfectly still and silent beside her, her own hand locked, though she was not conscious of it, in the grasp of her affected nurse, while her whole soul seemed settled in her eyes as she fixed them immoveably upon what she felt to be the most awful spectacle that a mortal can gaze upon, namely, the passing of a human spirit from life to death.

But this stillness did not long remain uninterrupted. All the members of the family, who had been named as belonging to the factory, except the father, returned for the purpose of taking such rest and refreshment as one hour (nearly half of which was consumed by the walk to and from the mill) could permit. The latch was lifted by the eldest girl, a delicate featured, but dreadfully dirty creature of about seventeen, with a sort of sharp eagerness, denoting the curiosity excited by the sight of the carriage stationed before their dwelling.

On perceiving the death-like countenance of her mother, made distinctly visible by the noonday light that streamed thro' the open door, she suddenly stopped, clasping her hands together, and uttering in tones that sounded like a shriek—"Oh! God. she is dead!"

"No! not dead!" said Mary, solemnly and without turning her eyes from the objects on which they were riveted "Not dead I—she is sleeping—Hush! Do not disturb her!"

Close following on the heels of the first, came a second girl, about a year her junior, but with a countenance much less prepossessing. Dirty she was too, if possible more so than the others, and there was a look of stolid stupidity about her that, but for the sort of reckless audacity which lurked in her eye, might have given the idea of an almost brutal want of animation. A thin consumptive looking lad of almost fourteen, followed after her, and closed the door behind him as he entered.

"Oh! mother" he exclaimed, as her sunken face caught his eye, "I wish I was along side of ye, and then we'd be buried together!" And without appearing conscious of the strangers, he suddenly threw himself upon the tottering bedstead, and nestling his face close to that of the dying woman, kissed her passionately again and again.

"My boy, you may hasten her going by that," said Mrs. Tremlett, gently. "Be still, be still, all of ye!"—But as she spoke, she, and Mary too, whose hand she continued to hold, made way for, the eldest girl, who now eagerly, but silently pressing forward, dropped on her knees beside the bed, and throwing her two arms over the emaciated body, remained with streaming eyes that rested piteously on the face of her mother.

The second girl looked on, till by degrees her heavy countenance appeared to stiffen into horror, and she too drew near, but with disturbed and tearless eyes, that seemed to speak more of fear than love.

Mrs. Tremlett looked anxiously in the face of her charge. It was deadly pale, and wore an expression of solemnity so new and strange, that the good woman threw her arms around her in an agony of fond anxiety, exclaiming, "My Mary, my dear, dear child! come away! Mary, Mary, come away! you can do no good. This scene is not a fit one for you to witness."

"You mistake, nurse. It is fit for me. It is necessary for me. Do not disturb me, nurse Tremlett! do not!" Then after a short pause, during which her eyes were closed, and her hands crossed upon her breast, she again whispered, "Could she not pray with me? Shall I not ask her to pray with me?"

"My sweet girl, she will not hear you, I think," said the old woman, while tears streamed down her cheeks. "But you shall be satisfied, my darling," and approaching the bed, and leaning over the girl who knelt beside it, Mrs. Tremlett in a low but distinct voice pronounced the words; "Shall we pray with you?"

She was evidently heard and understood for the hands that for some minutes had lain motionless, were, with an effort, brought together, and clasped in the attitude of prayer.

Mary, who was eagerly watching her every movement, suddenly stepped forward, and gliding in between the eldest and the youngest girl, dropped on her knees beside. Mrs. Tremlett following close behind her, knelt also, and then with trembling lips and faltering voice, but slowly, distinctly, and most reverentially, Mary Brotherton uttered the last and most impressive of those sentences in our litany which is followed by the solemn petition for deliverance. It was with a throb of pleasure at her heart, and an exclamation of thanksgiving from her tongue, that she heard the dying woman answer "Amen!"

