Dodge City times., 1888-01-05

eloquencs, and law, and bsnevolencs,
have come from tbs folds. Washington
from the fields. Jefferson from the
fields. The presidential 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
overfowing populations Of our crowded
cities will have to take to the fields. In-
stead of ten merchants in rivalry as to
who shall sell that one apple, we want at
least eight Of them to go out and raise
apples. Instead of ten merchants desiring
to sell that one bushel of wheat, we want
at least eight Of them to go out and raiss
wheat. The world wants now more hard
hands, more bronzed cheeks, more mus
cular arms. To the fields! God honored
them when he woke up the shepherds by
the midnight anthem, and he will, while
the world lasts, con tinue to honor the
fields. When the shepherds crook was
that famous night stood ag ainst the wall
Of the Bethlehe kahn, it was q prophecy
Of the time when thresher's fail, and
farmers plow, and woodman's axe, and
ox's yoke, and sheaf- binders rake shall
surrender to the God who made the coun-
try as man made the town.
Behold also that on that Christmas
night God honored motherhood. Two
angels on their wings might have brought
an infant Saviour to Bethlehem without
Mary's being there at all. When the viii
layers on the morning of December .
awoke. by Divine arrangement and in
some unexplained way, the child, Jesus,
might have been found in some comfort
able cradle of the village. But no, no!
Motherhood for all time was to bs con-
secrated, and one of the tenderest rela-
tions was to be the maternal relation, and
one Of the sweetest words ''motEer." In
all ages God has honored good mother
hood. John Wesley had good
mother: st. Bernard had good
mother; Samuel Budgett good
mother; Doddridge a good mother; Wall
ter Scott a good mother, Benjamin West
a good mother. In a great aud ience. most
of whom were Christians. l asked that all
those who had been blessed of Christian
mothers arise, and almost the entire as
sembly stood up. Don't you see how i'm
portant it is that all motherhood be con-
secrated? Why did Titan, the Italian
artist, when he sketched tho Madonna,
make it an italian face? Why did Ru-
bens. the German artist in his Madonna,
make it German face? Why did Joshua
Reynolds, the English artist, in his Ma
donna, make it an English face? Why did
Murillo, the Spanish artist, in his Ma
donna, make it Spanish face? never
heard, but 1 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 a good,
fa fnI
with tears, while you say to yourself.
that was my mother. The first word q
child utters is apt to be mother" and
the old man In his dying dream calls,
"Mother! motherw 1t matters not
whether she was brought up in the sur
roundings of a city, and in af!luent home,
and was dressed appropriately with ref.
erence to the demands of modern 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 fire.
place, with great backlog ablazs on a
winter night. 1t matters not how many
wrinkles crossed and recrossed her face,
or how much her shoulders stopped With
the burdens of long life, if you painted
q Madonna hers would be the face. What
a gentle hand she had when we were sick,
and what q voice to sOothe pain, and was
there any one who could SO fill up q
room with peace, and purity, and
light? And what O 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, CONS 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 happy New Year. But mol
That would not be fair tol call you
back. You had troubles enough, and
aches enough, and bereavements
enough while you were here.
Tarry by the throne, mother, till we
join you there. your prayers all answered.
and in the eternal homestead of our God
we shall gain keep Christmas jubilee to-
gether. But speak from YOUR thrones, all
you glorified mothers, and say to all these,
your sons and daughters, words of love,
words Of warning, words of cheer. They
need your voice, for they have travelled
far and with many a heart-break since
you left them, iand You do well to call
from the heights Of Heaven to the valleys
of the earth. Hail. enthroned ancestry
We are coming. Keep place for US right
beside you at the banquet.
Slow-footed years. More swiftly run
Into the gold Of that unsetting sun.
Homesick we are for thee,
Calm land hevond the