The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-03-22

st for better or worse, through sickness
and through health, by cradles and by
graves. Yea, she put OIL her old family
name TO take the family name you now
wear, and she has done her part To make
1t an honorable name. How heavy q
trouble you put upon her, when, by mis-
deeds, you wrench that name from its
high Significance. To haul 1t down from
ycur mothers forehead and trample II
in the dust would be criminal, Your
fathers name may not be q disttn-
suished name, bus l hope IL stands for
something good. 1t may not be famous,
like that of Homer, the father OF epic
poetry, or Iaaak Walton, the father OF
angling, or Aschylus. the father OF
tragedy, OF Ethelwold, the father OF
monks, or Herodotus, the father of his
tory, or Thomas Aquinas, the father Of
moral philosophy, or Abraham, the
father of the faithful, but your father
has O name In u small circle as precious
10 him as theirs In a larger circle. Look
out . you tarnish It'll
Further, the recklessness and dissipa-
ton of young men are a cause of parental
distress ut a time when the parent Is
less able to bear II. The vicissitudes of
life have left their impression upon
those parents. Tho eye is not as clear
as once nor the step as strong, and with
the tide of incoming years comes the
weight of unilial behavior. You take
your parents at a great disadvantage,
for they can not stand as much as they
once could. They have not the elasticity
Of feeling with which once they could
throw off trouble. That shoulder, now
somewhat bent, can not bear as heavy a
burden as once 1t could. At the
time when the machinery is getting
worn out you put upon 1t the
most terrific strain. At sixty and seven
ty years the vitality is not SO strong
as ct thirty or forty. Surely they are
descending the down grade of life swist-
" enough without your increasing the
momentum. They will be gone oon
enough without your pushing them
away. Call in all the doctors who ever
lived since Hippocrstes raised medicine
from Q superstition to q science and they
could not sure the heartbreak of a
mother over her ruined boy. There may
be, as some suppose, enough herbs on
earth, II discovered, to- cure all the all
ments, but nothing save a leaf from the
tree Of the heavenly paradise can cure
. wound made by q foolish son who 10
the h~esvtness Of his mother.
Perhaps 1t is Q good thing that cruel
treatment by o child abbrevistes o par
ent's life, for what 10 there desirable In
Q fathers life or Q mothers life II its
peace 10 gomez Do you not think death Ia
benedcent II tt stops the mothers heart
from aching and her eyes from weeping.
and says: "You need not bear the ex-
crucistion any longer. Go and sleep. I
will put the defense Of a marble slab
between you and that boys outrages.
troubling and the weary are at rest "
At the departure Of such mothers let the
music be an anthem instead of q dirge
While you and I hear no sound, yet
there are at this moment tens Of thou
sands Of parental hearts breaking. ALI
care wa taken with the boys schooling,
all good counsels given, and the equip
ment for a sober and srnes and useful
life was provided, but 1t has all gone,
and the foolish son has become the
heaviness Of his mother. Much Of the
poignancy Of the parental grief arises
from the ingratitude Of such behavior.
What an undertaking It Is to conduct O
family through the ailments and expo
sures Of early lifel Talk about the skill
demanded Of o sea captain commanding
a ship across the ocean! That requires
less skill than to navigate a young soul
in safety across the ~infsntile and boy
hood years. The sicknesses that as
sault, the temptations that entrap, the
anxieties that are excited Young man,
you will never know what your mother
has suffered for you. You will never
know how your father has toiled for
you. You have been in all their
thoughts, In all their plans, in all
their prayers, from the time
your first breath was drawn until
this moments respiration. What they
could do for your health, what they
could do for your happiness, what they
could do for your mind, what they could
do Tor your soul, have been absorbing
questions To earn q livelihood for you
has not always been an easy thing for
your father BY what fstigues Of body
and H5f 3x1&tbnness OF mind and long
ystse ~ skp<e9lestnp Which sometimes
he tp4s wax Grpater thaus the gains.
ha8ot bresd for y~opsaraginG for q iusthe
sweat Of his own broweaD6Ahe. sn1streps
Of his own hearts blood He l~ookin0iddr
than he ought 20 look OF his years Tor
1t has been work, work. work. Many .
time be feltlke giving up the battle, bat
then he looked ct your helplessness and
the helplessness Of the household, and
then nerved b mself up anew and said,
"By the help OF God ! viii not stop. my
children must have home and education
and advantages, and q comfortable start
In the world. and ! must got q little
something ahead, 30 that II I. am taken
away these helpless ones will not be
surned out on the cold charities of the
world"
Yes, your father has been Q good
friend to you. he has never told any
one and he never will tell any ono, OF
the sacrifices he has made for you. And
he is ready 10 keep right on until unto
10 that hand that has been toiling for
you all these years shall come the very
numbness OF death. You can not afford
10 break his heart But you are doing
It Yes, you are. You have driven the
dagger clear In up TO the hilt
And your mothsr-I warrant she has
never told you much about the nights
when you were down with scarlet fever,
or dtphtheria, and she slept not q wink.
or falling into drowsiness your hrst cry
awakened her, and brought the words.
What is It. my dear2" o. II the rock.
ing chair could speak,. o, II the cradle
could only tell Its story OF years! And
when you got better and wore tretful
and hard TO please, Is Is usual In ooD
valssoenoe. she kept her patience 50
we'll, and was % kind as you we're un'
reasonable and cross. o, midnights OF
motherly watching, how can you keer
silenoe2 Speak out aud tell that wan.
dsring young man the story that he SC
much needs 10 hear.
BY the bye, I wonder what has become
Of our old cradle In which all OF US chill
dren rockcdi ! must ask n sister when
see her next time. We wore o large
family. aud that old cradle was going q
good many years. ] remember just how
IL looked. II was old-fashioned and had
no tapestry. Its two sides aud CANOPY
all Of plain wood. but there was q great
deal Of sound sleeping in that cradle
and many aches and pains were soothed
by II 90 IL moved 70 and fro by day and
night Most wildly I remomber the
rockers, which came out from under tbs
cradle, were on the top and 8 de VERY
smooth, NJ smooth that they actual
g~listened. They must have been worr
smooth nv n foot that long a0o cea6eC