Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va) 1886-1890, 1890-03-18

at your helplessness and tho helpless
ness of the household, and then he
nerved himself up anew and said:
.By the help of God I will not stop;
my children must have home and
education and advantages, and com
Portable starting in the world, and l
must get little something ahead, so
that il am tax, :. these helpless
ones will not |" out on the cold
charities of II I'D" Yes, your
father has been !, .uo,l friend to YOU
He has never told amy one, and he
never will tell any one, of the sacri-
fees he has made for you. And he is
ready to keep right on until unto that
hand that has been toiling for you all
these wears shall como the very numb
ness Of death. You cannot afford to
break his heart. But you are doingit.
Yes, you are. You have driven tho
dagger clear III up to the hilt
And your mother-I warrant she
has never told you much about the
nights when you were down with
scarlet fever or diphtheria, and she
slept not q wink, or, falling into
drowsiness, your first cry awakened
her, and brought the words, What
is it, my dear2" Oh, if the old rock
ing chair could speak, Oh, if the
cradle could only tell its story OF
years! And when you got better, and
were fretful and hard to please, as is
usual in convalescnce, she kept her
patience SO well, and was as kind rs
YOU were unreasonable and cross. Oh,
midnights of motherly watching, how
can you keep silcnccl Speak out and
tell that wandering young man the
story that he so much needs to hear.
BY the bye. 1 wonder what has be.
come of our old cradle in which all of
children were rockedl must ask my
sister when SEQ her next time. We
were n large family, and that old
cradle was goinga good many years.
l remember just how it looked. 1t was
old fashioned and had no tapestry. It's
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 soothcd III
it as it moved to and fro by day and
night. Most wildly l remember that
the rockers, which cano out from un,
der the cradle, were Oh the top and
side very smooth, SO smooth that they
actually glistcned. They must have
been worn smooth by 4 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 Phcbe 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 wicked life!
Then 1 must tell you that you arc the
"foolish son who is the heaviness of
his mother" Better go home and kiss
her, aud ask her forgiveness. Kiss
her on the lips that have 50 often
prayed for YOU Kiss her on the fore
head that 50 often ached for you. Kiss
her on the eyes that have so often wcpt
over you. Better 60 right away, for
sho will be dead before long. And
how will you feel then after you realize
it is Your waywardness that killed herr
Romulus made no law against patri-
eide, or the Staying of 4 father; matri-
eide, or the Staying OF q mother, be-
cause he considered such crimes inn
possible, and for six hundred years
there was not 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 bchavio"
sends his father to 4 premature grave
is pa,ricide, or who by misconduct
hastens mothci' into tins to..!b ID
matricidc?
The hcavincss of parents ovcra sons
depravity is all the greater because 1t
means spiritual disaster and over
throw. That is the worst thing about
it. In the pension regulations sol
der receives for loss OF both hands or
feet $72. For loss OF one hand and
one foot $50. For loss of hand or
foot $50 For loss of both eyes $12.
But who can calculate the value of a
whole man ruined body, mind and
soul? How can parents have any hap
pincss about your future destiny, Oh
young man gone astray2 Can such
opposite lives as you and they arc liy-
ing come out at the same place. Can
holiness and dissipation enter the same
gatel Where is the little prayer that
was taught you at your mothers knee
Is the God they loved and worshiped
your God1 It's 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 deadl How you startle
mel 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, I solicit your
reformation and salvation. Go to the
Christ who pardoned me, and he will
pardon you. My heavsn will not be
complete till 1 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. 0 my son, my
son, would God that could die for
4boo2 n INV eon NV son Young