Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1868-04-09
The Grand.children Coming.


The Grandchildren Coming.
After all-what is the uses We set up
our house, and one by one children fly into
1t, like birds out of some foreign wood into
q csge-one, two, three, four and more.
With each one comes also cry; and that
is the keynote to which hundred sor-
rows add their voices and gradually swell
into that strange chorus which men call
human lifel For each child there is to be
a fringe of care on the edge of every day.
Each child brings burdens and anxieties.
Tears In their eyes are but harbingers of
many more in the eyes of all who love
them To shape them from infancy TO
goodness, to teach their hands, to drill
their heads, to repair their mistakes aud
secure their firm footing in an honorable
manhood, who can measure the thought,
the feeling, the endeavoss And then,
when the long task is done, is there no
compensation Or do they not, one by
one, detach themselves, and like comely
fruit, fall from the bough on which they
grew, leaving it bare and empty?
That daughter-just as she began to be
full companion-tO repay all the labor
OF her training-is snatched away by some
one who has known her fewer weeks than
the parents have years; she goes. The
house Is empty of her. Her rooms, her
drawers, her books and school tasks, fond
ly preserved, carry a sadness to the moth
er's heart every time they are looked
uponl The boys, almost before You dream
that they have ceased to be boys, come
asking the fathers blessing on a new
conner. BY the time that father and
mother are conscious of age and intirmity,
the whole brood is scattered and gone.
The old house is solitary. 1t used to be
straitened for room when all the children
were at home; but now there is room too
much. 1t used to be unquiet and noisy,
but now one might doZe all day for all the
noise that is made. Only the fire, snap
ping out suddenly, or the drowsy old
clock ticking behind the door, or kitten
mewing TO get In, or to get out, or
squeaking mouse or rat, make any audible
noise. When children are all at home, q
man is like Norway spruce, whose we'll
grown branches, beginning from the level
OF the ground, rise up in perfect pyramid,
shaping the tree to exquisite proportions.
But each child married is a bOugh Topped
OF. leaving wide space, until the parent
trunk is finally trimmed up like shaft,
and all the .verdure left clings about the
top.
In European communities, the children
often marry and settle down around their
childhood home. But this is rare in Amer
lea. The endless circulation that is going
on sweeps away the children; and to be
married is almost synonymous with going
away from home.
All this, Mr.. Bonner, describes nv state
of mind last week. 1t is very different
now. Word has come that the grand
children are coming home. Coming home?
WHAT both the childrens and their
mother? for good long visit? Bless
their little hearts, let them come There's
nothing in this house too good for them.
Now, then, We shall have househ hold once
more. Children are the flowers which
God sends down from heaven to enliven
and cheer this life. What was / saying, a
little while back, about the care, and snxi-
ETY., and pain, and trouble, of bringing
them up. Stuff-mere stuff, Mr. Bonner,
l assure you. Don't believe word of it.
was surely in dream. 1t was half
nightmare. am awake now; and do as
sure you that he who is fit to have, and to
rear children, will see ten, yes, hundred
joys to every sorrOw and the sunshine
OF their smiles will turn into rsinbows
every tear which they shed or cause to be
shed. tt tlt ttt
If there is anything in this world that
pays as 1t goes along, it is taking care of
children. Raising flowers is all very well
But flowers have in them no mischief,
they behave too well, they lack human NJ.
ture. they need the iridescent qualities OF
disposition that fash from every surface of
a child's life. Children troubles Do
they pout? fret? disobey and go wrong?
Don't you wish your asters and honey
suckles would show as much life? What
would you give to have a singing vine,
or flower that could learn to say its
prayers?
: Why, trouble in the nursery is parents
pastime. If one don't believe it let him
be left for awhile without children. He
will soon be glad to hear that the grand
children are coming home
Well, we must get ready for them. Let
the drawers be filled with candy. Getout
the crib, and put up the dear little mar
row bed again.
Hunt up the dolls, the wagons, the play
house, the picture books, the strings.
Where are the tall chairs for the table,
and the little cups, and knives and forks
for a child's hand! 1t looks like living
agsini
Now we shall be walked up in the morn
ing by chubby rogue climbing up on the
bed, and playing tricks with my eyes and
nOsei Then Will come the trooping down
70 breakfast, and all the table antics
Then we will all 60 up to family prayers
and what q time those children will make
of ii. Children are not naturally worship
pers. &
But how patient will we bel Nothing
shall fret US. Already We are more robust,
and shall let out the buckle of our girdle
one or two holes. In short, the grand
children are coming; and, in bringing
themse Ives back to US, they bring back the
childhoo d of their parents, too, and bring
as back to ourselves IL W. Beecher.l