The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-08-11

question Is not whether the children VII
or will not be benefited by the bene1iI
ton, and 90 whether II Is worth all thu
trouble and hindrance to the Master I
let them come; but whether that most nc
BILE and tender Of oil FOULS shall acknowl
. edge that most noble and tender Of al
) things-the longing OF q mother for
blessing upon her child.
Hero, then, Is the great fact SGT clearl!
before US. Mothers, your heart Is the tlrs
paradise to every little child God gives you
|, he finds rivers Of water there, and tn,
fruit and flowers OF his earliest human
world, While he can rest there no will
beast can make him afraid; and when o
last he eats OF the inevitable knowledge o
good and evil, and Is fallen and naked ant
ashamed, your love may 80 Clothe him, u
he passes out OF this Eden, that he vii
always live in love Of the paradise regain
ed. And so Two only never call him faith,
erless who has God and his mother"
Then, secondly, while 1t Is eminently
true that the little child has such rich en-,
dowment, and you have such a wonderful
pre.eminence, It Is also true that the pos.
sibilities open out two ways-you may
greatly blight his life, or you may greatly
bless It. The garments that mothers fl on
10 the spirits oil little children, like the
garments that they ct to tho outward form,
only mbte certainly, have n great deal to
do with that child's whole future life. Let
me give you. three instances out OF many
that arc kept in the archives Of the world.
What would you judge to DO the fore.
most thing In Washington? The obvious
answer Is, his perfect, spotless, radiant in.
tegrity. Tho man does not live In this
world who believes that any letter or dos
patch or state paper will ever be found in
any country, which, II we'll understood,
can call this great quality into question,
after he had come to the prime and power
OF his m%anhood,--as for that matter, at
any time in his whole lie. Now It Is an
instructive TACT for mothers, that OF the
few books that have come down To us with
which the mother Of Washington sur
rounded her boy in early lie, tho one
most worn and well used Is book on NOR
ais, by that eminent pattern Of tho old
English integrity, Sir Matthew Hale; and
the place where that book opens easiest,
where 1t is the most dog.eared aud irail, Is
at o chapter on the great account which
we must all give Of the deeds done in the
body. Before that boy went out OF his
home, his mother took care to stamp the
image and superscription OF integrity on
his soul.
What, after his great genius, would you
mention as tho most notable thing in VII
liam Ellery Channing2 We answer at
once, his constant loyalty to broad, free,
fearless examination OF every question
that could present itself to him; a frank
confession OF what he believed to be true
about 1t, no matter what was said against
1t; and an active endeavor to make that
truth a part IF his life. Charming testified,
with proud affection, OF hismother: "She
had the firmness to examine the truth, to
speak 1t, and to act upon 1t, beyond all
women / ever knew" And 80 1t was, that,
when her frail boy must 60 out into the
battle, she had armed him with the breast
plato Of righteousness and the helmet Of
salvation.
What, again, after his genius, stands
foremost in the life of Byron? One answer
only can be given, his utter want Of faith
in women. That one thing did more to
turn his life into NORWOOD ind gall than
all beside. He lost faith, first OF all, in his
mother. In and through his childhood, II
was his mother that clothed him in the
poisoned garments that 30 woefully pene-
trated through all his after life, and made
him the most miserable man in his genera
ton.
And SO one might go on reciting in
stances almost endlessly, il it were need
full, to show how true it is, that the moth
or makes the man.-What then, positively,
shall the mother do who will do her best?
Twill answer this question first by not
ing what she shall do. And l cannot say
n thing before this,-thatt the spiritual
garment she fashions for her little one
from year to year shall not DO black. All
mothers know how long before their
children can utter a word they can read
gladness or gloom in the mothers face.
Let her smile, and the child will laugh let
her look sad, and it will weep. Now, some
mothers, il they have had great troubles
or arc much tried in their daily life, get
into a habit OF sadness that is like a second
nature. The tone OF their voice and the
tenor OF their talk is all in tho pensiye,
minor key. They even Sigh when they
thank God" They talk with JUNCTION Of
who is dead, and how young they were,
and how many arc sick, and what grief is
abroad altogether on the earth. And the
child listens to all that is sad. The moth
or may think he docs not care; but, II my
own earliest memories arc at all true TO
tho common childhood, no does care.
These things chill him through and
through. | remember how l carried the
conversation in my heart once for days
and days, long after the good woman who
had spoken had forgotten all about it.
Mothers, your children have no part or lot
in that matter; death has no dominion
over them, and will not have for this
many a day TO come; and it foolish and
wrong for you to lead them with you into
its dark valley and shadow. II one OF
these little onesshould be taken from you,
1t will be to him only as II he lay down to
sleep. No sweet fruit OF childhood can
grow amid those grim shadows; he has his
own little grief, too, already; he does not
need yours. So, as he stands before the
Lord, and you fashion his spiritual gar.
n,ents from year to year, put plenty Of
gladness into them,-let the first fear wait
for the first sin. Inthe kingdom Of heaven,
to which he uow belongs, there is no
death; his life Is hid with Christ in God.
Then l would ask that the garment of
spiritual influence, which you are ever
fashioning, shall not be OF the nature Of a
atrait;iacket. Has your boy a heavy foot,
o loud voice, o great appetite, a defiant
way and q burly presence altogothorq
Then thank God for 1t, moro than il your
husband had a farm where corn grows
twelve feet high; your child has in him
the making Of a great and good man. The
only iser q, that you will fail to meet the
demand OF this strong, grand nature, and
try to break where you ought to build.
Tho question for you to solve, mother, is
not how TO subdue him, but how to direct
him. Sometimes mothers are really solf.
lshi they refuse to pay the price for this
noble growth Of childhood. 1t is n sad
mistake to suppose, that this sturdy
darling must be bad; first the wheat, then
the tares. DR.. Kane was a wonder Of
hnistarniIa energy In childhnnl- climbing