“I was weak and sick.”
“Have you had no food to eat?”
“I have had no food all day.”
Then the girl went in and got him a roll and a mug of milk. The boy ate so fast and so much that they had to wait till he was done, to talk to him more.
“Have you no pa nor ma?” said the man. A tear fell from the poor boy’s eye, as he said, “I have no pa, and my ma they took from me, and I can not find her. She was sick a long time. I used to sit at her side and lay my head on her knee. Once she said to me that my pa had gone home to God, and that she must go too. Then she got too sick to rise from her bed. One day they put me on the bed by her side. She laid her hand on my head, and she said, “I pray Thee, O God, take care of my poor boy.”
“Then she shut her eyes and grew so pale, and her hand got so cold, it made me cry. But she did not move, nor turn her eyes on me. They took me off the bed and sent me out to play. But I sat down at the door and wept for my ma.
“The next day I saw them lay her in a long box of wood and take her off. I have run up and down all day to find her. Do you know what they have done with my ma? Oh! tell me, if you can.” Then the poor lad wept so hard that the man and the girl felt sad for him.
“How old are you, my boy?” said the man.
“I was six last May.”
“What is your name?”