Almost at the very instant she did so, the latch was again lifted, and Mr. Thomas, one of the medical practitioners of Ansleigh, entered.—

Mrs. Brotherton was not conscious of ever having seen him before; but he, like every one else in the neighborhood, perfectly well knew the heiress by sight; and now, even now, in the awful chamber of death, bowed low before her.

Sophy, the eldest girl, seemed unconscious of what was going on, for she remained perfectly motionless on the spot where she had first knelt down; while the third sister, who had been sent on the poor mother's last errand for bread, and who had crept back unobserved into the room during the foregoing scene, occupied the space on the right hand, Mary Brotherton having knelt on her left, so that there was scarcely space for the approach of the smart apothecary.

"Move, my dear girls!" said Mary, gently laying a hand on the shoulder of each.

They both rose; while Mr. Thomas, carefully storing the anecdote in aid of the gossiping part of his practice, looked and discovered and listened with astonishment to what seemed to him the very unnatural conduct of the rich young lady, and internally exclaimed, "A clear case of religious mania this, as I ever saw!—She won't live long, probably. What a match!"

It required no very long examination of the poor patient, to discover that her last moment was rapidly approaching.

"Upon my word, Miss Brotherton, I really wish I could persuade you to come away," persisted the medical gentleman, as he once more turned towards her. The woman is at the last extremity"

"Nothing, then, can be done for her?" said Mary.

"No, ma'am—nothing in the world. Not the whole college, if they were present, could keep soul and body together for another hour, I would venture to say."

On this Miss Brotherton put a fee into his hand, and bent her head in token that his business there was ended, and that he might depart.

But he did not immediately obey the hint, for pocketing the unwonted golden prize, he seemed anxious to remain a little longer where such blessings abound and returning to the bed, again took hold of the poor woman's hand, and then said in a voice of authority—“Let me have some water."

It was Mary only who seemed to understand his words, and she immediately obeyed them, placing in his hand the broken mug which she had set aside upon the floor. The apothecary put the water to the lips of the poor woman, and she again swallowed a little of it, after which they saw her lips move as if she was making an effort to speak to them.

Mrs. Tremlett leaned over her, and then, with a stronger effort, she articulated. "Let me see William."

"Who is William?" said Mrs. Tremlett, raising herself, "is it one of the children?"

"It the father," said Betsy.

"Where is he to be found?" cried Miss Brotherton, eagerly. "Let him be sought for instantly. Where is he likely to be?"

"At the gin-shop," replied the ungracious Grace.

"If you know where he is, go for him," said Mary, impressively, "and for God's sake, let him not delay!"

The girl she addressed stared at her as upon something utterly incomprehensible; but she obeyed, and, in so short a time as to show that the gin-shop was at no great distance, returned with a man of an exterior as filthy as the rest of his race, wretchedly crippled in the legs, and a complexion that spoke both of ill health and intemperance.

"What! It is come to that, is it, already?" said the man, looking wistfully at her from the bottom of the bed, but with a countenance whose lines seemed too fixed in the expression of hard indifference, to permit its exhibiting much feeling.

"She asked for you, father," said Sophy, gently: then taking one of her mother's hands in her's, she murmured "mother!—open your eyes upon us, father is here, and all of us," while large tear drops fell upon the livid face as she hung over it. The dying eyes were once more opened, and consciousness, and recognition of them all, were visible, as she suffered them to rest first on one, and then on another. The boy only, from his position, she could not see; but even then, there seemed intelligence between them, and she certainly knew he was lying beside her, for her head rested against his, and she raised her left hand till her fingers touched his cheek. The youngest child, also, when the mother's eyes opened, was too much behind her, but she seemed aware of her vicinity, and pronounced the words "little one!" probably her usual appellation—so distinctly as to make the child start, and instantly climb up the bed to kiss her. The last movement was an effort to return this kiss; and the next moment Mrs. Tremlett removed the child's clinging lips from a corpse.