The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-04-28
From the Sunday-School Times.
A Precious Letter.

IL was very, precious letter. But first
must tell you who was the owner. Many
years ago, she was the happiest and most
light hearted, the most affectionate in the
whole school. She was general favorite.
How could we help loving one whose heart
seemed ever brimming over with affection to
every body. You could always find her in
the play ground by the cluster around. The
attraction Of her loving nature seemed to
draw all within it's influence. So cheerful,
so bright, her pet name was Sunbeam" So
years passed, and she became the light of
another household, where fer warm heart
kept out winter. But her feelings strength
ened with time, ard gradually Gas we are all
prone to do) she set up her idols in her hap
py home. But God wasjealous of his honor
He took these idols from her arms, gave
them the beauty ofimmortality, and set them
in higher niche. Again and again that
terrible tempest swept over her home, and
each time the cradle was emptied into the
grave, and so, by the side of those little hill
locks, she learned to obey the first command
ment of the decalogue: Thou shalt have no
other God before me-" At last, when her
soul was anchored on the immovable Rock,
the heaviest storm of all broke over her.
She wrote herself widow-but not childless
There remained her Benjamin, her last The
fibres of her heart, SO often torn from their
hold, clung with increased tenacity to this
last resting place, this only son. He had
gone to distant part of the country, to en-
gage in business. went to see her, and
soon asked her when she had heard from him.
An open Bible lay on the stand before her.
and from its leaves, as her treasure next in
value, she took out carefully the single-letter
she had received from him in months of alb
sence. 1t was touching to see, from its worn
edges, how often it had evidently been read.
1t was not quite as affectionate as child
should have written to such mother, vet
with what miser's eye she dwelt on each
kindly word. r. .a.r ...n..r
81 often fear that he is idle when do not
hear from him for so long," said she, and
then, as if to apologize added: "His time is
sery much occupied" Putting it back slowly
within the Bible, "This is very precious
letter to me- Could the writer, from his
distant home, have seen the unutterable ten
derness of that look and act, it would not
long have remained solitary.
Yes, that letter was precious to God
Every line had been prayed over Were
there not traces of tears upon its
As she rose at parting, observed her
feebleness and suggested tone. "My ply
sician constantly recommends it, she said,
and then, with .altering voice, added, ''as if
that were the only tonic she needed, "If I
could only hear from my boy" My boy :
He had long since arrived at hronzed and
bearded manhood, but in the mothers heart,
the most vivid daguerreotype was his image
as a boy. She loves to think of him when
he would throw his arms around her neck
and give her his morning and evening kiss.
She chiefly loves to picture him, as when
kneeling by her side, he reverently repeated,
"Our Father" Does he call God his Father
now9 Then my mind reverted to the time
when he lay stretched by disease in his
mothers arms, and she carried him, and
watched him day after day, and night after
night, and week after week, as only mother
can. In after years, she denied herself to
add to his comfort, and now lonely widow,
all her earthly hopes and feelings centred in
him, and he writes her one letter. 1t is the
little thing to him, but oh how much to
her. r. ,,.s.r--... ;-g-.
A little while, and in the midst of his busy
whirl, comes photographic dispatch that sends
his blood chilled to its centre. 1t is startling
ly sudden, even though he has heard that
she was "feeble, and sinking daily" He
viii write that familiar superscription no
more. His account with the Fifth Command
ment, which has for more than thirty years
been running on, is closed forever, sealed up
against the examination of the Great Day.
Those prayers that have been around him
like an invisible ~gis have been breathed for
the last time. 7 . aHt @Elh. sf.
fone, whose eye may meet these lines,
has mother whom he has neglected, let not
the day close until he has written her such
letter as will give him pleasure to remember,
should he never be permitted to take that
blue-veined hand in his, tosmooth that silver
hair, or look again into those eyes Of deep
affection. Pour out the affection of your
heart to her, to whom it will be more precious
than untold gold. Tell her you make her
Bible ethics your rule in business. TcHher,
will you not tell her ?--that her prayers
are answered at last, that you have taken
Jesus to be your Savior, that you can look
forward to meet her, with those little nurs-
lmgs the great Shepherd has folded in heav-
en-.
And when, in after years, you shall turn
aside from business engagements to have
that ehite marble slab adjusted in its place,
on which shall be engraven the dear name Of
one, the only one who, through long eter-
nifty, you can ever call mother, it shall not
4 A. r.