Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1837-09-22
fSom the Journal Of the American Temperance Union
MATERNAL LOVE.

ner's furnace purged from that dross OF selfish,
ness which the heart is wont to find mns'eu
with its purest gold A widow EXPENDED on
Her only son all the fullness of her affection,
And the little gains of her industry She den-
led herself every superfuty, that ne m'gnl re-
\ ceive the benefits Of education aud the inuui-
Fences that bnyhood covets. she sat siiehtly
by her small fire, and lighted her single can
die. and regarded him with intense delight, as
ne amused himself with his books, or sought out
The lessons for the following day. The expen-
scs ofhis school were discharged by her labor
of her hands, and glad and proud was she to be-
stow on him privileges which her own youth had
never been permitted to share. She believed
him to be diligently acquiring the knowledge
which she respected, but was unable to COM
prehend His teachers and his idle compan-
ions knew otherwise. From his studies he ac-
ouired sufficient to astonish his simple aud adj
mring parent with Understanding epithets and
technical terms and despised her for not un-
derstandinp them. When she saw him dis
contented, at comparing his situation with
that Of Others who were above him in rank,
she denied herself almost bread that she might
add luxury for his table or garment to his
wardrobe. 1l u
She erred in judgement, and he in conduct;
but her changeess love surmounted all. Still
there was little reciprocity, and every year di-
mnshed that little, in his cold and selfish heart.
He returned no caress, and his manners assuin-
ed cast of defiance. She strove not to per-
ceive the alteration, or sadly solaced herself
with the reflection, thas sit was the nature Of
boys"
He grew boisterous and disobedient. His
returns to her humble cottage became irregu-
lar. She sat up late for him; and when she
heard his approaching footsteps, forgot her
WEAKNESS, and kindly welcomed him. But he
might have seen reproach written on the pale
ness of her loving brow if he would have read
IA nj
she sometimes wept as she remembered him in
his early years, when he was so gentle and, to
her eve, so beaut full But ''this is the way of
young men," said her lame philosophy. So she
armed herself to hear.
At length il was evident that darker vices
were making him their victim. The habit of
intemperance could no longer be concealed e.
ven from love that blinded itself The wild
owed mother demonstrated with unwonted en-
ergy. She was answered in the dialect of in
science and brutality.
He disappeared from her cottage What
she dreaded had come upon her. In his anger
he had gone to sea. And now, every night,
when the tempest howled and the wind was
high she lay sleepless thinking of him. She saw
him, in her inaginaton climbing the slippery
shrouds, or doing the bidding of rough, unieel-
ing men. Again, she fancied that he was sick
and suffering, with none to watch over him, or
have patience with his waywardness; and her
head, which silver hairs began to sprinkle,
gushed FORTH as lift were a fountain Of waters.
But hope Of his return began to cheer her.
When the new moon looked with its slender
crescent in at her window, she said, "My boy
will be here ere that moon is gomez" and when
II waned and went away, she sighed and said,
any boy will remember me.'
Years fled. And there was no letter--no re-
cognition. Sometimes she gathered tidings
fIom a comrade, that he was on some far sea,
-. q L.. De-
his mother When he touched at some port
in his native country, il was not to seek her
cottage, but to spend his wages in revelry, and
re-embark on a new voyage.
Weary years, and no letter. Yet she had a.
bridged her comforts that he might be taught
to write, and she used to exhibit his penman-
ship with such pride. But she dismissed the
reproachfu thought "H tcas The tcav trith
sailors"
Amid all those years Of neglect and cruelty,
the mothers love lived on. When hope refus-
ed its nourshment, it asked food of memory
II was satisfied with the crumbs from a table
which must never be spread again. Memory
brought the broken bread which she had gath
cred into her basket, when the feast of inno-
cence was over; and love received it as med
icant, and fed upon it, and gave thanks. She
fed upon the cradle smile, upon the first caress
of infancy, upon the loving years of childhood,
when putting his cheek to hers he slumbered
the livelong night or, when teaching him to
walk, he tottered with outstretched arms to her
bosom, as new-hedged bird TO its nest.
But religion found this lonely widow, and
communed with her at deep midnight, while
the storm was raging without. Il told her of
"name better than of sons or of daughters"
and she was comf,rted. II babe her resign her
self to the will of her Father in heaven. And
she found peace.
IL was a cold evening in winter; and the
snow lay deep upon the earth. The widow
sat alone by her little Preside The marks of
carly age had settled upon her There was
meekness on her brow, and in her hand book
from whence that meekness came
A heavy knock shook her door, and ere she
could open it man entered. He moved
with pain, like one crippled, and his red and
downcast visage was partially concealed by a
torn hat. Among those who had been familiar
with his youthful countenance, only one save
the Being who made him could have recognise
ed him through his disguise and misery. The
mother, looking deep into his eye, saw faint
tinge OF that fair blue which had charmed her
when it Enclosed from the cradle dream.-
".My son!-ny son!''-
Had the prodigal returned, by late repen-
lance to atone for years of ingrattude and SIM
will not speak of the revels that shook the
peaceful roof of his widowed parent, or of the
profanity that disturbed her repnse. The re-
mainder ofhis history is brief The effects of
vice had debililated his constitution, and once,
as he was apparently recovering from long
yaroxysm of intemperance, apoplexy struck his
heated brain, and he lay bloated and hideous
carcase,