The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1853-07-22
MISCELLA ECU
The Evening Prayer.
"oUR FATHER"

! "Our Father" On two sweet voices the word
were borne upward. 1t was the innocence efreveren
childhood that gave them utteranee.
"Who art in the heavens"
| "Who art in the heavens" repeated the children
one with her eyes bent meekly down and the othe
locking upward, as if she would pen,rate the heav
ems into which her heart aspired.
"Hallowed be Thy name"
| Lower fell the voices uf the little ones. In gen
eral murmur they said" Hallowed be Thy name."
| "Thy kingdom come"
And the burden of prayer was still taken up by the
children -"Thy kingdom come"
| "Thy will be done on earth as 1t is in Heaven"
| Like low echo from the land of angels-"Thy
will be done on earth as It is done in Heaven" fill
ed the chamber.
And the mother continued-"Give us this day our
daily bread"
"Our daily Bread" fingered moment on the air
| as the mothers voice was hushed in silence.
"And forgive US our debts, as we also forgive
our debtors"
The eyes ofthe children had dropped for moment
But they were uplitted again as they prayed-"And
forgive US our debts also forgive debtors"
"And lead not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and
the glory, forever. Amen"
All these holy words were said piously and fer.
venty by the little ones they knelt with clasped
hands beside their mother. Then as their thoughts,
uplited on the wings Of prayer to their Heavenly
Father, came back again and rested their earthly
parents a warmer love came gushing from their
hearts.
Pure kisses--tender embraces--the fond good
night" What n sweet agitation pervaded all their
feclings Then two dear heads were placed side by
side the snowy pillow, the mothers last kiss CIV
en-, and the shadowy curtains drawn.
What pulseess stiffness reigned throughout the
chamber Inwardly the parents listening ears are
bent. They have given these innocent ones into
the keeping of Gods angels, and they can almost
hear the rustic of their garments they gather u
round their sleeping babes A sigh deep and tremu-
ous breaks on the air. Quickly the mother turns to
the father of her children with look of earnest en-
quiry on her countenance. And he answers thus
her silent question:
"Far back, through many years, have my thoughts
been wandering At my mothers knee thus said
nightly, in childhood, my evening prayer. 1t was
that best and holiest of all prayers, Our Father,
that she taught me. Childhood and my mother pass.
ed AWAY. went forth man into the world
strong, confident, and selfseeking Once came in
to great temptation Had fallen in that temptation
would have faIlen sadly fear, never to have risen
again. The struggle in my mind went on for hours
was about yielding. All the barriers l could op.
pose the nrushing food seemed just ready to give
way, when as sat in my room one evening there
came from an adjoining cham"er, now first occupied
for many weeks, the low murmur Of voices. / lis
tened first, no articulate sound was heard, and
vet something in the tones stirred my heart with
new and strange emotion. AT length there came to
my ears in the earnest loving voice of woman, the
words--'Deliver us from evil For an instant il
seemed as fthe voice had been that of my MOTHER
Back with sudden bound through all the in;eryen-
ing years. went my thoughts; and child in heart
gain, was kneeling at my mothers knee. Hum
bly, and reverently said the words of the hol
prayer she had taught me, heart and eyes uplilted
to Heaven. The hour and power Of darkness had
passed, was no longer standing in slippery places,
with flood of water ready to sweep me to destruc.
ton; but my feet were on rock. My mothers pi-
GUS care had saved hel son. In the holy words she
taught me in childhood, was living power to re.
sist evil through all my after life. All! that unknown
mother she taught her child to repeat his evening
prayer. how little dreamed she that the holy words
were to reach strangers ears, and save him, thro
memories of his own childhood, and his own moth
er. And yet it was What power there is in
Gods word, as it flows into and rests in the minds
of innocent children"
Tears were in the eyes of the wife and mother, as
she lifted her face and gazed with subdued tender
ness upon the counenance of her husband. Hel
heart was too full TO utterance. little while she
thus gazed and then, with trembling Joy, laid her
head upon his bosom. Angels were in the chamber
where their dear slept, and they felt their holy
presence.--T. S. Arthur.