The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1873-05-08
MOTHERS.
BY MRS. S. D. HERRITT.
NV task is but half

My task is but half
| Completed. Hitherto I have revelled
In the poetry of maternal love-
But there is sterner work for her to do,
| Who trains her child for purity on earth
| And for health immortal in heavenly spheres.
Fearful realities demend firm nerve.
! Facts have come to my observation
| that startle me into consciousness of
mothers responsibility. A youth who,
comparatively was Heavens favorite,
for he was surrounded with advantages
which the multitudes do not enjoy, thus
addressed ne:
DO not waste your sympathies on me;
a blight is on my body and on my soul
Why was | permitted to work my own
/ ruin 1t had only knoaoR 1t acds aC1'oag
When such evils lie in the path of the
young, what are their guardians about
| that they are left unwarned While such
| pitfalls exist in our way, there is no need
for preaching future hell-fire. The tor
ments of these evils are worse he'll than
We have reason to dread in the coming
| future" This young man is but one of
countless multitude who constitute the
vast procession that send back a pitiful
wall from the verge of the yawing guilt.
As philanthropists even, can we be thus
appealed to and not feel our entire being
stung by so just reproach? While there
is so much done to pamper the body, so
much precious time, money, and energy
given to the toilet and the table, some
duties must of necessity be neglected
As mothers the great Supreme has in
trusted to our keeping the richest treas
ure that was ever drawn from the bank
OF heaven. The cashet is admired, and
the utmost skill is taxed to perfect its
adjoining according to the approved style
OF the times. Some of you. perhaps, are
| anxious, if another has succeeded better
than yourselves in transferring the latest
models from the fashion plates so as to
best effect the charm of gracefulness up
on the "dld6aster'' that contains these
jewels; but while such trihes have abb
sorbed the attention, deadly virus many
have been insinuated through the loosen
ed clasp, and ere you are aware, in the
sight of him who holds the bonds of your
guardianship, the luster of that price
less gem is gone hopelessly gone: bar
tered way for less than s'a mess of pot
tage"
| When l see professedly Christian
mother discoursing the latest fashions for
the arranging OF ffrills and jackets, until
her brain reels,-or wearying in toll
over tempting viands, feeling of COM
mlseration comes over me, and [ query
could she attach importance to these
matters, if she realized that sixty thous-
and of the youth of our land are dying
annually from the effects of a hateful
habit which was contracted while yet
children?
Alas !! these same little cherubs that
are now sporting with your tresses, pull
ing at your jewels, and cunningly vim
ing your fondest caresses, even uoao de-
mand your vigilance. You may consider
them as only infants, and while you are
attending to the supposed claims of So
clal life, they are turned over to the care
OF hlrellngs for few brief years, the die
is east, and you awake only to hear the
pitiful wall, IF had kaaoaoa it aoos
a0rong !" When that wall comes up to
you from the opening grave ofyour own
child, then and there. you will learn the
supreme value of mental culture over
temporal adornments.
And, when in that coming future. the
light of eternity falls upon Heavens
ledger. we shall comprehend the nature
OF those bonds which hold the mother
responsible as the guardian of her child