Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1858-01-06
From Norris end Willis's Home Journal.
A Bible-Story for Mothers.
By N. P. WILLIS.


Twas sunset in the land where Eden was
Haran, the fertile in the times of old, g7
And now the focks, from far-off field and hill,
Home followed to the fold at Laban's well;
And, when for them the stone was rolled away,
They drank, and Jacob numbered Them For such
AS of its life had well fulfilled day
The sunset seemed the giving of it joy
Joy for the horn'd cattle, with their calves;
Joy for the goats with kids, the sheep with lambs;
Joy for the birds that tilted on their nests, .
Singing till twilight should enfold their young;
And, from the lowly hut beyond the well,
Rose the sweet laughter of the shepherds babe;
And Zilpah's son, and Billah's, on the clean
Smooth floor between the households circing tents
Played with the children of the unloved Leah.
But, in the shadow of the talest palm,
There stood tent, apart. Th' untramped grass
Told of no frolic feet familiar there;
And silence reigned within its guarded room;
And, by the half.drawn curtain of the door,
Safe one who felt her life too sorrowful
TO let the greeting of the sunset in,
For, on the herds that watered at the well,
And on the children that played joyous by,
huu Ou tuC uuWcio, aho uiLuSJ ouu iouSh aSOo
Each lacking nought of life that was its own
How could she look and feel she was Of them
RAcHEL-the childlesss
\ y Twas another eve;
And other summers had on Haran smiled
An eve of golden glory, that again,
Found Jacob with his focks at Laban's well.
And now-uncovered, as at prayer-he stood,
And looked where glowed the Bethel Of his dream;
For, in the glory of that Western sky,
He saw again the ladder rise to Heaven,
And the ascending and descending troop
That ministered to him who stood above
The place none other than the house of Cod
There, where he poured the oil upon the stone,
AS he came East from Canaan. And, as won't
In the devoutness of that evening hour,
He recognised THE COVENANT fulfilled:
For he had food, and raiment to put on
His cattle and his focks in peace were there
A God still with him, who increased his store,
And kept him in the way that he should go,
And who the holy promise would fulfil,
Dearest to Jacob in that stranger land,
To bring him to his fathers house once more.
Thus prayed he, with the setting of the sun.
But OH there was another gift from God
And far more precious, tho unnamed with these;
Whose Joy had waited not the sunsets glow
To kindle it to prayer, but whose fond fire
Burned thanksgiving incense all the day.
She acho1s he Loced had borne to him child
And, to the tent that stood beneath the palm
The tent apart, that was so shut and lone H
The glory of the evening entered now;
o,d drop md for
That the suns greeting should be all let in
The rosy record of day fulfilled,
Being the mirror of mothers joy
For, on the floor, rejoicing in its light, M
Lay the boy babe of RACHEL. She, of all
The daughters of the land most fair to see
Most loved, and so most needing to bestow
Jewel from her heart on him she loved
She who of women was reproached to be
Barren tho beautful-and thus unblest,
Refusing to be comforted-behold!
God had remembered her
Oh mother loved
You who have taken to your breast the child
New given from your beauty unto him
Whose soul is mingled in its life, the link
OF an immortal spirit welded now
Betwixt you twain forever, read you here
How in the Scripture is your story writ!
The sands of gold, from Natures running brook,
Were singled truly in the olden time.
That which was holiest in our daily life,
Was in inspired words, all wondrously
First written-as the stars are set to burn
Small tho they seem of an undying brightness.
Jacobs for Rachel was human love
A heart won by the beauty of a maid
Met with her focks beside her fathers we'll.
How beautiful was Laban's daughter there,
'Tis written; and, how tenderly he loved,
Is of his lifetime made the golden thread
And, of her sorrow that she bare no child,
And of the taking that reproach away,
'Tis lessoned for the world to learn by heart
Sweet as a song-"GoD HEARKEYED UNTO HER,"
And oh the bliss Of Rachel in her child
its hallowed fountain was twice Scripture told!
Look thou, oh mother, how again twas writ!
The story Of thy babe as told in Heaven
"ANp Con REMEMBERED HER."