Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-01-07
all husbandmen. Not only
CHRISTMAS NIGHT,

~OrchardlStS, all husbandmen. Not only
that
CHRISTMAS NIGHT,
but all up and down the worlds history
God has been honoring the fields.
Nearly all the messiahs Of reform. and
literature, and eloquence, and law,
and b~enevolence, have come from the
fields. Washington from the fields.
Jefferson from the fields. The Presi-
Dental martyrs, Garfield and Lincoln, |
from the fields. Henry Clay from the
fields. Daniel Webster from the fields.
| Martin Luther from the fields. And
before this world is right the overflow
ing populations of III crowded cities
| will have TO take to the fields. Instead
OF ten merchants in rivalry as TO who
shall sell that one apple, we want at
least eight of them TO 60 out and raise
apples. Instead of ten merchants de-
string to sell that one bushel of wheat.
we IA at least eight of them to 60
out and raise wheat. The world wants
now more hard hands, more bronzed
cheeks, m ,re muscular arms. To the
fields! God hOnored them when he
woke up the shepherds by the midnight
anthem, and he will, while the world
lasts, continue to honor the fields,
When the shepherds crook was that
famous night stood against the
wall of the Bethlehem kahn,
it was a prophecy of the tue when
thresher's fail, and farmers plough,
and woodlands axe, and ox's yoke,
and sheaf binders rake shall surrender
to the Ged who made the country as
man made the town.
o HONORs MOTHERHOOD.
Behold also that on t'r"t Christmas
night God honored motherhood. Two
angels on their wings might have
brought an infant Saviour to Bethle-
hem without Mary's being there at all.
When the villagers, on the morning of
December 26, awoke, by divine ar
rangement and in some unexplained
way, the child Jesus might have been
found in some comfortable cradle of
the village. But no, no! Motherhood
for all time was to be consecrated, and
one of the tenderest relations was to be
the maternal relation, and one of the
sweetest words "mother." In all ages
God has honored good motherhood.
John Wesley had a good mother, st.
Bernard had a good mother, Samuel
Budget a good mother, Doddridge a
good mother, Walter Scott a good
mother, Benjamin West a good mother.
In a great audience, most of whom
were Christians, l asked that all those
| who had been blessed of Christian
mothers arise, and almost the entire
assembly stood up. Don't you see how
important it is that all
MOTHERHOOD
be consecratedp Why did Titan, the
Italian artist, when he sketched the
Madonna make it an Italian facep Why
did Rubens, the German artist, in his
Madonna make it a German face? Why
did Joshua Reynolds, the English
artist, in his Madona make it an Eng
lish faceP Why did Murillo, the Span
isb artist, in his Madonna make it a
Spanish facep 1 never heard. but l
think they took their own mothers as
the type of Mary, the mother of Christ.
When you hear some one in sermon or
GRAFTON speak in the abstract
of good, faithful, honest
mother your eyes fill up with
tears, while you say to yourself, that
was my mother. The first word a
child uttcrs Is apt to be, Mother and
the old man in his dying dream calls
'.Mother! Mother!" 1t matters not
whether she was brought up in the sur
roundings of a city, and in a~tiluent
home, and was dressed appropriately
with reference to the demands of mod
ern life or whether she wore the old
time cap. and great round spectacles
and apron of her own make, and knit
your socks with her own needles seated
by the broad fireplace, with great
back log ablaze on a winter night. 1t
matters not how many wrinkles crossed
or re-crossed her face, or how much
her shoulders stopped with the burdens
Of a long life, il you painted a Madonna
hers would be the face. What
GENTLE HAND
she had when we were sick, and what a
voice to soothe pain, and was there any
one who could so fill up a room with
peace, and purity, and lightp And
what a sad day that was when we came
home and she could greet us not, for
her lips were forever still. Come back,
mother, this Christmas day, and take
your old place, and as ten, or twenty,
or fifty years ago, come and open the
old Bible you used to, read and kneel
IN the same place where you used to
pray, and look upon us as Of old when
you wished us a Merry Christmas or a
Happy New Year. But. no! That
would not be fair to call you back.
You had troubles enough, and aches
enough, and ~bereayements enough
while you were here. larry by the
throne, mother, till we join you there,
your prayers all answered, and in the
eternal homestead Of our God We shall
again keep
CHRISTMAS JUBILEE
together. But speak from your thrones,
all you glorified mothers. and
say to all these, your o n and daugh-
ters, words of love, words of warning,
words of cheer. They need vOur voice.