Savannah morning news., 1885-06-29

/ which viii make George VIII rum JOhn.
/ The rod is necessary in one case While a
7 frown OF displeasure is more than enough
in another Whipping and a dark closet
do not exhaust all the rounds of domestic
( discipline. There have been children who
I have grown up and gone to glory
without ever having had their ears boxed.
/ on, how much care and intelligence is
4 necessary IN the rearing OF children.
+ But in this day when there are so many
+ books on this subjact no parent is eXcus-
able in being ignorant Of the best mode Of
bringing up a child. IL parents knew
more Of dletetics there would not be so
many dyspeptic stOmachs and weak
nerves and inactive liyers among Cnil-
dren. II parents knew more of physiolo-
" there would not be so many curved
spines and cramped chests and inf2med
,hroats and diseased lungs as there are
among children. Ii parents knew more
Of art, and were in sympathy with all that
is beautiful there would not be SO many
children coming out in the world with
bOorsh prOclivities. If parents knew
more Of Christ and practced
more Of his religion, there
would not be so many little feet already
starting on the wrong road, and all around
US voices Of riot and blasphemy would
not come up with such ecstasy Of INFER
nal triumph, The eaglets in the eyre
have no advantages over the eaglets a
thousand years ago; the kids have no SUI
perior way OF climbing up the rocks than
the old goats taught hundreds Of years
ago; the whelps know no more now than
did the whelps Of ages agO-they are
taught no more by the lions Of the desert;
but it is a shame that in this day, when
there are so many opportunities of I'M
proving ourselves in the best manner of
culturing children, that so often there is
no more advancement in this respect than
there has been among the kids and the
eaglets and the whelps.
Again, Hannah stands before us as
Christian mother. From her prayers and
from the way she consecrated her boy TO
God | know she was good. A mother may
have the finest culture, the most brilliant
surroundings; but she is not fit for her
duties unless she be a Christian mother.
There may be well-read libraries IN the
house, and exquisite music in the parlor
and the canvas of the best artists adorn-
ing the walls, and the wardrobe be crowd
ed with tasteful apparel, and the children
be wonderful for their attainments, and
make the house ring with laughter and
innocent mirth, but there ls something
woefUl-lOoking in that house il it be not
also the residence of a Christian mother
l bless God that there are not many
prayerless mothers-nOt many of
them. The weight Of responsibility
is 80 great that they feel the need of a di-
vine hand to help and divine voice to
comfort and divine heart to sympathize.
Thousands of mothers have been led into
the kingdom Of God by the hands OF their
little children. There are hundreds of
mothers who would not have been Chris
tians bad it not been for the prattle OF
their little ones. Standing some day in
the nursery. they bethought themselves:
''Fhis child God has given me to raise for
eternity. What is my influence upon it?
Not being Christian myself, how can |
ever expect him to become a Christian.
Lord, help mew On, are there anxious
mothers who know nothing of the infinite
help of religiony Then / commend to
them Hannah, the piOus mother ofSamuel.
Do not think it is absolutely impos-
sible that your children come up iniqui-
tOus. Out of just such fair brOWs and
bright eyes and soft hands and innocent
hearts crime gets its Yictims-extirpating
purity from the heart and rubbing out the
smOothness from the brow and quenching
the lustre of the eye and sbriveling up
and poisoning and putrefylng and
scathing and scalding and blasting and
burning with shame and woe. Every
child is bundle OF tremendous pOssi-
bilities, and whether that child shall come
forth in life, Its heart attuned to the eter-
nal harmOnies, and after life of useful
ness on earth go to life of iov in heaven,
or whether across it shall jar eternal dis
cords, and after a life of wrOng-dolng on
earth it shall 90 to a home of impenetra-
bic darkness and an abyss of immeasura-
bic plunge. is being decided by nursery
song and Sabbath lesson and evening
prayer and walk and ride and look and
frOwn and smile. Oh, how many children
in glory, crOwding all the battlements
and lifting a milliOn-YOiced hOsanna
brought to God through Christian pa
rentagel One hundred and twenty cler-
gymen were together, and they were tell
ing their experience and their ancestry,
and of the 120 clergYmen how many do
you suppose assigned, as the means of
their conversion, the influence of a Chris
tian mother? One hundred out of the 100 I
Philip D0ddridge was brought to God by
the scripture lesson on the Dutch tile of
the chimney fireplace. The mother
thinks she is only rocking child; but at
the same time she may be rocking the des-
tiny of empires-rockIng the fate of ma
ti0ns-r0cking the glOries OF heaven. The
same maternal power that may lift q
child up may press child down. A
daughter came 10 worldly mother and
said she was anxious about her sins, and
she had been praying all night. The
ing! | don't believe in praying:
get over all those religious notions, and
I'll give you a dress that VIII cost $500,
and you may wear it next week 10 that
party" The daughter took the dress and
she moved in that gay circle. the gayest Of
all the gay that night; and sure enough
all religious impressions We're gone, and
she stopped praying. A few months after
she came TO die, and in her closing mo-
ments said: "MOtber, / wish you would
bring me that dress that cost $500" The
mother thought it very strange request,
but she brought il TO please the dying
child. "Now." said the daughter,
'Mother, hang the dress at at the foot Of
my bed" and the dress was hung there
on the foot of the bed. Then the dying
girl got up on one elbow and looked at her
mother and then pointed TO the dress and
said: "Mother, that dress is the price of
my sOulP' Oh, what a momentOus thing
il is TO be n mOtherl
Again and lastly, Hannah stands be-
fore us as the rewarded mother. Fer all
the coats she made for samuel; for all
the prayers she offered for him; for the
discipline she eXerted over him, she got
abundant compensation in the piety and
the usefulness and the popularity Of her
son samuel; and that IS true in all ages.
Every mother gets fun pay for all the
prayers and tears in behalf Of her chill
frhaf Fs, -