Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1870-08-25
Don't Forget the Old Folks
at Home

at Home.
DR.. VIM. Aikman, in Life a
Home, says, There is always (;
liability, when sons and daughter,
have gone from the home of theil
childhood; and have formed homes
OF their own, gradually to LOST
the old attachments and cease tC
pay those attentions to their pa
rents which were so easy anC
natural in the olden time. New
associations, new thoughts, new
cares, all come in, filling the mind
and heart, and, if special pains be
not taken, they crowd out the ole
loves. This ought never to be-
Yon should remember that the
change is with you and not with
those you lett behind. You have
every thing new, much that is at
tractive in the present and bright
in the future; their hearts cling
TO the past, they have most in
memory. When you went away,
you knew not, and will never
know till you experience it, what
it cost them to give you up, nor
what vacancy you left behind.
They have not, if you have, any
new loves to take the Of the old.
Do not, then, heartlessly deprive
them of what you still can give
of attention and love.
Ksit yoasr parents. Ii you live
in the same place, let your step be,
perhaps daily, a familiar one in
the old home; if you are miles,
yea, many miles away, make it
your business to go to them. In
this matter do not regard time
nor expense; the one is well spent
and the other will be fully, yea, a
hundred-fold repaid. When some
day the word reaches you,
flashed over the telegraph, that
father or mother has gone, you
will not think them much. those
hours of travel which last bore
you to their side. ss
Write to yoGr parents. have
known father and mother wait
with sick hearts through weary
months, longing that some word
might reach them from an absent
son. They have watched the
mails till in despair they have
ceased to expect any more, and
while they may not have the
grief of a great bereavement,
they have what is almost as bad,
the bitter consciousness that they
are not in mind enough even to
call out a few poor lines iron one
whose infancy and early years
they watched with sleepless love.
Sons are often guilty of this crime
II cannot call it less--from sheer
neglect or. Incidence. While an
hour, perhaps q few moments,
would suffice to write a letter
which would give unspeakable
satisfaction, they let months and
even years slip away in utter in
difference to all the pain they are
causing. 0, how full is many a
mothers heart of sorrow and fore
boding, when just a few wcrGs
from an absent son, would, fill it
with joy and praise! Such in
difference or neglect is shameful
and wicked. One need not won.
der that sons guilty of it are not
prospered, that they wait in vain
for those turns Of fortune which
will send them home. as they
dream to surprise the old neigh
borhood with their wealth. q Their
thoughtlessness has been produc
tive only Of disaster.
Keep up your intercourse with
father or mother; do not deem it
sufficient to write wien something
important is to be told; do not
say, "No news is good news. =
If it be but a few lines, write
them; write, if it be only to say,
81 am well" if it be only to send
the salutation that says they are
"dear," or the farewell that tells
them that you are "afec:ionate'
still. The little messengers shall
be like caskets of jewel, and the
tears that fall fondly over them
will be treasures for you. Say
with a warm.hearted SON
The hills may tower, the waves may rise
And roll between my home and me;
Yet shall my quenchless memories
Turn with undying love to thee'
---------------