The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1869-08-12
CHILDREN.
BY MRS. H. B. STOWE.
"A little child shall lea1 them.

One cold market morning looked into
a milliner's shop, and there I saw hale,
hearty, well-browned young fellow from
the country, with his long cartwhip, and
q lion-shag coat, holding up some little
matter, and turning it about on his great
fist. And what do you suppose it was
| 4 bdby'S bonnet! A little soft, blue satin
hood, with a swans down border, white as
the new fallen snow, with frill of rich
blonde around the edge.
By his side stood pretty woman, hold
ing, with no small pride, the baby-for
evidently it was the baby. Any one could
read that fact in every glance, as they
looked at each other, and then at the large
unconscious eyes, and fat, dimpled checks
of the little one
1t was evident that neither of them had
ever seen a baby like that before.
"But really, Mary" said the young man,
"isn't three dollars very high ?"
Mary very prudently said nothing, but
taking the bonnet, tied it on the little head,
and held up the baby, The man looked,
and without another word down went the
three dollars-all the avails Oflast weeks
butter; and as they went out of the shop,
it was hard to say which looked most de-
lighted with the bargain.
! HAh," thought I, ga child leads them"
Another day, as I was passing a car
riage factory along one of the back streets,
1 saw young mechanic at work on
wheel. The rough body of a carriage
stood beside him, and there, wrapped up
snugIy, all hooded and cloaked, sat little
dark-eyed girl about year old, playing
with a great shaggy dog. AS I stopped,
the man looked up from his work, and
turned admiringIy toward his little COM
panion, as much as to say,
"See what have got here"
eyes," thought 1, "and if that little lady
ever gets a glance from admiring swain
as sincere as that, she will be lucky"
Ah, these children, little witches, pretty
even in all their faults and absurdities.-
See for example, yonder little fellow in
naughty fit. He has shaken his long
curls over his deep blue eyes; the fair
brow is bent in frOwn; the rose-leaf lip
is pushed up in infinite defiance, and the
white shoulder thrust angrily forward
Can any but a child look so pretty, even
in his naughtiness?
Then comes the instant change; flashing
smiles and tears, as the good comes back
all in a rush, and you are overwhelmed
with prOtestations, promises and kisses.
They are irresistible, too, these little
ones. They pull away the scholars pen,
tumble about his paper, make somersaults|
over his bucks; and what can he do? They
tear up newspapers, litter the carpet, and
upset the ink, and then jabber unheard-Of
English in self-defense, and what can
! you do for yourself?
IF 1 had a child" says the precise
man, ''yOu should see."
He does have a child, and his child tears
up his papers, tumbles over his things, and
pulls his nose, like all other children; and
what has the precise man to say for him
self? Nothing; he is like everybody else;
ga little child shall lead him."
The hardened heart of the worldly man
| is untouched by the guileless tones and
simple caresses of his son; but he repays
| it in time by imparting to his boy all the
crooked tricks and callOus maXims which
have undone himself.
| Go to the Jail, the penitentiary, and find
there the wretch most sullen, brutal and
hardened. Then look at your infant son.
Such as he is TO you, such 10 some mother
was this man. That hard hand was soft
and delicate; that rough voice was tender
aud lisping, fond eyes followed him as he
played, and he was rocked and Graded as
something holy. There was time when
his heart, soft and unwOrn, might have
opened 10 qUestionings of God and Jesus,
| but it has been sealed over with the seal of
] Heaven. Harsh hands seized it; fierce,
goblin lineaments were impressed upon
/ it; and all is over with him forever!
So, Of the tender, weeping child, is made
the callous, heartless man; of the all-be-
1 lieving child, the sneering skeptic; of the
beautiful and modest, the the shameless
and abandoned; and this is what the world
does for the little one.
There was time when the Divine One
stood on earth, and little children sought
! to draw near to him. But harsh human
| beings stood between him and them, for
bidding their approach. Ah,i has not al
ways been so. DO not even we, with our
hard, unsubdued feelings, our worldly and
unspiritual habits and maxims, stand like
a dark screen between our little child and
| its Saviour, and keep even from the choice
! bud of our hearts the sweet radiance which
might unfold it for Paradise? "Suffer lit
tie children to come unto me, and forbid
| them not" is still the voice of the Son of
! God; but the cold world still closes around
/ and forbids. When of old, disciples would
question their Lord of the higher myster
| les of his kingdom, he took child and
set him in the midst, as a sign of him who
should be the greatest in Heaven. The
gentle teacher remains to us. By every
hearth and fireside Jesus still sets little
child ill the midst Of as.
Wouldst thou know, o parent what is
the faith which unlocks Heaven? Go not
to wrangling pOlemiCs, or creeds and
forms of theology, but draw to thy bosom
thy little one, and read in that clear eye
the lesson of eternal life. Be only to thy
God as thy child is to thee, and all is done.
Blessed shalt thou be indeed, "when a lit
the child shall LeGd you." ...-