Wichita eagle., 1888-02-09
CHILD AND MOTHER.


look. The steep hill did not invite climbers
as it bristled above high stone wall and a
thorny thicket Of holly. ETen the grass
seemed TO grow sparingly, and although the
place was home-a gentlemap's residence
in fact-the grass plats were stuck al over
with inhcspitable signs, such as Keep off
the grass" and keep to the path" All
possibility of making short cuts across
the velvety sward just for the sake
OF feeling the soft, tender verdure
under ones foot, that is one Of Mother
Natures gentle ways Of caressing forlorn and
mothersick and homesick poor humanity
all possibility, say, Of making these short
cuts was prevented by dgly little thorn
patches and obstacles Of twigs SO placed that
even the most daring must perforce keep to
the path ] have known just such people in
life with whom | have tried 4 short cut to the
heart, by the ways of nature, but who for
babe me in worldly barriers, and hung out
these ncttle-like obstacles of conventiorality,
and salfshnesS and hardness of heart warn
ing me TO keep TO the path, and in the end
never got to their hearts at ell.
know a rich man who is afraid TO open
ZIP these short cuts to his heart FOR fear they
will damage his property. lie lives in the
shine will fade his belongings and the way
TO his heart is SO roundabout that only the
bank teller has had patience 10 fad it. no
body takes il as a matter Of course that he
would like to be included as prime mover
in good deeds, in pleasant outings and in
social gatherings, and IL is taken as a matter
of course that he enjoys being left out in bis
shade and gloom, with his one-farthing dip
light of life, and when good people come his
way they cry warlinglv one TO the other
keep off the grass; no thoroughfarc"
But III this house on the HILL with its bare,
bristling chimneys and smooth shaven sward.
everything was well ordered and arranged
end conducted on the system Of temple of
Justice rather than of mercy. Life was meas
ured out evenly by the spoonful, with no
heaped, running over or generous waste
Servants received their wages promptly, and
nothing more; they were reproved for any
failures, reminded Of any neglects; but their
successes and good behavior were accepted
as n matter Of course. In this house there
lived among others a mother and Child The
mother was a good woman. Her house was
clean and in order, and she detied any one to
liRd spcck of dust anywhere. The passion
Of her life was to keep things clean and in
order. She had no time for sentiment, no
sympathy with sympathy; if she loved she
never gave expression to it; if she was sorry
she never said SO, and she made an ostenta-
ton Of her dIudgcry. and all the world
knew that little tin gods were on the pedes-
tails and little tin IDOLS OF small affairs occu-
pIa, those sacred shrInes before which her
soul fell down in worship If she was kind
10 the poor she was not kind with them. If
she prayed for them on cried over them they
never knew it, and if she kissed her child il
was when the little one was asleep. Tears
and prayers and kisses, the simple, homely
testimonials Of sympathy, were the short
cuts to the heart that this mother never un-
covered and over which she kept thickets of
sharp speech, and hung out the sign, Keep
to thu path"
The child too was clean. Clean and lone
some and companionless. The mother kept
the little one clean and comfortable, and
shaved over it in a mistaken fashion, abasing
her soul before those small and petty idols of
hers, and did not know how TO clasp the
tender, thTobbing child heart next her own
and 60 with il into the temple of the living
God. There was lack of companionship
and confidence between the two an awful,
tragic lack when YOU remember that one WAS
the mother and the other her child, unfolding
petal by petal into woman.
IL the little one did wrong, or tore her
clothes or spoiled her apron, she was scolded
and made to feel that she had sinnei in great
WAYS and was one of the wicked ones of earth
By this harsh method she was pucked out OF
her childhood and treated es if she were TO
yather than &. She was not punished in a
way that a child could understand-not stood
in a corner, or sent TO bed, or spanked for
her baby miSdemeanors, but there was ey-
acted of her dumb, servile foroearance. a
patient, long suffering obedience, and she
was exiled into a Siberian night OF frozen
silence and disdain, left 10 say her own baby
PRAYERS to dress herself, take care of herself
feel herself and with no one to speak Ia at
all One, even n woman, might treat felon
in this way, put him into this kind of horri-
BILE, solitary confinement, but surely one
would never punish q baby-a tender, con-
fding little child--in this way, hardening
her heart, prenaturely ageing her. and
spelling that puro material OF the soul out OF
which the mother influence carves either an
angel or a demon.
This mother exacted Of her child an intelli-
gent comprehensive obedience, as if she We're
her own equal in years and training She did
not realize that her hard hand closed over a
butterfly, a fragile creature, half flower, with
a bloom on its wings that once bruised away
can never be replaced-no, not If the mother
offered her soul i'll price.
This child was an imaginative little Great
ure, and often the bloomy wings of her soul
were torn on the thickets as she tried the
shorS cuts to her mothers heart.
One day she STAYED out on the hill past the
time allotted her for recreation, and when
found was trudging over the rose garden
patiently gathering into her hot little palms
all the withcred and dead blossoms. She
gathered them up with infinite care, and in a
little clearing buried them under the soft
grasses with spiked sprig of holly TO mark
each tiny grave.
''How dared you 10 walk on the flower
beds, and why are your hands SO muddy
said the mother, bending over the sweet
flushed face and examining those two tiny
palms with their sbadowy sealnings of tate
and their warm, sweet hollowS that any
mother should have longed 10 kiss.
.'Oh mamma, was only making little /
cemetery to bury the dead roses in, and I
said, Now lay me- over every one" an
swered the child anAiouslJ, looking with her
pure innocent gaze into the depths OF the
Others soul: and her sweet, red mouth
trembled liko two rose petals stirred by a
kiss. But the mother did not understand
and was Gbas.od taat she did not, sending
the child away from her in silence. And thE
child wandered away, away from the sunny
slopes OF mothers love, and On out into the
lonesome wiids of q Siberian night of dark
ness where her little heart began to freeze,
and where there were no stars of promise in
the sky. The white winged host that watched