Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1859-09-08
Evening Prayer.

"0uI Father"
The mothers voice was low and tender,
and solemn.
"Our Father"
On two sweet voices the tones were borne
upward,
1t was the innocence Of %reverent children
that gave them utterance.
Who art in heaven"
"Who art in Heaven" repeated the chill
dren, one with her eyes bent meekly down,
and the others looking upward, as ii she
would penetrate the heavens into which her
heart was aspiring.
"Hallowed be thy name"
Lower fell the voice of the little ones. In
Il gentle murmur they said,
Hallowed be thy name"
"Thy kingdom come
And the burden of the prayer was still
taken up by the children
THY will be done on earth as it is in
heaven" filled the chamber.
And the mother continued
"Give us this day our daily bread"
"Our daily bread" fingered a moment on
the air, as the mothers voice was hushed into
silence.
"And forgive us our debts as we also for.
give our Debtors"
"And lead US not into temptation, but de-
liver us from evil"
For thine is the kingdom, and the power
and the glory, forever
amen
All these holy words were said plously
and tcrvently by the little oDesi as they knelt
with clasped hands beside their mother
Then as their thoughts uplifted on the wing
of prayer to their heavenly Father CANT
back again and rested on their earthly
parents, a warmer love came gushing from
their hearts.
Pure kisses--tender kisses--the font
" good night" What a sweet agitation per
vadcd all their feelings. Then two deal
heads were placed side by side on the snowy
pillows, the mothers last kiss given, and thu
shadowy curtains drawn.
What a p~ulseless stiffness reigns withou
the chamber. Inwardly, the parents ear
are bent. They have given those %innocen
ones into the keeping of Gods angels, ant
they can almost hear the rustic Of their gar
ments as they gather around their sleeping
babes. A sigh, deep and tremulous, break
on the air. Quickly the mother turns to tn
father of her children, with a look G
earnest inquiry upon her countenance. An
he answers thus her silent questions
FIR back through many years'have M
thoughts been wandering. At my mother
knee thus said l nightly, my childhood
evening prayer. 1t was that bestand holie,
'ot all prayers, Our Father that she taugF
me. Childhood and my mother pass.
away. l went forth as a man into til
world, strong, confident, and self-seeking.-
Once | came into great temptation. Had
, fallen in that temptation, | should have falle
never to rise again was about yieldin,
t All the barriers | could oppose to in the i
l rushing food, seemed just ready to give wa.
| when, as | sat in my room one evening, the
came from an adjoining chamber, now fir
f occupied for many weeks, the nurmur of 10
voices. l listened. At first no articula
sou.d was heard, and yet something in Il
: tones stirred my heart with new and strol
emotions. At length, there cam to my cal
e in the earnest, loving voice of a woman, t
Il words
Deliver us from evil
h " For an instant, it seemed to me as
c that voice were that of my mother. Ba
), with u sudden bound, through all the int
s vening years, went my thoughts, and a chi
again | was KIN cling at my mothers knee.
VI Humhly and reverently | said over the wor
y, of the holy prayer she had taught me, hea
and eye nplifted to heaven. The hour a
o power of darkness had passed. | was
e longer standing in slippery places, with
n food Of water ready to sweep me to destr,
h ton, but my feet we're on a rock. My pic
e mothers care had saved her son. In t
l. holy words she had taught me in childho
l. was a living power to resist evil through
IS my after life. All that unknown moth
y as she taught her child to repeat this event
prayer, how little dreamed she that the he
ID words were to reach Il strangers ears, a
j. save him through the memory of his O.
le childhood and his own mother. And yet
ct was SO. What a power there is in Go
re word, as it flows into and rests in the nil
- of innocent childhood"
lie Tears were in the eyes of the wife a
mother. as she lifted her face and gazed W
I'd a subdued tenderness, upon the countenal
tn of her husband. Her heart was too full
ty uttcrance. A little while she thus gaz
10 and then with a trembling joy, laid her ha
to upon his bosom. Angels we're in the cha
ir Der where their dear ones slept, and ii
felt their holy presence.-T. S. Arthur,
tb the Hoaoe M;Se;ou