Milford chronicle., 1893-08-11
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HOME INFLUENCES.

Among the greatest advantages of your
past life was an early home and its sur
roundings. The bad men of the day, for
the most part dip their heated passions
out of the boiling spring of an unhappy
home. We are not surprised that Byron's
heart was a concentration of sin when we
hear his mother was abandoned, and that
she made sport of his infirmity and often
called him ''the lame brat" He who has
vicious parents has to fight every inch Of
his way if he would maintain his integrity
and at last reach the home Of the good in
heaven
Perhaps your early home was in the city
It may have been in the days when Canal
street, New York, was far up town. That
old house in the city may have been demol-
ished or changed into stores, and it seemed
like sacrilege to you for there was more
meaning in that plain house. in that small
house, than there is in granite mansion
or a turreted cathedral Looking back this
morning, you see it as though it were yes
terday.-the sitting room, where the loved
ones sat by the plain lamplight, the mother
at the evening stand, the brothers and sis
ters-perhaps long ago gathered into the
skies-then plotting mischief on the,foor
or under the table; your father, with firm
voice, commanding silence that lasted half
a minute.
Oh, those were good daysl If you had
your foot hurt, your mother always had
soothing salve to heal it. If you were
wronged in the street, your father was al
ways ready to protect you. The year was
one round of frolie and mirth. Your great
est trouble was an April shower, more sun
shine than shower. The heart had not been
rsY i.lFFe{3A l;,i.Fe{3A sy troubles, nor had sickness
broken in, and no isp5 had a warmer
sheepfold than the home in 7T5tsleh T5sSl q your
childhood nestled.
Perhaps you were brought up NTH cOun-
try. You stand now today in memory UNI
der the old tree. You clubbed it for fruit
that was not quite ripe, because you could
not wait any longer. You hear the brook
rumbling along the pebbles. You step
again into the furrow where your father in
his shirt sleeves shouted to the lazy oxen.
You frighten the swallows from the rafters
of the barn and take just one egg and 81
lence your conscience by saying they will
not miss it. You take a drink again out Of
the very bucket that the old well fetched
up. You go for the COWS at night and find
them wagging their heads through the
bars. Ofttimes in the dusty and busy
streets you wish you were home again on
that cool grass, or in the hall of the farm
house, through which there was the breath
Of new mown hay or the blossom of buck
wheat.
You may have in your windows now
beautiful plants and flowers brought from
across the seas, but not one of them stirs
in your soul so much charm and memory
ls the old ivy and the yellow sunfower that
stood sentinel along the garden walk and
5he forgetmenots playing hide and seek
mid the long grass. The father who used
% come in sunburned from the fields and
it down on the doorsill and wipe the sweat
rom his brow may have gone to his ever
asting rest. The mother who used to sit
It the door little bent over, cap and spec
jacles on her face, mellowing with the VI
,issitudes Of many years, may have put
lown her gray head on the pillow in the
7alley, but forget that home you never will. !
ARE YOU GRATEFUL2
Have you thanked God for it, Have You /
-ehearsed all these blessed "reminiscences? |
Oh, thank God for Christian father
Thank God for a Christian mother. Thank |
Sod for an early Christian altar at which |
rcu were taught to kneel Thank God for I
N early Christian home. bring to mind an.
ther passage in the history Of your life. The /
ay came when you setup your own house
old. Thedays passed alongin quiet bless I
dness You twain sat at the table morn {
lg and night and talked over your plans +
Or the future. The most insignificant af- I
air in your lie Dscaas-tse subject Of miI-
1m consultation and advisement. You
Tere so happy you felt you never could
e any happier.
One day a dark cloud hovered over yonr
welling, and it got darker and darker.
8ut out of that cloud the shining messen-
er OF God descepded to inearnate an inn