The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-02-27
.1aa ITs y A IT
Indoor Tragedy.

nc1Suuors Knew mucn ABOUT. Amer
lean backwoods farmers take pride
= 10 covering their emotions under a
hide as tough as that. of their own
beeves. They had three or fonr chill
dren, and night after night, over the
Kitchen FIRE, the problem they set
= SEthemseiyes To answer was, what is
= Athe pest we can do with them, and for
them the question asked daily with
sueha wrenching OF heart in very
many homes, and answered SO differ
. neenfly. The fear of God seemed TO
Jacob and bic wife as.the best heritage
TO give them; the next best plenty of
ssn money! To give them the first they
- began by hedging heschildrenisolives
with system of rules, borrowed half
FROM ed ewIsh laws, hall from the
&tha0fy &c their sect. Strict fnorality.
the keeping of Sunday as periodical
thdays OF penitence and wretehedness.
the learning. under penalty of dark
closets and thrashings, of thezchief
rszdpties Of mans stherefh was their relig-
lon. Life they were shown as
straight and rhard path through O. dark
gEE8lle with the terforsi of Sinai be-
hind, and the traps and pitfalls OF q
flaming hell on either side. ~ Even
S1 Jacobs wife, Mary, holding herAdar-
hngs TO her breast. than which no
@tes mothers heart ever ached or throbbed
with more tenderness, had no other
sermon for them. 1t never occurred
stothem that was into just such
u fields Of gfaifis as chose about them,
under just such towering cedars, that
Jesus sfedI his disci pies and taught
them, by the sunshine and rain,7 the
tender mefcies of God. The world
grew green around them, faded again,
Z \ and wrapped Itself in snow ,ly ear after
year; fhee river sang It's mysterious
=, song to the woods at her very door !:
and overhead the stars that had de-
elared to the spatriarchsl Kof'1hea old
world, the infinite secrets of Jehovah,
blazoned them forth still unregarded
Day unto day uttered, speech, and
might unto night Showed forth knowl-
edge of Him, but both farmer and
wife were deaf and blind. God was
TO be approached only through dog
cared catechism, and fields and rivers
were worth only SO much fsh and
wheat per year. = .
= The ehiidren's salvation being thus
kproyiaeh for, the next thug to be in
H1red was the money. Husband and
wife worked and stinted as only a
Scotch-Irish farmers family can work
or stint. All produce that was eala-
: gble went to the market; the children
Gwefe reared on he refuse, the skim
milk, poorest bacon and watery pota-
Goes. sqheir clothes were coarse and
patched, their feet bare and chilblain-
s Sd. EEhe lhonse1 grew barer every
year. The fathers back more bent,
his face, harder. but the balance in
bank Increased dollar BY dollar AS
!. for the plump, boRay Mary, she had
long ago Joined that sisterhood of
leaH yeliOw skinned, foothless wo-
men, who, with dirty calico dresses,
and whisks of hair twisted up behind,
are sometimes found in farm houses
like CHASTITY megrims, ike daylight
spectres of q wasted life. When
washing and scrubbing were done,'
she would sit mp until near morning
patching and darDing their clothes
that they might look more " "genteel,
than she, dragging her aching body
to lopkatsthem when they slept, pray
ing for them with q fierce longing to
have power, to be sGod-to be able to
protect and care for them.- The boys
had certain strong Fanimal propensi-
ties. and physical tendencies which
required skill and knowledge TO
guide and restrain. One had q NOR
bid Imagination another tendency
to alcoholic poisoning, against which
his diet. and training rom Infancy
should have defended him. The girls
left to themselves were filling their
brains with sickly false fancies of life
and their work in it. Bat what time
had Mary to read or acquire in any
way the power to comprehend or help
her children There was the scrub
bihg and churning to be done, the
money to be saved. Boys aud girls
were sent to colleges and seminaries !;
every advantage that education could
G give was theirs; the only mistake
Jacob and his wife made in this re-
spect was not to edncate themselves
as well. The children went forward !;
they sat down and grubbed.
What is the end of it all? The
daughters grew dyspeptic and sickly
for the lack of early proper food they
Amerried aud died before middle age,
brilliant, hard women, and neither OF
them in any sense reli gious. One
son went into politics. was successful,
is now member of Congress, one of
the most influential oil his party
Jacob and his mother read of his life
in Washington, his wife's receptions,
his popularity. But long ago he was
stranger to them. 1t is years since
he crossed the old threshold. What
is there in comfnon' between him and
the ignorant, boorish farmer and his
wife? A few weeks ago the last of
the SONS came home to die; the one OF
all the children who had real power
of intellect; the only one who was
not ashamed to talk of "mother" fond
sly to the last. He died in her arms, a
drunken, worthless sot. The thin
shaggard woman closed his eyes with
out tear. g | have lost all my chill
dren,v she said.ss.. must have made
amistake somewhere in the beginning.
God knows SSH. $500 5.ae q
is no other mother making this
mistake?
WfI11Am TELL's tale is ended. The
Crns rft fto Cxuio