Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-01-23
An INDOOR TRAGEDY.

lnaiTieu couple SeItIeu IN one OF the
western counties of Pennsylvania. They
had what their neighbOrs deemed fair
capital with which to begin life-a we'll
stocked though small farm, sound
health, good common sense, and a more
than average. amout Of shrewd intelli-
gence and culture. Under all this was
u sincere trust in God and a Jealous,
sensitive love for each other, neither of
which their heighbors knew much
about. American ba6hwoOds farmers
take pride in covering their emotions
under hide as tough az that of their
own beeyes. They had three OF four
children, and night after night, over
the kitchen fire, the problem they set
themselves TO answer was, what is the
best thing we can do with them, and for
them, the question asked daily with
such wrenching of heart in myriad
homes, and answered 50 differently.
The fear of God seemed TO Jacob and
his wife the best heritage to give them;
the next best, plenty Of money. To
give them the first, they began by hedg-
ing the childTen's lives with a system
of rules, borrowed half from the Jewish
laws, half from the theory OF their sect.
Strict morality, the keeping of Sunday
as periodical day of penitence and
wretchedness, the learning underpenal-
ty of dark closets and thTashing of the
chief duty of man, therein was their
religion. Life they were shown as a
straight and hard path through dark
valley with the teTroTs of Sinai behind,
and the traps and pitfalls of flaming
hell on either side. Even Jacobs wife,
Mary, holding her darlings to her breast,
than which no mothers ever ached or
throbbed with more tenderness, had
no other sermon to preach TO them. IL
never occurred to her or her husband
that ii was into Just such fields Of grain
as those about them, under just such
towering cedars. that Jesus led his dis
ciples and taught them, by the sunshine
and the rain, the tender mercies Of God.
The world grew green around them,
faded again and wrapped itsGst in snow,
year after year; the river sang It's mys-
teriOus song to the woods at their very
door; and overhead the stars that had
declared to the patriarchs of the old
world the infinite secrets of Jehovah,
blazOned them forth still unregarded.
Day unto day uttered speech, and night
unto night showed forth knowledge OF
Him, but both farmer and wife were
deaf and blind. God was to be aD-
preached only through dOg-eand
catechism, and fields and river We're
worth only so much fish and wheat per
year. "The children's salvation being
thus provided iOr, the next thing to he
insured was money. Husband and wife |
worked and stinted as only Scotch /
Irish family can work or stint. All
produce that was saleable went to the /
market; the children were reared on I
the refuse, the skim-milk, poorest |
bacon, and watery potatoes. Their I
clothes were coarse and patched, their /
feet bare and chilblaned The house 1
grew barer year by year, the fathers |
back more bent, his face harder, but the 4
balance in bank increased dollar by 1
dollar. As for the plump, bOnny Mary, |
she had long ago Joined that sisterhOOd |
OF lean, yellow-skinned, toOthless
women who, with dirty calico dresses
and wisps of hair twisted up behind,
are sometimes found i'll farm houses, like
ghastIy megTims. or daylight spectres
of wasted life. When churning and
were done she would sit up
until near morning washing and darn
ing their clothes, that they might look
more "genteel' than she, dragging her
aching body to look at them when they
slept, praying for them with fierce
longing to have power to be God him
self-tO be able to protect and care Tor
them. The boys had certain strong
annual pTopensities and physical
tendencies which required skill and
knowledge to guide or restrain. One
had morbid Imagination; another a
to alcoholic poisoning, against
which his diet and training from in
fancy should have defended him. The
girls, left to themselves, were filling
their brains with sickly, false fancies
Of life and their works in il. But what
time had Mary to read or acquire in
any way the power to comprehend or
help her children? There was the
and churning to be done, the
money to be saved. Boys and girls
were sent to colleges and seminaries;
every advantage that education could
give them was theirs; the only mistake
Jacob and bis wife made III this respect
was not to educate themselves as well.
The children went forward; they sat
lown and grubbed. What is the end
If it all? The daughters grew up dys-
)eptic and sickly for the lack Of early !
proper food; they married and died be- :
ore middle age, brilliant, hard women, :
md neither of them in any sense reli-
,OuS. one son went INTO politics. was !
is now a member of Congress, /
me of the most influential of his party. /
Jacob and his mother read Of his life !
n Washington, his wife's receptions,
lis popularity. But long ago he was
tranger to them. 1t is years since he
rOssed the old threshold. What is
here in common between him and the
gnorant, bOOrish farmer and his wife?
\ few weeks ago, the last of the sons
anne home to lie; the one of all the .
hildren who had real power of in :
elect; the only one who was not
shamed to talk of mother fondly
o the last. He died in her arms
runken, worthless sOt. The thin,
aggard woman closed his eyes without
tear. ~ have lost all my children"
be said. 81 must have made a mistake 4
in the beginning. God
nows.n Is no other mother making 7