The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-01-28
An Indoor Tragedy.

Well nigh half century ago newly
married couple settled in one Of the west
ern counties Of Pennsylvania. They had
what their neighbors deemed fair capi-
tai with which to begin life-a we'll
stocked though small farm, sound health,
good common sense, and more than aver
age amount of shrewd intelligence and cul-
ture. Under all this was sincere trust in
God, and Jealous, sensitive love for each
other, neither of which their neighbors
knew much about. American backwoods
farmers take pride in covering their emo
tons under hide as tough as that of
their own beeves. They had three
Or 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
awrenching of heart in myriads of homes,
and answered SO differently. The fear of
God seemed to Jacob and his wife the best
heritage to give them; the next best, plen-
ty of money. To give them the first, they
began by hedging the children's lives with
system of rules, borrowed half from the
Jewish laws, and half from the theory of
their sect. Strict morality, the keeping
Of Sunday as a periodical day of
peniteuce and wretchedness, the learning
under penalty of. dark closets and
thrashing Of the chief duty of man, therein
was their religion. Life they were shown
as straight and hard path through dark
valley with the terrors Of Sinai behind,
and the traps and pitfalls of flaming hell
on either side. Even Jacobs wife, Mary,
holding herr darlings to her breast, than
which no mothers ever ached or throbbed
with more tenderness, had no other SER
mon to preach to them. 1t never occurred
to hero her husband that it was into just
such fields Of grain. as those about
them, under just such towering cedars,
that Jesus led his disciples and taught
them, by the sunshine and the rain, the
tender mercies of God. The world grew
green around them, faded again and wrap
ped itself in snow, year after year the river
sang its mysterious song to the woods at
their very door and overhead the stars
that had declared to the patriarchs of the
world the infinite secrets of Jehovah bla
zoned them forth still, unregarded. Day
unto day uttered speech, and night unto
night showed forth knowledge Of Him, buI
both farmer and wife were deaf and blind
God was to be approached only through
dog cared catechism, and fields and riyel
were worth only SO much fish and wheat
per year,
The children's salvation being thus pro
vided for, the next thing to be insured wa
money. Husband and wife worked ant
stinted as only a Scotch-Irish farmer.
family can work and stint. All produc
that was sala5le went to market; the chill
dren were reared on the refuse, the skim
milk, poorest bacon, and watery potatoes
Their clothes were coarse and patched
their feet bare and chilblained. The hous
grew barer year by year, the father
back moro bent, his face harder
but the balance in bank increase
dollar by dollar. AS for the plump
bonny Mary, she had long ago joined tha
sisterhood of lean, yellow-skinned, tooth
less women, who, with dirty calico dresse
and wisps of hair twisted up behint
are sometimes found in farm-hoRses lik
CHASTITY megrims, or daylight spectres of
wasted life. When churning aud scrul
bling were done, she would sit up until nes
morning washing and darning their clothe
that they might look more ''genteel' tha
she, dragging her aching body to look |
them when they slept, praying for the
with fierce longing to have power to
God himself--to be able to protect al
care for them. The boys had certa
strong and animal propensities, and phys
cal tendencies which required skill OIL
knowledge to guide or restrain. One hi
amorbid imagination; another tenden'
to alchoholic poisoning, against which /
diet and training from infancy should ha
defended him. The girls, left to themselvs
were filling their brain with sickly fal
fancies of life and their work in it. b
what time had Mary to read or acquirein a
way the power to comprehend or help /
children ? There was scrubbing and chui
ing to be done, the money to be save
Boys and girls were sent to colleges q
seminaries; every advantage that educate
could give them were theirs; the only m
take Jacob and his wife made in this
spect was not to educate themselves W,