THE DYING PRESIDENT AND HIS CHILDREN.

Patea Mail, 10 February 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE DYING PRESIDENT AND HIS CHILDREN.

The following is a worthy accompaniment of the illustrations which appeared in Town and Country of October 1: —

There was, it seems, some hesitation about allowing the President to have an interview with his children to-day, but as the sick man was becoming more importunate it was decided to allow the children in one by one. So the three were called together—Harry, Jimmie, and Mollie —and each was told that a visit was to be paid to their father. They were delighted. Before being admitted to the room they were cautioned not to talk and not to allow their father to converse with them. As Miss Mollie entered the sick room she stood on the threshold a moment, and brushing away a few tears that would show themselves, she advanced firmly up to the bed on which her father lay. The President was turned the other way when his daughter

entered, but he heard her light step, and at once guessed it was she. “ My dearest girl,” he said, moving near where his daughter was standing, lie elapsed her hands in his, and was about to speak further, when she disengaged one ot her hands and placed a finger across his lip. He playfully attempted to bite the finger, and then smiled.

“ You are a brave, good child, Mollie,” he said, “ and you must hope that your papa will get well.” “ You will get better, papa; I know you will,” Miss Mollie replied, trying to keep back the tears; “ but you must not talk,”

The father held his daughter’s hand in his until the latter quietly slipped out of the room, knowing that her brothers would be impatient for the favour she had already enjoyed. The meeting between the father and sons was affecting. He grapsed the right hand of Harry, the elder, and was evidently greatly agitated. The youth bore himself well and showed no signs of the storm that must have been raging within him. He said a few cheery words to his father, and the latter responded a trifle sadly that he hoped he would get better to be with his wife and children once more. Seeing that his presence seemed to affect his father, Harry withdrew, and Jimmie was admitted. He was detained by his father for a long time, but the President did not talk much as his son would not allow him to do so. The President asked him what he had been doing all the morning, and Jimmie answered that he had been waiting to see his papa, “ That’s a good boy, my son,” said the father.

After the visit of his children the President felt much better than before. It seemed to be a tonic to him, and he was in splendid humour throughout the rest of the day. He took considerable nourishment, and altogether appeared in excellent spirits. He inquired after the cow, and remarked that it would be in order to send it‘up to see him.