The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-22

/ do this Tor the purpose of avoiding in
terruption, aud selecting my own audience
I am NOS Unaware that there are people
who don't IKE babies, and l wish to get
rid of them at the very outset, before l
commence my lesson for the day. For in
stance, there is class ofpeople who won't
have children under any circumstances,
and another class which regards them as
encumbrances. will wait a minute Tor
them to retire. They are utterly I'M
worthy of any consideration, and the sex
tor will show them out BY the shortest
possible route.
= Those foolish and inconsiderate people
who are SO troubled with their children
that they entrust their sole care to nurses
and goyernesses, and know as little of them
as they do of the children of their next
door neighbor, may remain or not, as they
choose. They may possibly hear OF some
thing to their advantage.
If there be Mr.. Dombey in my audi
ence, who dotes upon one child because he
is boy, and freezes the life out of the
other because she is a girl, he can go, too.
If there be Mr.. Gradgrind in my audi
ence, who is so hard-fisted, hard-headed,
and hard hearted; so callous to every
thing that is beautiful and good; so cor
roded and eaten up with the petty and
paltry itch of money-grubbing that he
looks upon children only IN the light OF
utility, or as nuisances 30 be tolerated only
upon the plea of necessity, he, too, can go;
for he will hear nothing which viii please
him. fE1
The sexton will show all these people
the door; but let me say to them, as they
retire, that everything in nature moves in
circle Just as surely as the ship which
sails due east from given point will
return to that point again, if it sails long
enough just as surely as the flower
springs from the seed and returns to the
seed. again just as surely as the planets
revolve around the sun, Just so surely will
they, springing from childhood, go round
in the circle until they get to childhood
again. And in that second childhood they
viii be vastly more troublesome than they
were IN the first. They should, therefore,
have some regard and sympathy for that
condition TO which the whirligig of time
is taking them so fast. In that second
childhood, my dear friends, your hair will
grow scanty, your teeth viii fall out, your
hands will grow weak and your legs shaky,
your voice will rise from the manly bass
to the childish, piping treble, and some
body, after placing bib round your neck,
MY have to feed you with spoon. You
VIII, probably, be more peevish, fuSsy and
troublesome than half dozen children.
You should think of this when you in
weigh against children.
And now invite all gentle souls who
love children as they love the birds and
flowers who love the music Of their little
pattering feet; who love the quaint little
songs they sing; who love even their little
fits of anger, which come and go like
April showers and who live in their love,
as sweet and fresh as the perfume of that
pink -and-white tube rose which kind
friend sent me the other day (now nearly
pulled to pieces by the ruthless Mignon,
who will persist in wearing them in her
hair)-al these gentle souls l invite to re-
main.
confess have not hitherto done jus.
ticc to Aurelia's baby. have intimated
it was a wonderful baby-Eo great admis-
sion, however, when all babies are won
dcrful. But if Aurelia's baby was won
derful when il could only wink and blink,
what do you suppose it is now, when it
can walk and talk? Our breakfast table
chat is now principally made up of the
smart and precocious things that child
does and says. Aurelia relates them to
Old Blobbs as the old man sits there sip
ping his Breakfast Oolong, which Fow
Chow or Sing Man-Sing, or some other
monosyllabic Celestial sent here the other
day from China, and Old Blobbs listens
patiently and quietly, now and then with
a smile upon his dear old face, as she tells
the wonderful doings
l think these little people have a quick
er discernment of beauty than we grown
up people, and that they see it with clear
or vision. Aurelia's baby was sitting at
the window, the other evening" watching
the leaves of the trees as they rustled in
the wind. The very first question, of
course, went right to the foundation of
things: "What is the wind, mamma p"
And then Aurelia attempted scientific
definition of the wind which should be in
tclligible to the young intellect. The
wonderful baby at once discarded Azure
LAS definition. and insisted upon it that
the wind was Gods breath. AT another
time, while watching the stars as they
peeped out, one after the other, she was
confident there were cracks in the sky, and
that Gods Heaven was shining through.
AT another time think she summed up a
world of poetry and reflection in single
line. 1t was cold, cherries day in the
late autumn. The sky was clouded over.
The trees were stripped of their leaves,
and the flower-stalks in the garden were
yellow and sore. The ground was frozen
slightly, and every thing wore an air of
cherries desolation. The wonderful baby
contemplated the scene for a minute, and
then, turning to Aurelia, said, "The world
is pretty nearly worn out, mamma "
Could any one have expressed the effect
more tersely or more beautifully? Was
there not genuine feeling of poetry in
the simplicity and truth of the thoughts
Sometimes kurelia's baby will bring
tears into all our eyes with some sudden
exclamation; for Aurelia's baby once lost
little sister TO whom she was deeply at.
tached-a little sister who was only bud
that never unfolded its petals to the light
of Heaven, but dropped and died, and now
sleeps very quietly under tree in tho
beautiful Rosehill-that is, all of hel
the angels did not carry away with then
to Heaven. And when Aurelia's baby
who knew that her little sister wa.
buried under the tree, and yet had
been told that she was in Heaven
not comprehending the apparent discrep
ancy, wanted to know if God had come
down in the night and taken her away
from under the tree, when we were no
looking, is it any wonder that all our face:
grew serious at the breakfast table, an(
that some of our eyes were dimmed over
Sometimes Aurelia grows impatient ant
well nigh Respondent at hetotal depravi
ty of that wonderful baby. 1t was only ,
day or two ago that she was dressed up il
neat, clean raiment, and went out into the
yard.to play with another wonderful baby
And when Aurelia went out to look aftel
them, what had these wonderful babies
done? 1t was certain that these two won
dcrful babies were covered from head Il
foot with dirt, and rcscmbled two young
Digger Indians Dirt on their clothes, dir
in their hair, dirt smouchcd upon thei
faces. II was certain that the two won
dcrful babies had digged hole in tn,
ground. Ii was certain that one of thu
wonderful babies YVES holding something
down in the hole. 1t was certain that Au
relia's wonderful baby was Justify shovel
ing dirt into the hole. And, upon closel
examination, it was certain that the some
thing in the hole was the wonderful house
hold cat, whose good nature is proverbial
Was it any compensation for Aurelia's dis
tress of mind to be informed by the two
wonderful babies that they were playing
funeral?
And what wonderful things these child
rem do when they are playing by them
selves If you don't believe it, you watcl
one of them when she gets off in corner
by herself, with her dishes, and blocks
and dolls, and bits of ribbons. How sht
will mefamornhosa bor plaxth;pro int,