Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1891 — “A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW.” [ARTICLE]

“A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW.”

The Beautiful Story on Which tha | Well Known Song Was Founded. Loulrrine Times. > Few are probably the persons who jhave not one time or the other heard jthe Sunday school song, “A Light in ,the Window.” Unless I am mistaken jit is founded upon a story told upon the little island of Sylt, but which might easily have its exact counter* part on almost any sea shore where a mother’s heart beats with yearning love for her sailor son and keeps its fond promise from night to night. i { Among the simple fisher folks on the island lived a woman and her son. He iwas her only child, the pride of her jheart, as well -as the couroe of con,tant dread, for the boy love the sea as his father befor had loved it, and nothing gave him so much pleasure as jto watch the incoming tide tumble its purling waves over the sands. No .sooner was he strong enough to wield . on oar and steer a boat than he joined .the men in their fishing [expeditions. , The mother with all her fears, and the fate of a long lines of sailors in her mind, yet would not have had it otherwise, for it would have been deemed dishonor among the hardy coasters to have kept the boy at home or Bent him safely at work tor some farmer. Whatever the dangers, they must be faced for the sake of family pride. Had not the boy’s'grandfather been a Captain when he jeent~away the last time? Had not his father sailed his own ship when he went down in a great storm. The child was the last of his race, but he must not dishonor it by tame and cowardly safty on shore. So the boy grew up, tall of his age, straight as a masV, nimble as the fleetest and handiest boat, blueeyed, fair-haired, true-hearted, an-d a real-son of the sea. The fishermen taught him the tricks of his craft until he knew how to sail a boat, splice a ropa or do many little things which a sailor must know. Whenever a ship was in the offing he was soon aboard, learning the rigging and how work was por> forraeji upon her. He was a great favorite Affiong the longshore folk and the sailors, and when at last his 13th year came around and he obtained the consent of his mother to go to sea, he easily found a good ship and Captain. Then there was parting and tears shed by the mother, while he looked forward into the great wide world with all the joyous eagerness of a boy. But with her last blessing the widowed-* mother promised that .every night a light should burn in the seaward window of her cottage to light him homeward and to show him that she still lived, awaiting his return. ; The ship sailed. Six months passed and sailors dropped into the little villuge and told how she had been spoken and all was well, and the neighbors came to the cottage and told the pleasant news to the waiting mother, who nightly trimmed the candle, lit it, and set ir. the window to' make a bright path up the sands. Again six months elapsed, and other sailors arrived from far-off lands, hut they had no news to telLof the ship. A great storm had happened and she was overdue. She might yet make port, but—and, the people shook their heads ana carried no tales to the widow, whose candle burned brightly every night and cast long streamers of light out upon the sea. Another year passed, but the sailors going or coming brought no news of the ship, and the neighbors whispered apart, and shook their heads whenever they spoke of the widows son, but no one was cruol enough to cut the slender threads which held the anchor of her hope. And thus the light continued to glow out toward the sea at every gloaming, and burned steadily through every night, t Years came and went. The children who had played with the sailor lad had grown to be men and women, and her own head had been silvered with age, her form was bowed, yet no one dared to out the cables of her hope. Tender words cheered her and tender hands smoothed the way for ter as she patiently waited for the homecoming of her fair-haired boy. and every night the glow of her candle streamed out to seaward and told the story of the loving heart waiting at home. How many years did she watch and wait? Ido not know. But one day at eventide, there wa§ no gleaming patch of light across the sands. The win ■ dow remained dark, and the aocustomed beacon failed the fisher folk, and when they wondered and went to the cottage they found that the mother's soul had gone out to seek the son.