Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1847-01-13
RAvENnA JANUARY 1s ISL vHmr n1n,r

9. es.n | thought, sand if the little la
ie e ever gets a glance from. admiring swai
Y as sincere as that, she will be lucky.n
le. All, these children! little witchest mr.
= p ", even in their faults and absurdities! VI
q nlng, even in their sins and iniouities! S,
NJ ior example, yonder little fellow in
~ naughty fit-he has shaken his, long GU
+ overhis deep blue eyes--the fair bro
is bent in a frown-the rose-Ieaf lin
pursed up in infinite defance--and i
i white shoulder thrust .daughtily forwar
Can any one but child look so pretty eve
n in their naughtiness?
Then comes the instant change-hasl
ing smiles and tears, as the good come
back all in rush, and you are overwheln
ed with protestations, promises and kisses
ahey are irresistible, too, these little ones
they pull away the scholars pen-tumbl
about his papers-make somersets over hi
books, and what can he do? They tea
newspapers-litter the carpets break, ,pul
and upset. and then jobber unimag gnabl,
English, in selfdefence, and what can vol
DO for yourself?
"lf I had a child" says the,precise man
"you should see."
tie does have child, and his child tears
up his papers, tumbles over his things, and
pulls his nose, like all other children, and
what has the precise man to say for him.
self! Nothing-he is like every BODY
else-"a little child shall lead him!n
Poor little children! they bring and
teach us, human beings, more good than
they get in return. How often does the
infant, with its soft cheek and helpless
hand, awaken mother from wordliness
and egotism, to whole world of new and
higher feeling! How often does the moth.
er repay this, BY doing her best to wipe off,
even before the time, the dew and fresh
simplicity of childhood, and make her
daughter too soon a woman of the world,
as she has been.
The hardened heart the worldly man
is unlocked by the guileless tones and sim
pie carreses of his son-but he repays it in
time, by imparting to his boy all the crook.
ed tricks, and hard ways, and callous max
inns which have undone himself.
10 to the jail--to the. penitentiary, and
find there the wretch most sullen, brutal
and hardened. Then look at your infant
son. Such as he is to you, such to some
mother was this man. This hard hand
was soft and delicate--the rough voice was
tender and lisping- eyes followed him
as he played-and he was rocked and cra-
died as something holy. There was
time when his heart, soft and unworn,
might have opened to questionings of God,
and Jesus, and been sealed with the seal of
Heaven. But harsh hands seized it-ferce,
goblin lineaments were impressed upon it
and all is over with him forever.
So of the tender, weeping child is made
the calous, heartless man-of the all-be-
lieving child, the sneering skeptic--of the
beautiful and modest, the shameless and
abandoned and this is what the agorld does
for the little one.
There was time when the Divine One
stood on earth, and little children sought to
draw near to him. But harsh human be-
ings stood between him and them forbid.
ding their approach. All! has ii not been
always so? Do not even we, with our
hard and unsubdued feelings-our worldly
and unscriptural habits and maxin,s-stand
like dark screen between our little child
and its Saviour, and keep, sweet radiance
which might unfold it for paradise? "Suf-
fer little children to come unto me-" is still
the voice of the Son Of God, but the cold
world still closes around and forbids.--
When of old, the disciples would question
their Lord ofthe higher mysteries Of his
kingdom, he took little child and set him
in the midst, as sign of him who should
be greatest in heaven. That gentle teach
er still remains to us. By every hearth
and freside, Jesus still SETS the little child
IN the midst O us!
Wouldst thou know, Q parent what is
that faith which unlocks heaven? Go not
to wrangling polemics, or creeds and forms
of theology, but draw to thy bosom thy lit
tie one, and read in that clear, trusting eye
the lesson of eternal life. Be only to thy
God, as thy child is to thee, and all is
done! Blessed shalt thou be, indeed, when,
"a little child shall lead hee!"