Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-03-29

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dren's food, her children's looks, her chill
| dren's companionships. However much
help Hannah may have, think she ought
| every year, at least, make one garment
for Samuel. The Lord have mercy on a
man who is so unfortunate as to have had
| law mOtherl
:. Again, Hannah stands before you as
an intelligent mother. From the way in
| which she talked IN this chapter, and
from the way she managed this boy, you
Know she was intelligent. There are no
persons IN community who need to be
so wise and wetl-lntormed as mothers.
Oh thIs work of culture in children for
this world and the nextl This child Ia
timid, and 1t must be reused up and
pushed out into activity. This child is
forward, and he must be held back and
tanned down into modesty and pOliteness.
Rewards for one, punishment for auoth-
er. That which will make George will
ruin John. The rod is necessary in one
case, while tr0wn OF displeasure is more
than enough in another. Whipping and
dark closet do not exhaust all the
rounds OF domestic discipline. There
have been children who have grown up
and gone to glory without ever having
had their ears boxed.
OIL how much care and intelligence
are necessary In the rearing of ohildreni
But IN this day, when there are SO many
DOCKS on the subject, no parent is eX-
cusable in being ignorant Of the best
mode or bringing up child. If parents
knew more OF dietetics there would not
be so many dyspeptic stomachs, and
weak nerves, and Incompetent hvers
among children. If parents knew more
OF physiology there would not be so
many curved spines, and cramped chests,
and intiamed thrOats, 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 bO0rlsh prOciivities. If
parents knew more OF Christ, and prac-
ticed more of His religion, there would
not be 80 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 Internal
triumph.
The eaglets in the eyrie have no advan-
tages over the eaglets of a thousand years
ago; the Kids have no superior 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 OPP
portunities OF improving ourselves in the
best manner of cultiVating children, that
so often there is no more advancement in
this respect than there has been among
the kids and the eaglets aud the whelps.
III. Again, Hannah stands before you
as Christian mother. From her prayers
and from the way she cOnsecated her
| boy to God know that she was good. A
mother may have the finest culture, the
most brilliant surroundings; but she Is
not nit for her duties unless she be aChris-
tIan mother. There may be well-read IL
bTaries in the house; and exquisite music
in the paFlor; and the canvas OF the best
artists ad0rning the walls; and the ward
robe be crowded with tasteful apparel;
and the children be wonderful for their
attachments, and make the house ring
with laughter and innocent mirth; but
there is something wOeful-lOOking in that
house If it be not also the residence OF q
Christian mother.
/ bless God that there are not many
prayerless mOthers-nOt many of them.
The weight of responsibility is so great
that they feel the need Of a Divine hand
TO help, and a Divine voice TO comfort,
and Divine beart to sympathise. Thou
sands of mothers have been led into the
kingdom Of God by the hands Of their little
children. There were hundreds of moth
ers who would not have been Christians
had 1t not been for the prattle Of their lit
tie ones. Standing sOme day in the nur-
sery, they beth0ught themselves; "rhis
child God has given me to raise for eter-
nifty. What is my influence upon itY Not
being Christian myself, how can ever
expect him TO become a Christian? Lord
help meW
Are there anxious mothers, who know
nothing OF the infinite help of rellgion2
Then / commend to them Hannah, the
piOus mother OF Samuel. Do not think It
is absolutely impossible that your children
come up iniQuitOus. Out Of just such
fair brows, and bright eyes, and soft
hands, and innocent hearts, crime gets its
victims-extirpating purity from the
heart, and rubbing out the smOOthness
from the brow, and queuching the lustTe
OF the eye, and shrivelling up, and poison
ing, and putrefying, and scathing, and
scalding, and blasting, and burning with
shame and woe.
Every child is a bundle of tremendous
possibilities; and whether that child shall
come forth to life, its heart attuned TO the
eternal harmOnies, and after life Of use
fulness on earth go 10 a life Of Joy in
heaven; or whether across it shall jar
eternal discOrds, and after a life of wrong
doing on earth il shall 90 70 q home Of
impenetrable darkness and an abyss Of
immeasurable plunge, rs being decided
by nursery song and Sabbath lesson, and
evening prayer, and walk, and ride, and
look, and fr0wn, and smile. Ohl how
many children in glory, crOwding all the
battlements, and lifting q milli0n-Voiced
hosanna, brought 10 God through Chris
tian parentagei
One hundred and twenty clergymen
were together, and they were telling
their experience and their ancestry; and
Of the 100 elergymen, how many Of them,
do you suppose, assigned as the means OF
their conversion the Influence OF a Chris
tian m0tberY One hundred out Of the
1901 Phillip DOddridge was brought 10
God by the scripture lesson on the Dutch
tiles OF a chimney fireplace. The mother
thinks she Ia only rocking a child, but at
the same tune she may be rocking the
fate Of nations. rocking the glOries Of
heaven. The same maternal power that
may lift the child up may press child
down.
A daughter came TO worldly mother
and said she was anxious about her sins,
and she had been praying all night. The
mother said: "Oh, stop prayingl don't
believe in prayingi Get over all these re-
ligious notions and pll give you a dress
that will cost $500, and you may wear 1t
next week 70 that party" The daughter
took the dress, and she moved In the gay
circle, the gayest Of all the gay, that
night; and sure enough, all religious i'm
pressions were gone, and she stopped
praying. A few months after she came 10
die, aud in her closing moments said:
Mother, | wish you would bring me
that dress that cost $780," The mother
thought tia very strange request, but she