he deposited
the box of treasures, not with any false or superstitious notion, but
from a sacred and loving impulse. It had seemed such a sacrilege, to
him, to remove them from the spot where her own hand had placed them;
besides, there was no hallowed nook in the strange home, and this was
why he sought the most consecrated part of earth for these precious
relics. All about, upon the graves of the poor, he had seen similar
tokens, and had observed that even the most careless and light-hearted
passer-by had never stooped to touch what a pious affection had made
sacred. Some, it is true, had looked with contempt upon these simple
tributes, and had suffered the words "heathen fanatics!" to escape their
lips; but these same persons would spend hours before the costly
ornaments above a richer body, and find in them no motive but a
commendable and proper respect, whereas the Omniscient could note the
pride engraven upon the one, and the sincere and earnest feeling that
marked the other. It didn't matter much to Archie what any body said or
thought. He knew that there his treasures were safe, and he felt them to
be an appropriate monument until his secret wishes respecting his
mother's ashes could be attained, so he left them, and sauntered slowly
away. Gay parties, whose only motive in seeking the dwelling-place of
the dead was the gratification of the outward senses, looked from their
luxurious carriages upon the poor hunchback with a careless indifferent
feeling as he passed along with bent frame and serious air, little
dreaming of the great soul that tenanted so feeble a body.

One alone of a merry group paused, and leaned eagerly forward to give
some token of recognition to the lad, whose errand there she could
readily guess. "What is it, Kittie?" asked half a dozen of her
light-hearted companions, as she smiled sweetly and bowed to the boy.
"It can't be human;" and then they laughed as the child's sad face
looked reproachfully at them. As if this miserable shell that, however
attractive and beauteous now, must, one day, be clothed in a loathsome
corruption, could affect in any way the glorious and undying principle
within! Not "human!" because clad in an uncouth and unsightly garment!
as well might we spurn the immortal spirits for once dwelling in clayey
tenements, as to make a mock and derision of those who, for some wise
but hidden purpose, are made to walk this earth with marred and uncomely
figures. Not "human!" K