Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1851-02-17

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her deluded child had prepared for her lips
she received Mark in her humble dwe.lin
and treated him as her son. .l'a5
Marks conduct underwent q thorough
change, and Miriam imagined that she ha
seen the errors of his ways, and turne
from them. In the simplicity Of herhear
she said-sthis my son was dead and i
alive again; he was lost and is found 80
Mark having gained her confidence pro
posed to embarke in business, as he wa
weary ofan idle life. But he had not ih,
means, and he applied to Miriam 10 assis
him. Mary added her entrenties, and The
widow pledged her little oil to promote the
welfare of her children. Il The result might
have deem foreseen. Inexperienced-.reck
ess-selfwilled--in q few years he ex
hausted the widows means and deeply in;
yolved all who trusted to his visionary
speculations. He became bankrupt; the
widow destitute. .gfsasz 81: {.s-se d .!.a
The descent to adversely is easy, but to
retrace our steps over Instructions which
we had, ourselves, thrown in the pathway,
requires energy possessed by few Bac
became worse daily with Mark Moreland
The amusemenls Of his boy hood assumed
the features of vices in his ripper years.
The budding Of sin, in child, TO some ap
pears attractive, but when ma!ured-re.
pulsiye. The most poisonous weed, in
spring time may produces gorgeous Aow-
er, but in autumn the seed is death. ..a-.s
The widow seeing all was lost, trusted
to her own resources. She opened q
school, that the children of the village
might benefit by her moral and intellectu.
al culture, and she maintain her independ.
.ence. There was a purity of purpose
within her threshold which creates an at
mosphere the impure cannot Breathe
Marksreturning from his midnight orgies to
behold the quiet simplicity ofasthe widows
home, felt, as did the rebelious angles when
the sublimate atmosphere of heaven drove
them mad.
"a Mary had q child, a boy some two yeas
DID, Late one night Mark returned from
his companions, il-humored and intoXicat-
ed. He would ilondle with The boy, but
Mary alarmed for the chid's safety, op-
posed his wishes. He snatchedf the boy
from her arms and folf with the infant be-
meath him. From that day the child, who
had given promise of all that partial par
ents participate from their first born, be-
came al idiot. Mark was now changed
and melancholy man. He daily witness
ed the desolation he had occasloned, no
part Of which came within his power to al
leviate. Hew chained, hopeless spec.
tator of scene that drove him wild. Ihe
vacant stare of his beloved boy-the silent
but iil.corcealed repinipgs of his wife, that
were evidently hurrying her to an untlme-
ly grave; the conflict between resignation
and despair which was laying desolate the
widows heart, s.rewed the pathway to du'
ty with thorns, and the purer he became
the more poignant to relieve their necessl-
lies; too infirm of purpose to contemplate
the result Of his own vices, he fled from
the ruin in its desolation, sel6shly hoping
10 find aLethe for remorse in the hurried
vortex of a heartless world. ..9 g. s.., .
+ Deserted by her husband, and reproach-
ing herself for the trials her disobedience
had imposed upon her mother, Mary vast.
ed to the grave with disease that knows
no cure. 1.-THE body be afflicted, there is
hope for extraneous remedy; if the mind
sickens, it must be its own physician
Mary watched sever her idiot child--sat
statue-Hke beside her patient mother sell
dom spoke--neyer smlled-and dice.
The innocent to die thus self-reproach
and broken-hearted. is, indeed, the human
agony of the cross and crown of thorns.
{. Miriam was now destitute and alone,
but she knew that she who faiLts in the day
Of adversely, his strength is SMALL Her
time was devoted to her. school and un.
wearied efforts to infuse light into the mind
of her benighted offspring. At length ne
could initiate the sound of q few words, but
not for the purpose of imparting ideas, she
took him repeatedly to his mothers grave,
and taught him to pronounce the word
mother, and kneel in the attitude Of invok;
ing benediction. She taught him TO re-
peat the Lords Prayer, word by word. as
it fell from her lips; and though is import
made no impression upon his mind, still
morning and night he prayed with as much
outward zeal as many do who possess all
the advantages ofthe light Of revelation.
!, The principle diffanence consisted in
.his-he prayed in his 1owly chamber, with
no other witness than his grandmother and
his God, while many seldom invoke the
attention of the Creator without requiring
a crowded congregation to bear witness
Why hide your candle under a bushel!-
Let the meek and lowly behold with whal
audacity pride and estentation can ap.
proach the Deity-as if there were an
aristocracy in. heaven. - -.
+ A few years rolled on rapidly. One
evening as the boy was paying his accust
omed homage at his mothers grave-zeal
ously repeating the overwhelming appea
Of deity to deity-teo often an unwinget
prayer, and, doubtless, at times, male.
diction self.invoked upon the head of th'
Pharisee, the boy, as he rose, be held
man standing beside him. : z.'-' d..
T 'Whose grave is that, my child, you arr
kneeling oni' SS -
+ my mother sleeps here n
+ The stranger read the simple inscrip
( ton on the Observation-Disclosures and in