Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-01-06

their wings might have brought an infant
Saviour to Bethlehem without Mnry's being
there at all. When the villagers, on the
morning of Dec. 26, awoke by divine ar
rangement and i'll 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 tender
est relations was to be the maternal rela-
ton, and one of the sweetest words
mother" In all ages God has honored
good motherhood. John Wesley had a
good mother. st. Bernard had good
mother, Doddridge good mother, Walter
Scott good mother, Benjamin West a
good mother. IN a great audience, most
of whom were Christians, asked that all
those who had been blessed of Christian
mothers arise, and almost the entire as
selnbly 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 the Madonna,
make it an Italian face? Why did Rubens.
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 Madonna.
make it a Spanish face? ! never heard, but
l think they took their own mothers as the
type of Mary, the mother OF Christ. When
you hear some one i'll sermon or Grafton
speak in the abstract of good, faithful,
honest mother your eyes fill up with tears
mother. The first word child utters is
apt to be, mother" and the old man III
his dying dream calls, "Mother! mother"
1t matters not whether she was brought up
in the surroundings of a city, and in afIiu-
ent home, and was dressed appropriately
with reference to the demands of modern
life, or whether she wore tie 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 bnck-logs ablaze on q
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 a
Madonna hers would be the face. What a
gentle hand she had when we We're sick,
there any one who could SO fill mp room
with peace and purity and light? 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 oper the old Bible you used
to read and kneel in the same place where
you used 10 pray, and look upon US as Of
old when you wished us Merry Christ
mas or Happy New Year. But no! That
would not be fair to coil you back. You
had trouble enough, and aches enough,
and bereavements enough while you were
here. larry by the throne, mother, till
we join you there, your prayers all an
swered, ana in the eternal homestead Of
our God We shall again keep Christmas
jubilee together But speak from your
thrones, all you glorihed 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 heart.
break since you left them, and YOU do we'll
to call from the heights Of Heaven to the
valleys Of 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 ure for thee.
Calm land beVOnd the sen,