Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1855-08-01
From the National Era
A SHORT STORY WITH A MORAL.
by ELLEN c. HOBBS.

promise as beautiful in lis exemplifcation
as glorious in its conception. a mothers
lips first breathed into our ears those
words of Holy Writ, and explained their
general import: and from the time when
the story Of gray-haird Elijah and his
youthful Knockers first excited nv young
imagination, up TO mature womanhood,
the respect then inspired for the white
hairs of age has grown with my growth,
and strengthened with my strength. We
sigh as we think of the days when the
young were wont to bow before the hoa-
~ head, and, by gentle, uncalled for as
siduities, streu roses in the old mans
tottering path.
But those kindly customs of our Puri
tan ancestors have passed away. The
world grows selfish, as it grows old and
age dimmed eyes must turn homeward
for stays to their trembling hand and tot.
tering limbs. Here should they find the
fulfillment of the first commandment with
promise.
No true, womanly soul ever withdrew
her gentle hand from her pooI old father
or mother; no manly heart ever forgot
the home loves ofhis wayward childhood,
or ceased to hear the echoes of fond
mothers prayers. Often the cares of
this world, and the deceitiulness of rich
es, may choke up the inborn affections
Of narrow souls but few and far between
is the fondly loved child, who can be so
untrue TO himself or his Maker, as who'll
ly 10 forget the mother who bore him.
Yet even with the holiest dictates of
our reasons and souls, as with the wider
application of the commandment, has
Fashion insinuated her poisonous inhu-
ence; and the son, perchance, who left
his fond parents humble home reluctant
ly and tearfuiiy, TO make his way IN the
world, forgets, when fortune favors, to
welcome his rustic mother to his own lux
ury, with the same cordial embrace with
which he left her in his childhood. Her
dim old eyes, perchance, do not catch
readily the meaningless courtesies of life:
nevertheless, they look none the less Low.
ingly upon her child than when they
watched over his helpless infancy. Her
withered hands may be large and bOny,
and never have known jewel but none
the less gently did they smooth the wea-
ry pillow, or bathe the heated brow, in
the dependent days of boyhood. All !
she's the same fond mother still her age
and work bent form, clad in rustic garb,
conceals heart full of never dying love,
and ready for new sacrifice.
And, thanks to the Great Being whogave
US the commandment with promise, now
and then there stands up a noble man,
true to his inborn nature, who, throwing
off the trammels of Fashion. however
wide the gulf which separates him, in the
worlds eye, from the humble poverty of
his boyhood-who is not ashamed to lore,
before his fellows, the humble mother
who gave him birth.
Ny mother-permit me to present
her to you" said an elegantly-dressed,
noble-locking young man, to friend, for
whom he had crossed crowded draw
ing room, with his aged parent leaning
on his arm. There was a dead silence
for full FIVE minutes. The moral beauty
of the picture pervaded every soul, and
melted away the frostwOrk from world
worn hearts. Twas the old foreground
of a fashionable summer resort, whittier
hosts had come, with all their selfish pas
sions, to seek in vain for health and pleas
ure But here was variation-a bit of
truth TO nature-in the motley mingling
of cOlorS.
From little brown farm house, pent
in by forests, way up in the Granite State,
that young man had gone forth, with
brave heart and stalwart arm strong,
like his native hills, he had already made
name for himself; polished circles open
ed for him, and gentle lips bade him well
come Yet none the less carefully did
his manly arm support his homely, to-
tering old mother; ncne the less softly
and tenderly did he call her, queer
though she looked, - my moiAer,"
amongst the proud beauties who had
striven for his favor Her dress was an
tiquated, for the good gifts OF her son had
been sadly mntilated by rustic hands
yet only one heartless girl Uttered, des-
pite the broad fnlled cap and well kept
shawl. Her voice was rough, and often
her expressions coarse and inelegant.
Used TO the social mug AT home, she ask
ed for her neigI boris goblet at table, and
was guilty Of many like vulgarilies. She
was not an interesting woman, save in
her VIGOROUS age, and her beautiful love
for her son.
Yet for a week, the son watched over
that mother, and gained for her kindness
and defcrenc., in the very face Of fash
ion, walked with lcr, drove with her,