Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1868-12-04
The Grandchildren are Coming.

1ilcr ai'i WDHt ID tOc use No SGT
up our house, and ono by ono the
children fly into it like birds out OF
some foreign wood into cagc-onc,
two, three, four, and more. With
each one comes also cry and that
IL the keynote to which an hundred
sorrows add their voices, and gradu-
ally swell into that strange chorus
which mon ea!l human life For each
child there is to bo fringe of caro- on
the edge of every day. Each child
brings burdens and anxieties. Tears
in their eyes arc but hurbngcrs Of
many more in the eyes Of all who Iov @
them 10 shape them from infancy
10 goodness, TO teach their hands, to
dill their heads, to repair their mis-
takes, and secure firm footing in an
honorable manhood, who can measure
tho thought, the feeling. tho endcav.
Or! And ,hen, when the long task is
done, is there no compensation Or
do they not, one by ono, delac!, them
selves, and, like comcly fruit; fall from
the boush the on which they grow,
leaving it bearing-is snatchsd away
ny some enc WHO has known her few =
CIR weeks than the parents have years
She goes. The house is empty Of
: her Her loom, her drawers, her
books, aud school tasks, fondIy pre-
served, curry II sadness 10 tho moth
er's heart every timo they are looked
upon. The boys, almost before you
dream that they have ceased to tho
| boys, come asking the fathers blessing
on n now couer. by tho time TINT
father or mother is conscious OF agc
and infrmity, tho whole brood
is scattered and gone. Tho house IS
solitary. 1t usod 10 be straightencd
, for room whom tho childron wero ut
home, but now there is room Too
much. 1t used to bc noisy, but now
. ono mi .;ht drzH oil day, for all the
noiso. 0"ly tho fire swapping out
suddenly, or tho drowsy old clock tick.
ing behind tho door, or q kitten mcw
ing to get in, or to get
out, or a e4ucaking rat or nouse,
makes On audible noise. When the
children are all homo, man is like
Norway sprucc, whose woll-grown
branches, beginning from tho level of
tho ground, rise up in perfect pyra-
mid, shaping the tree to exquisite pro-
portions. Bat oach child married IS
u bough loppod of, leaving q wide
space, until tho parent trunk is final
Iy trimmed up liko shut, and all
tho verdure left clinging about tho
top.
In European communities, tho chill
drcn ofton marry and scttlc down
around their childhood home. But
this is rare in America. The endless
circulation that is going on sweeps
away the oh'llren; and to DO married
is almost synonymous With going far
away from home.
All this, Mr.. Bonner, describes my
state Of mind last week. 1t is very
different now. Word has como that
the grandchildren Gro coming homo.
Coming home? What! both tho chill
dren? and their motbor? for good
long visitf Bless their littlo hearts,
let them como. There's nothing in
this bouso too good for thcm. Now,
then, wo shall bavo household once
moro. Children arc the flowers which
God sends down from heaven to en-
liven and cheor this life. What was l
saying little back, about the oare,
and anxiety, and pain, and trouble, of
bringing them up? StuR-mcre stuff,
Mr.. Bonnor, / assure you.
Don't believe word Of it. I was
surely in O dream. 1t was a half
nightmare. I am awake now, and
assure you that no who is ft to have
aud roar children, will SEQ ten, yes, an
hundred joys to erory sorrow, and
the sunshine Of their smiles will turn
into rainbows every tcar they shed, or
cause to be shed.
If there is any thing 10 this world
that pays as it goes along, It is taking
caro- OF chiIdren. Raising flowers is
all worry well. But flowers have in
lbom no mischief; they behave too
we'll; thoy lack human nature; they
need tho iridoscent qualities Of dispo
sition that fash from tho surface of
evory chiid's life. Children O trouble ?
Do they pout, fret, disobey, and 60
wrong? Don't you,swith your asters
ard boneysucklcs9 What would you
give to have a singing vine, or fow-
or that could learn to say its prayers /!
Why, trouble in the nursery is
parents pastime. If one don't be-
lieve it, let him be Left for q while
without children. He will soon be
glad to hear that the grandchildren
are coming home. -"'.