Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-01-25

Well nigh half Q century ago Q newly-mar-,
led couple settled in one Of the western cou A
neis hbors deemed q fair capital with viii .h n
begin lne-A well-stocked though small fnrE
q und health, good common sense, and \ more
culture. Under all this was sine re trn.t IN
God, and Jealous, sensitive lovef IN each other.
ne ither Of which their neighbo N kneW mncR
about: American backwOOds farmers take q
tough IS that Of their own beeyes. They had
thee or four children, AID night after night,
over the Kitchen fire, the problem they set them
selves 20 a.swer was, y nat Is the best thing we
can DO with them, aid for them; the question
asked dasiy with such . wrenching of heart in
myriedy. of homes, and answered 50 differently
IAe fe ar Of God seemed to Jacob and his wife
Of money To give them the first. t tSsy
o@san by hedging the children's lives with a
81 stem OF rules, borrowed half from the Jewish
Avs, and half from the theory Of their sect.
riodical day Of penitence and wretchedness, the
thrashings of the chief daty of nan, therein was
and hard path Through dark valley with the
terr0rs Of Sinai behind, and the ans and nit
falls Of . flaming hell on either side. Even ,Ja-
nss dsTpss t. her
throb6ed with more tenderness, had no other
sermon to preach to them. 1t never occurred to
her or her husband that it was into jsst such
such towering cedars, that Jesus led his disci-
pies and taught them, by the sunshine and the
rain, the tender mereies Of God. The world
ped itself in snow, year after year; the river
sang Its mysterious song 70 the woods at their
very door; and overhead the stare that had de-
secrets Of Jehovah bla<Oned them forth still,
unregarded. Day unto day uttered speech, and
night unto night showed forth knowlee &c of
Him. but both farmer and wife were deaf and
M WA tn ha choA mil, Oh
dOg-eared catechism, and fields and river
were worth only so much fish and wheat per
The children's salvation being thus provided
for, the next thing to be insured was money
Husband and wife worked and stinted as only a
SCOTCH Irish farmers family can work and stint
AL produce that was salable went to market;
the children were reared on the refuse, the
skim-mild poorest bacon, and watery potatoes
Their clothes were coarse and patched, their
feet bare and chilblained. The house grew
barer year by year, the fathers back more bent,
his face harder, but the balance in bank in
creased dollar by dollar. As for the plump,
toSny Mary, she had long ago Joined that sis
men who, with dirty calico dresses and wlsps of
hair twisted up behind, are sometimes found in
farm-houses IKE ghastly mesrims; or daylight
scrubbing were done she would sit up until near
morning washing and darning their clothes tn at
they might look more ''genteel" than she drag
10 E GeS
have power to be God hiraself-tO be able to
protect and care for them. The boys had GER
tain strong and animal propensities, and physi-
cal tendencies which required skill and knOwl-
edge to guide or restrain. One had morbid
imagination; another q tendency to alcoholic
poisoning, against which his diet and training
from infancy should have defended him. The
girls, left to themselves, we're filling their brain
with sckly false fancies of life and their work
In 1t. But what time had Mary to read or ac-
help her children? There was the scrubbina
and churning to be done, the money to be saved
Boys and girls were sent to colleges and semin-
aries; every advantage that education could
give them were theirs; the only mistake Jacob
ucate themselves well. The children went for
ward; they sat down and grubbed.
What is the end of 1t all? The daughters grew
up dyspeptic and sickly for the lack of early
proper food; they married and died before mid
die age, brilliant, hard women, and neither of
them In any sense religious. One son went into
politics, was successful, Is now a member OF
Congress, one Of the most influential OF his par
ty. Jacob and his mother read Of his life i'm
Washington, his wife's receptions, his Popular
ity: But long ago he was stranger to them.
1t is years since he crossed the old threshold.
What Is there in common between him and the
Ignorant, boOrish farmer and his wife? A few
weeks ago, the last Of the sons came home t.
die; the one Of all the children who had real
power Of intellect; the only one who was not
ashamed 10 talk of ''mother" fondly to the last
He died in her arms, drunken, worthless sot
The thin, haggard woman closed his eyes with
said. 81 must have made a mistake somewhere
in the beginning. God knows"
Is no other mother making this mistakenly
Y. Tribune.