Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1872-11-28
THE OLD CRADLE.

For about fifteen years that cradle
was going much of the time. When
the older child was taken out, smaller
child was put in. The crackle OF the
rockers is pleasant yet in my ears.
There took my first lesson in music
as mother sang to nle. l have heard
what you would call far better singing
since then, but none that so thoroughly
touchedme. She never got five humid
red dollars per night for singing three
nights at the Academy, with two crl
three encores grudgefully thrown in;
but witsfoat pay she sometimes sangalll
night, and came out whenever eneored,
though she had only two little ears for
an audience. 1t was low, subdued
tone that sings to nae yet acr0sS thirty
five years. ltlnsl8 u
You see the edge of that rocker, worn
quite deep9 That is where her foot
was placed while she sat with knitting
or sewing on summer afternoons,
while the bees hummed at the door,
and the shout of the boy at the oxen
was heard a-field. From the way the
rocker is woln, think that sometimes
that the foot must have been very tired,
and the ankle very sore; but ] do not
think she stopped for that, When such
cradle as that got agoing, it kept on
for years.
Scarlet fever came in the door; we sll
had it; and Oh! how the cradle did go
We contended as to owho should lie in
1t, fer sickness, you know, makes babies
of US all. But after awhile we surren-
dered it to Charlie. He was too cid toi
lie in it, but he seemed SO very, very
sick; and with him in the cradle it was
''Rock ~ "Roek !" ''Rock % But one
day, justas long as you can remember,
the cradle stopped. When child Isl
asleep there is no need Of rocking
Charlie was asleep, He was sound
asleep, Nothing would wake him.
He needed taking up. Mother was too
weak to do it. The neighbors came in
to do that, and put flowers, fresh out of
the garden-deW, between the two still
hands. The fever had gone out Of the
cheek, and left 1t white, very white;i
the rose exchanged for the lily. There
was one less to contend for the CRADLE
It soon started again, and with q voice
not quite so4irui as before, but more
tender, the old song came back 'tBye I
bye! bye!n ~ which meant more to you
than ''Il Trovatore, y rendered by an
opera troupe in the presence of an
American audience, all leaning forward
and noddihg, to show how we'll they
understood Italian. tsteg
There was wooden canopy at the
head of the old cradle, that somehow
got loose and was takenoff, But your
intantlle mind was NEST impressed
with the face which much Of the time
hovered over you. Other women some
times locked in at the child, and said !:
ssThat child's hair will bored !n or,
"what a peculiar chimp or, s'do you
think, that child will live to. grow up ?'
and, although you were not old enough
to understand their talk, by instinct
you knew 1t was something disagreea-i
BILE, and began to cry till the dear,
sweet, familiar face again hovered and
the rainbow arched the sky. Oil we
never get away from the benediction of
such a face 1t looks at US through
storm and night. 1t smiles all to pieces
the worlds frown. After thirty-five
years of rough tumbling on the worlds
couch, it puts us in the cradle again,
and bushes US as with the lullaby of
heaven.
Let tie old cradle rest in the garret |!
1t has earned its quiet. The hands
that shook up its pillow have quit
work. The foot that kept the rocker in
motion is through with its journey.
The face that hovered has been yeile5
from mortal sight. Cradle of blessed
memories Cradle that soothed so
many little griefsI Cradle that kindled
so many hopes Cradle that rested SO
many fatigues! Sleep now myself,
after so many years of putting others to
sleepaolj5
One of the great wants of the age is
the right kind of q cradle and the right
kind of foot to rock it. We are 0p-
posed to the usurpation of patented
self-rockers.u When hear boy call
ing his father old daddy, and see the
yOungster .whaeking his mother across
the face because she will not let him
have ice cream and lemonade in the
same stomach, and at some refusal
holding his breath till he gets black In
the face, so that to save the child from
fits the mother is compelled to give
him another dumping, and he after
wards goes into the world stubborn, },
Willful, selfish, and iintraetable; say
that boy was brought up ina tspatented
self-rocker.' The old-time mother
would have put him down in the old
fashioned cradle, and sung to him,
"Hushl my dear, lie still and slumber,
Holy angels guard thy bed"
and if that did not take the spunk out
of him, would have laid him in an in
verted position across her lap, with his
face downward, and with a rousing
spank made him more susceptible to
the music Rer. T. De Wit Tdtnsdge-