A Biographical Sketch of the Life and Character of Joseph Charless | Page 3

may grow up to be good men and women; and in old age, when memory fails, may you, like her, rejoice and revel again amid the innocent scenes of early life, looking through them up to that glorious world above us, where the “inhabitant shall no more say he is sick,” or shall feel the infirmities of age.
Affectionately, GRANDMA.

Letter Three

MY DEAR GRANDCHILDREN:
You, Charless and Louis, often say to me, “Grandma, tell me about when you were a little girl,” and many a little story have I told you. But now I am going to tell you about “Grandpa,” when he was a little boy.
That dear, good grandpa, who looked young to grandma, but who looked so old to you, with his pretty, glossy grey hair, was once a little boy, just like you are. He had a dear mamma, too, who tenderly loved him, but she used to punish him when he was naughty, and kiss him when he was good, just as your mamma does to you. He was a very obstinate little fellow, though, and generally submitted to a good deal of punishment before he would confess his fault and beg for forgiveness. His mamma would sometimes tie him to the bed-post, but he would pull against the string until his arm would almost bleed, and frequently he would free himself by gnawing the cord in two. But he was a good-humored little boy for all that, and “mischievous as a house pig,” his mother used to say. Once she locked him up, for some naughty trick, in a room where there were a number of nice fresh made cheeses, arranged around for the purpose of drying, and said to him, “Stay there, Joe, until you mean to be good, and then I will let you out.” He very soon knocked at the door, calling out, “Mamma, mamma, I’ll be good now,” and his mamma thought “my little son is conquered very soon this time; he is certainly improving.” She opened the door, but what, do you suppose, was her dismay, when she found that the “little rogue” had bit a mouthful out of every cheese!
When he was a small child he strayed off from the house, away down to the spring, and, stooping down to see the pretty clear water, fell in, and came near being drowned. Oh, how his poor mother did cry, when her sweet little boy was brought to her so pale, and almost lifeless. But she rubbed him and warmed him until he came to, and was as well as ever; and his mamma thought “surely such an accident will never again happen to my dear little son.” But when he grew to be a larger boy, some time after his parents had removed from Kentucky to St. Louis, he went one day with some boys to have a swimming match in the Mississippi river. Most boys like to swim or wade in the water, and sometimes are so eager for the sport that they forget, or give no heed to the expressed commands of their parents; and many a boy has lost his life by breaking the fifth commandment, which says, “Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Many a boy who, had he lived, might have become a good and noble-hearted man, doing much good in the world, has thus early been summoned suddenly and unprepared before the judgment bar of God, simply for having forgotten, in a moment of pleasurable excitement, to honor his parents by a strict obedience to their commands. But, thanks to our Heavenly Father, this was not the case with little Joseph Charless, for, although he was drawn by the current of the terrible Mississippi into a whirling eddy, he was saved from such a dreadful doom. A good, brave boy, who was larger than he, and a better swimmer, rushed into the whirl and pulled him out to the shore. Poor little fellow! he was almost gone, for he was insensible, and it was some time before he breathed freely again. He was carried home–-to that dear home which came so near being made desolate-–and with deep penitence did he confess his fault and beg for pardon. His last thoughts when he was drowning (as he thought) were, “I have disobeyed my mother! It will break my poor mother’s heart!”
Children have a great deal of curiosity, and perhaps you will ask, “how did grandma know so much about grandpa when he was a little boy? Was she a little girl then, and did she live in St. Louis, too?” No, my children, when my parents moved to St. Louis I was a young lady and grandpa was a young gentleman.