Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1857-03-21
A SHORT PATENT SERMON.
BY DOW, JR.
BABIES.
TExT-Ay, men and women are ye now,
But babies were ye once.

] My irlendS--5ecause you are no ION
ger children, and have pu: away all child
ish things. it is by no means becoming
for you to turn up your noses al the pelu-
coats Of infancy, which you shook OIL by
the way side, on your journey TO maIun-
.ty. You were all babies once, and not
few of you are boobies now. Ii didn't
cost you, individually speaking. single
red cent 10 be horn. You had free tick
Ell of admission into The great theatre of
the worId---and when the great farces,
comedies and tragedies Of life are over,yoa
must sll go home, and retire to your sep
arate beds in the dark chambers of the
tomb. When you were babies, you put
your mothers 10 as much trouble as DO
those little effects of matrimony wrh
W hich YOU are surrounded. Yet srelled,
worried and cried, apparently merely for
the sake Of The music. You c"ept iuo
mischief, and allerward tedaubed your
irocks with the unwashable stains of vice;
and when your legs first began their des-
tined Offices, you ran down the dirty Ianr
of qualification, and began TO paddle
in the pulrld pool Of Impurity.
My hearers---if We are annoyed with
;he cries, creepings and cravings OF ba-
hies, ii is no fault Of theirs. They weit
showed into existence without any snlcl-
talion on shcIr parts, and Nature alone IL
responsible for all their errors. The poor
babe, like the unfortunate sailor, Is shlp
wrecked on tie barren shore Of the world,
naked, helpless, and hungry. 1t IS there
rocked for time III Il c credit OF tender
ness, and nursed AT The bosom of affection.
II crecps carelessIy about on the edge OF
eXistence, and ollen.limeS narrowly eS-
capes falling back into eternity. 1t grad
ually gains strength to walk, and goes Out
to play in the blooming garden of child
hood, with bliss in lis heart, and bread IN
It's hands. 1t there gathers some of the
: prelIesl pOsieS that grow between the
cradle and the grave; the roses OF loy--the
vioIels of vlrtue-the daisies Of delight
and The hare-beIIs Of hope. Anon he be-
comes the wayWard boy. He scampers
over the fields of youth, where The flow
.crs Of virtue and the pernicious plants Of
vice all grow together, which lie plucks
discriminairly. Then he wanders on
thro' mani o dup The hull Of honor aud
ambition; and down the sleep of degrade
lion and des pondency.--g gels badly scratch
ed with the lhorns OF care, as he gathers
lhe fruit Of wisdom anG cxperence--then
he declines into childhood of age; and,
finally, goes out Of The world bigger ba-
10y than when Ire came into il.
My dear lrcnGs--If some Of us could
have known beforehand what woes were
living in wait 10 greet our entrance INTO
lhIs ring-srcaked, spoiled aad sPeckled
world, we should have chosen 10 remain
forever eurled up in the middle Of mGnen.
tity, rather than come here 10 be ilogged
tby fortune, and sent back To bed shirtless.
But, my friends, babies are necessary
evils, and we couldn't well DO without
Them. They are small, but important
matters, aud worthy Of considerable share
OF attention. For my own parl, am
fond Of such sweet billers as babies-and
The more spunk and spirit they exhibit, the
better like tbem-for was a baby my
self, and ii squalIing be indicative OF iu-
lure cloquence. then the power Of preach
ing was in me from the beginning.
My respected hearers-tender infants
as you all have once been, you must moi
suppose that as Won grow Old you toughen
sufficiently to cause the shafts Of Death 10
fall harmless al your feet. The ilnn case.
menl that encIoses The lmmurial spirit Of
man is brittle as glass; and genlle.rap "i
disease, if it does not eAnrcly demolish
il, may so sbatter it that all Ehe Bedica-
leG putty IN The universe can't hold 1t to-
gPiher. The small gosssmer threads that
are woven IN the web Of mans moral ex-
islence are so finely spun and so feeble in
strength, HAT the slightest breeze of ply
S ical affection will sometimes snap them
asunder, and leave them dangling in the
dusky sepulchre, like SO many cObwebs
in the corner Of deserted hovel.
My dear brelhren--take gOod care Of
your babies, all you who have them; FOR
there is no knowing what figures they cul
in the world. II you watch over them
in their infancy, and instruct them as they
grow up, Ihelr names may stand high up
or The rolls of fame; but If YOU let these
lille bottles Of milk stand neglected 10
the summer Of existence, I'LL they grow in
sin, they canno. be saved, even by the
sweets Of salvation, ,swhen they shall have
become older, stronger, and sill more
rancid, by the corUpliou and wickedness
cf the word. So mote il be
One boy the other day borrowed stick
ol candy from a comrade, t" show ban
that he could pull il out ul his ear. lie
swallowed II and ihpD twisted himself a.