The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1881-10-22
THREE EPoCHS OF HOME LIFE.
Grit, in the National Republican.

What a wel-spring of Joy to the duality of the
household is the first baby! 1t completes the
trinity of their lives. As the Spirit is to the Fa-
Their and Son. even so is the first fruit of welded
love to the husband and wife. 1t is the sanctifer.
When the little stranger comes the house is
hushed the shades are drawn, the lights are
turned low, the footballs of those who move about
are tempered with silence and even the breath
ings of the watchers are made softer by the advent
The father bends anxiously above the partner
of his joys, and the look of love that former y
beamed from his eyes becomes one of fixed adora-
ton. He gazes in awe upon the newborn pill
grim: inspects with shy curiousness its tiny
pink fingers, its ruby lips, its eyes; mayhap he
even ventures to kiss or touch its velvet cheek,
and if he does so the awkward caress from his
clumsy yet manly palm or bearded lips evokes a
smile upon the face of the young wife who now,
through great suffering has won and nobly wears
the brightest, purest hottest crown of womanhood.
And the mOther-now that the struggle and
anguish of dying are over-when she finds that
with her return from the Great Presence she has
brought another life besides her own to add to
the JOYS of Iiving-ah with what tenderness
with what a deep, pure, holy light shining from
her eyes does she look down upon the infant slum-
bering upon her bosom! And with what affec-
tion-how reverently does she gaze upward into
the face of the father Of her babe. The undying
devotion of lifetime is centered in one brief
glance and the innermost recesses of her soul are
revealed TO him who of all men she most henors
and loves the best.
Years may come and 90, time may scatter the
seeds Of f0rgetfuneSS along their way in life, but
never, aerer will either OF the two fail to remem-
Der the day when God sealed their union with a
human heart
And in the dark days which sooner or later
must of a necessity sometime come for a season
to dim the light of every hearth-stone. their own
among the number, there will rise up TO them a
sweet, heart-comforting vision, picturing to their
souls that first great event recorded in the history
Of hOme-the coming of the first baby.
Baby's advent into married life constitutes the
first great epoch as set down in the book OF the
family. Thenceforth time is reckoned according
TO the calendar of love.
Mother visited US the year baby was born"
says the young wife. "She came when baby was
three weeks old, and that was on the 23d of May
just one year ago"
If any one doubts, she clinches her assertion
with:
'Oh. know l am right, for we made Charlie a
visit when baby was three months old; that
was the last week in August, and mother went
with us
- People very soon learn not to differ as to dates
with the young mother. In fact, in the generality
Of cases, after one or two attempts they would as
soon think of disPuting the correctness of the
almanac or even the accuracy Of time itself.
And the proud father, he, too, fixes the date Of
many events after the same fashion But men
are so stupid where babies are concerned! He
does not always reckon accurately; nevertheless
he says: Let me see; why, we have really been
in our new house over two years; You remember
We moved when baby was six months old"
Six months and four days." adds the mother
And she is right. All, who can fathom the secret
power which thus enables maternity to measure
off so readily even the smallest fragments of time
and measure them correctly? By what subtle
rule of the arithmetic of love can the mother so
easily compute figures pulling to the masculine
mind and give the true result down to the very
seconds even and that, it seems to the uniniti-
ated, instantaneously.
Yes, baby is the pivot upon which the family
revolves. And baby is a power in the household
q young tyrant, yet one to whom all readily sub
nit.
But though baby is an imperious ruler no mon
arch is more lavish in the distribution of such
tavors and blessings as royalty can give Baby
nights upand beauties the whole house. furnishes
II with riches which kings covet and all people
admire; banishes strife; Oftentimes preserves the
family from disruption by drawing back to each
other two hearts that had begun, before the young
prince came to set up his authority over them TO
drift apart.
Yes, baby is the cement which holds the fras.-
ments OF many homes together
Time rolls on, and baby, nourished bv love and
the mOther-care grows and fiourishes. the rarest
and flirest flower in all the world to at least two
of the people who dwell therein.
Bv and by another and another is added. until
home blossoms with bright, sweet exotics. sent
tlither to cheer and comfort the hearts of those