The Russellville Democrat., 1890-03-27


 to you. He has never told any ono, and he never will tell any one, of the sacri 1 fees he has made for you And he II ready to keep right on until that hand that has been toiling for you all those years shall come the very numb ness of death. Ton can not afford t< break his heart. But you are doing it Yes, you are. You have driven ths dagger clear in up to tho hilt.
 l And your motherI warrant she hat never told you much about the night when you were down with scarlot fever or diphtheria, and shc slept not . wink or falling into drowsiness, your first cry awakened her, and brought the words What is 1t, my dear?p Oh, if the old rocking-chair could speak, Oh, if the cradle could only tell it's story of years And when you got better, and were fret ful and hard to please, as is usual in convaiescence, she kept her patience ss well, and were as kind as you were un. reasonable and cross. Oh, midnights oi motherly watching, how can you keer silence? Speak out and tell that wan dering young man the story he so mucl needs to hear.
 By and by, I wonder what has becoms of our old cradle in which all of us chil. dren were rocked, l must ask my sistes when I sec her next time. We were : large family, and that old cradle was going good many years. remember just how it looked. It was old fash. toned and had no tapestry. It's two sides and canopy all of plain wood, but there was great deal of sound sleep. ing in that cradle, and many aches and pains were soothed by 1t as Most wildly remember that the rockers, which came out from under the cradle, were on the top and side very smooth, so smooth that they actually glistened. They must have been worn smooth by foot that long ago ceased it's journey. How tired the foot that pressed it must sometimes have got But 1t did not stop for that. It weni right on and rocked for Phebe the first and for Dewitt the last. And 1t was a cradle like that, or perhaps of modern make and richly uphol. stered, in which your mother rocked you. Can it be that for all that care and devotion you are paying her back with harsh words, or neglects, or q wicked life? Then must tell you thai you are the foolish son who is the heaviness of his mother" Better gc home and kiss her and ask her forgive ness. Kiss her on the lips that have sc often prayed for you. Kiss her on the forehead that so often ached for you. Kiss her on the eyes that have so often wept over you. Better go right away, for she will be dead before long. And how will you feel then after yos realize 1t is your waywardness thai killed her? Romuius made no law against patricide or the staying of a father, matricide, or the staying of : | mother, because he considered such crimes impossible, and for six hundred years there was not crime of that sort in Rome. But then came Lucius Ostitus, and slew his father, proving the crime possible Now, w,do you not think that the child who by wrong behavior sends his father to premature grave is a patri eide, or who by misconduct hastens | mother into the tomb is a matricide? The heaviness of parents over son's depravity Is all the greater because if means spiritual disaster and overthrow. That is the worst thing about it. In the pension regulations . soldier receives for loss of both hands or feet seventy two dollars, For loss of one hand and one foot thirty-six dollars. For loss oi hand or foot thirty dollars. For loss of both eyes seventy-two dollars. But who can calculate the value of s man ruined in body, mind and souli How can parents have any happi- ness about your future destiny, C young man gone astray? Can such opposite lives as you and they are liv. ing come out at the same place? Can holiness and dissipation enter the same gate? Where is the little prayer tha, was taught you at your mothers kneef Is the God they loved and worshiped your God? It is your soul about which they arc most anxious-your soul that shall live after tho earth itself shall be girdled with flames, and the flames dying down will leave the planet only a live coal, and the hye coal shall be. come ashes, and then tho ashes shall be scattered by the whirlwinds of the All mighty.
 Oh that those lips had lanyuagcl Life has
 passed
 With me but roughly since I heard Thee
 last
 What. Is she dead? How you startle me! Is she dead? Then perhaps you have her picture. Hang it up in your room in the place where you oftenest look. Go and study her features, and while you arc looking the past will come back, and you may hear her voice, which is now so still speak again, say ing: From my heavenly home, my dear boy, solicit your reformation and salvation. Go to the Christ who par doned me, and He will pardon you. My Heaven will not be completed till I hear of your changing. But l will hear of 1t right away, for there is joy up hero when one sinner repenteth; and oh, if the next news of that kind that comes up here might come up regarding you, oh my child of many tears and anxieties and prayersl Como, my boy, do you not hear your mothers voice? O my son. my son, would God that could | ule TOT tuet- VI ulN Suii, tdf sou iOunA manl what news from Heaven would be your conversion. Swifter than tele- l graph wire ever carried congratulations to wedding or a coronation would fly heavenward the news of your deliver ance. and whether the one most inter ested in your salvation were on river bank, or in tho temple, oron the battle ments, or in the great tower. the mes sage would be instantly received, and before this service is closed angel would cry to angel: Have you heard the news9 Out wonder Is mother who has I just heard of her wayward boys redemp- tion. Another prodigal has got home. The dead is alive again, and the lost is found. lIallelunh, Amenr'
 l
 Debt. the DemoraliEcr.
 Deht--there is no worse demoralixer of character. Tho sad records of de- faulting, cmbezsling and dishonest fail- nre which we meet with so constantly ! sks. 4.tf.. ,.,-rs.- ~, ~F... f~.lss.l r..nes