Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-03-17

were a large family, and that old
cradle was going a good many years.
| remember just how it looked 1t was
old fashioned and had no tapestry. Its
two sides and canopy all of plain
wood, but there was a great deal of
sound sleeping in that cradle, and
many aches and pains were soothed in
it as it moved to and fro by day and
night. Most wildly [ remember that
the rockers, which came out from I'M
der 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 its journey. How tired
the foot that pressed it must some
times have got! But it did not stop
for that. 1t went right on and rocked
for Phebe the first, and for De Witt
the last. And it was a cradle like
that, or perhaps Of modern make and
richly upholstered, 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 a wicked life2
Then [ must tell you that you are the
foolish son who is the heaviness of
his mother" Better go home and kiss
her, and ask her forgiveness. Kiss
her on the lips that have so often
prayed for you Kiss her on the fore
head that SO often ached for you Kiss
her on the eyes that have so often Wept
over you. Better go right away, for
she viii be dead before long And
how will you feel then after you realize
it is your WayWardness that killed her?
Romulus made no law against patri-
eide, or the Staying Of father; matri-
eide, or the Staying Of a mother be-
cause he considered such crimes inn
possible, and for six hundred years
there was not Il crime Of that sort in
Rome. But then came Lucius Ostius
and slew his father, proving the crime
possible Now do you not think that
the child who by wrong behavior
sends his father to premature grave
is a patricide, or who by misconduct
hastens a mother into the tomb is
matricide?
The heaviness of parents over sons
depravity is all the greater because it
means spiritual disaster and over
throw That is tie worst thing about
it. In the pension regulations a sol
der receives for loss of both hands OF
feet $72. For loss of one hand and
OlIG 1OOU DOO. Il Vi lOSS vi a. lduQ vi
foot $50 For loss Of both eyes $72.
But who can calculate the value of a
whole man ruined body, mind and
soul? How can parents have any hap
piness about your future destiny, oh
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 that
was taught you at your mothers knee?
Is the God they loved and wOrshiped
your God? 1t is your soul about which
they are most anxious, your soul that
shall live after the earth itself shall be
girdled with flames, and the flames,
dying down, will leave the planet only
a live coal, and the live coal shall
have becomes ashes and then the
ashes shall be scattered by the whirl-
winds of the Almighty.
* But, says some young man, my
mother is gone; my behavior will not
trouble her any more"
Oh that those lips had language! Life has passed
With me but roughly since 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 are looking the past will
come back, and you may hear her
voice, which is now so still, speak
again, saying: From my heavenly
home, my dear boy, [ solicit your
reformation and salvation. Go to the
Christ who pardoned me, and he will |
pardon you My heaven will not be
complete till hear of your changing. |
But [ will hear of it right away, for |
there is Joy here when one sinner re-
penteth; 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 |
prayers!
Come, my boy. do you not hear
your mothers voice? Q my son, my |
son, would God that I could die for
thee? Q my son, my son! Young |
mani what news for heaven would be |
your conversion. SWifter than tele-
graphic wire ever cSrricd cOngratu-
latiOns to a wedding or a coronation |
would fly heavenward the news of
your dehverance; and whether the
one most interested in your salvation
were on river bank or in tie temple, |
or on the battlements, or in the great
tower, the message would be instantly
received, and before this service is
closed angel would cry to angel:
Have you heard the news? Out yon-
der is a mother who has just heard OF
her maynard boys redemption An
other prodigal has got home. The
dead is alive again, and the lost is
found. Hallelujah! Amenm