Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1876-04-12

By WILLIAM BALL.

e.
Various are the sweet and hallOwed
influences of that dear spot. But the
particular charm of that name lies not
so much i'm the home itself as in the
cherished, objects which there reside.
A mother lives there. All! what more
need we say that were enough to make
the dreariest spot on earth a happy one.
That were enough to make home the
most charming, the most beloved, of all
places. Towards that spot wandering
and erring child can bend his steps,
while it looms up before him as tn ''Star
of Bethlehem" did to the shepherds.
There can he come and in humble PEN
tinence confess his faults, and he Is
welcome, ever welcome; all his way
wardness is forgotten; he is son, a
member, of happy home agaia. The
same kind mother who clasped him to
to her breast when an infant, now
yearns over him with all the tenderness
she displayed then, and with sense
of peace he pillows his heavy head on
her bosom. The toiling man, as his
home comes i'm sight. when returning
from his daily task, feels a swelling i'm
his manly bosom, and when at the thres-
hold his fond wife meets him with a
smile, aud his children cluster around
him, how ready is he to exclaim with
the poet, "There is no place like hOme.'
The wandering sailor, as he climbs the
giddy mast, turns with feelings of pleas
ure to the cot on the seaside where
dwells all on earth that's dear to him.
On that sandy beach his youthful hands
first picked the pebbles from the sea,
and memory hallOws all the scenes Of
his infancy.
How sweet is it to retire from the
noise and hustle of the world outside to
a quiet home, there to sit among our
loved ones and listen to their kind vol
merry laughter and participate in their
childish sports. 'Tis indeed like a revi-
wing cordial to the wearied spirit, made
harsh and irascible by the strife of the
world at large. Philosophers may say
that the sentiments and disposition Of a
nation are developed by schools, collie
ges, &C., but We point to the home as
the place which gives bias to the mind
the mind of a nation. The lessons OF
religion and morality which are incul-
Gated there guide through life the recip
lent of them. 1t is the lesson of piety
from a mothers tongue that causes him
to shun vice and all wickedness, and
choose the better part of virtue and
godliness. These serve through life as
monitors to check the rising passions,
to rule the stubborn spirit, and develop
at every point the goodness and cOnsci-
entiOusness of youthful home-nur-
tured mind. ar
In the lives of all great men We trace
the moving power and energy Of their
character to the early period of their
| life, when the fostering care of a mother
and the loving sternness of a father
formed their habits and controlled their
actions. In fact, wherever We turn our
eyes over this vast world we find ample
and conclusive evidence that, why one
nation differs from another in power or
in civilization is that the home infiu-
ence has been exerted upon its citizens
i'm their youthful days. Did space per-
init, we might speak Of the church as
the Christians home, but We will con-
clude by breathing the fervent prayer
that we may all attain to that home on
high, which above all others is the most
delightful. The most pleasant home on
earth is liable to change, and the dear
ones i'm hom rest its charms are often
separated. the one from the other; but
in that perfect home ON high no change
will ever mar the happiness which
reigBs supreme, and no separation will
ever take place among those who are
counted worthy to inherit its ineffable
and fadeless joys. +-....-... ....-.l b.