Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-12-30

night God honored motherhood. Two
angels on their wings might have
brought an infant Saviour to Bethle-
hem without Mary's being there at
AL. When the villagers on the morn
ing of December 2e awoke. by divine
arrangement and in some unex-
planned way the child Jesus might
have been found in some comfortable
cradle of the village But no, mol
Motherhood for all time was to be
conseuated, and one of the tenderest
relations was to be the maternal re-
lation, 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: Samuel Budget a good mo-
ther; Doddridge a good mother;
Walter Scott good mother; Benja-
min Westa good mother. In great
audience, most of whom were Chris
tians, asked that all those who had
been blessed of Christian mothers
arise, and almost the entire assembly
stood up. Don't you see how impor-
tant it is that all motherhood be con-
secrated2
Why did Titan, the Italian artist,
when he sketched the Madonna, make
it an Italian facet Why did Rubens
the German artist, in his Madonna
make it a German face9 Why did
Joshua Reynolds, the English artist
in his Madonna, make it an English
facea Why did Murillo, the Spanish
artist, in his Madonna, make it a
Spanish faceg / never heard, but l
think they took their own mothers as
the type of Mary, the mother of
Christ. When you hear some one, in
sermon or grafton, speak in the alb
stract of a good, faithful, honest
mother, your eyes fill up with tears,
while you say to yourself. that was
my mother"
The first word child utters is apt
to be Mother" and the old man in
his dying dream calls Mother
mother" 1t matters not whether
she was brought up in the surround
ings of city and in affluent home,
and was dressed appropriately with
reference to the demands of modern
life, or whether she wore the old
time cap and great round spectacles,
and apron cf her own make, and knit
ytsr socks with her own needles,
seated by the broad fireplace, with
great backlog ablaze. on a winter
night.
1t matters not how many wrinkles
crossed and recrossed her face, or
how much her shoulders stopped with
the burdens of a long life, if you
painted a Madonna. hers would be
the face. What a gentle hand she
had when we were sick, and what a
voice to soothe pain, and was there
any one who could so fill up room
with peace and purity and hght2
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
hdJs tili0 UchfAC yOuI OlNi llStOC. ebilO DO
ten or twenty or fifty years ago
come and open the old Bible as you
used to; read and kneel in the same
place where you used to pray, and
look upon us as of old when you
wished us a merry Christmas or a
happy New Year. But mol That
would not be fair to call you back.
You had troubles enough and aches
enough and bereavements enough
while you were here. Tarry by the
throne, mother, till we join you
there, your prayers all answered,
and in the eternal homestead of our
God we shall again keep Christmas
jubilee together
But speak from your thrones, all
you glorified 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 a heartbreak since you left
them. and you do well to call from
the heights of heaven to the valleys
of earth: Hail. enthroned ancestry
We are coming Keep place right
beside you at the banquet.
Slow footed yearsl More swiftly run
Into the gold of that unsetting sun;
Homeslck we are for thee,
Calm land heVond tho sea