The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-06-05
Motherhood.

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ffown' came from one of them, even when.
theSIittle thing was screaming loudest.
Onssofs these men said to another; ut is
worth exactly $l1 100000 to raise
child ~ The other man, large, strong,
good. hearted specimen he was, alter
studying little, said; ssyou are about
right. The figures are not far wrong.
IF I were to take that child and work
with it and dandIe it on my arms for one
hour, it would break me down. l could
not do it.n He was father and knew
what it, was to pace the floor at night
with sick child and to watch over them
in all their aches and pains: Did you
ever notice how much sympathy is pour
ed out on man who happens to be forced
TO take care of an infant for few days?
Well, woman will do this work all day
and all night, ands@eek after week, un-s
resting, uncomplainiDg, and she. expects
no wages except love.
9 Sometime ago Henry Ward Beecher
preached asefrnon on "The Spirit Of the
Cradle, ,,sswhich was published in Pap-'
mouth Pulpit. Some of the paragraphs
are 30 admirable that We reprint them
and ask every one to give them read.
ing: M /,
what is the richness and fruitfulness and
wonder ofithe Imagination that hoyers
over q Christian woman's cradle. To her,
the star of the East comes again to stand
over where the young child lies. TO
her, the wise .men of the earth might
well come, bearing offerings and incense.
10 her again are renewed all the scenes
of tie sacred stable where the Child lay.
The cradle is her temple: the babe is her
And whatever reason can, and
whatever fancy can, when both of them
ara stimulated by profonndest loye, what.
ever there is near or far, present or to
come, that love is woman's. "Mary kept
.these things in her heart and pondered
.them.o The pondering of mother II
it could be written, if there were any
angelic reporter band to take the best
thoughts and the sweetest fancies, and if
the life. Of a mothers heart could be
written id those early brooding days. it
would shine fit to be read in the Libraries
of the heavenly world itself. Human
nature never comes 80 near to the divine
as when royal woman pours out the
full blood of her thought and fancy y-and
love to the little unheeding, and to her
as yet useless child. Where. else is she
SO beautiful as when she sits in the ecenter
Of this mystic circle: as when she sings
toIher babe, or gazes silently as it feeds
upon her bosom 2 4he stars have nothing
so bright, and the heaven scarcely any
thing more pure and more holy than the
heaVenlyclo love service of q mother to her
little helpless and pnfashioned child.
Now let US not dwell simply upon this
phenomenal beauty. Look, Tor one sin.
gle moment, supon;g 1.-The power of tae
cradle; fofalE lEtHis love, this outaowing
of thedfvinest singssof human nature
was not meant to be expended merely as
luxury for the maternal bosom. There
is meaning in it. Itisone of the sources
Of tha greatest power thatexists on earth.
The power of the. cradle: is greater, than
the power of tho throne greater really
in its diffusion and in its capacity of
usefulness ;yten thousand times greater.
Make me the monarch of the cradles,
and I will give to whosoeyer will the
monarchy of Kingdoms and of the
throne. Motherhood and fatherhood are
the foundation of the highest spiritual
conceptions sof life and society. There
is nothing beyond and higher. Ifyou
would realize those wonderful passages in
the xiii chapter of 1st Corinthians,
which, as applied to ordinary human life,
seem impossib will not say
had them in his mind, but certainly he
might have had-"Love suffereth long
love; is kind; love, envieth not; love
vauntelh not itself'-this is the descrip-
-etion Of the mother overhangipg her
cradle. "Loye is not pufed up; love
seeking not her own : is not easily pro.
voked !; thinkefh no evil; rejoiceth not
in iniguity, rejoiceth in the truth bear
eth ali things, believeth all things, hopeth
all things, endureth ell things. Love
never faileth." 1t is never wearied, it
sleeps not, nor does its power depart from
it. Now, aside from this generalization,
where ia there an exempliication of the
true Christian humility? Where can you
find in all the realm of imagination or in
all the cold and frigid definitions of the.
ology, anything that will interpret to
man the real meaning of humility?
which many folks suppose to be merely
feeling bad, or feeling as though they
weren't worth anything, or: as ii they
we're not good, all Of which things may,
on occasion, be very properly mixed in;
but humility is not either of these things.
For man may feel that he is strong and
wise, and stronger than other folks aud
wiser than other folks, aud yet be very
humble! It is the bringing down Of
accomplishment and value, and organi.
zation of character to the very lowest
levels of life for the sake of love; that is
humility. If-yeu want definition, re.
member your mother.
"In honor preferring one anothel."
But it is impossible say some: You can
do it. 1t is done every day. 1twas done
when you we're born, and all the way
through. It is being done in ten thou
sand households, and the command is to
maketh common in all society which
is, thank God, so almost universal in
every true household where love rules.
Since the cradle is the very root of
human society, it is wise economy in
every community that sees to it, that all
the children are educated, and that the
means of education be made so ample
and convenient that there shall be no
need of complaint. More than that, /
hold that no parent has any s.ch right to
bis child, as that he shall withhold him
from knowledge, for the sake either of
.pelf or prejudice, or superstition, con-
demning the child to all the disabilities
that ignorance brings with it.
Compulsory education is taking the
side Of the little child as against the
heartless pride of venal instincts, of
rude or vulgar father. think that the
system of law that renders education
compulsory was inspired by the spirit of
the cradle. It is the ever growing duty
lamox haxo af falloszinn th at which