The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-07-10
BILL ARp'S LETTER.
Glad That Women Love Babies so Much.

atlanta Constitution.
There was pretty Persian rhyme
which said:
IA newborn child lay crying
While all around were smiling.
An aged man was dying
And he peacefully was smiling
While all around were crying"
Sir William Jones puts it in better
verse:
"On parent knees, naked, newborn child
Law weeping, while all around 1t smiled.
So live that, sinking In thy last long sleep
Calm thou mayest smile while all around thee
weep
What is more wonderful or more
beautiful than the maternal Instinct
what an attraction does birth in the
family have for all the sex-the chill
dren and won n, the girl children I
mean-the men and the boys show no
great concern. The babes would have
hard and perilous time if entrusted
to them. Babes are born every day,
every hour, by the thousand. 1t is
the most common and universal event
that concerns our humanity. 1t is
more common than death, for more
come into the world than go out of it
every year, and yet the excitement Of
birth goes on, and is q big thing
with matrons and with maids. For a
few days past have sat in my veran-
da and ruminated, for the women
come and go, and the neighbors send
flowers and kind messages, and the
girl children come to see the baby,
and the tiniest one wants to hold it
in her arms. Verify, it looks like this
was the first one and the last one that
ever was born. The three great
events of our life, our birth and mar
riage and death, are ministered, toe,
by women. What sad affair would
be without her presence, her care and
her sympathy. The wonder is that
she can go through the ordeal that
providence has assigned her, and be
be so contented, so calm and serene.
What mother ever harbors gloomy
fears or forebodings about her infant
child? How hopefully they look
upon the future-how happy in the
love of her offspring. The poet says:
The holIest thing alive"
And she is. I wish that I was as
good, as true and as loving as the av-
erage mother in this land. I wish
that I was as sure of Heaven. Most
of them have child up there, and
they still treasure every smile, every
dimple, every song, and in their wax
ing dreams they realize what the poet
so beautifully said
"Oh, when mother meets on high
The babe she lost in infancy,
Hath she not then for pains and fears,
The day of woe, the watchful night,
For all her sorrows. all her tears
An overpayment Of deight?"
The maternal instinct The never
fading love Of children. My wife is
serenely happy now, for there is another
child to look after, and she moves
around with her old alacrity. [ used
to help her with her own, but my
time is out. AS old man Calder said
after the first battle of Manassas, "I
have fit enough" I used to tote the
little chap around the room sometimes
half the night and sing my little song
until I wore it out, and at times I felt
like the tired parent who hugged his
little boy to his bosom and said Il
wouldn't take million dollars for
you-no, I wouldn n't-but I wouldn't t
give nickel for another" 1t is a
weary Understanding and caring
for a little child. But it is part of
the bargain, and has to be done, and
it has it's towards. The more the
father helps the children the better
he loves them and the more they love
him. The country people, as rule,
have no nurses for their children, ex-
cept the members of the family, and
their devotion to the little helpless
ones is beautiful. The baby in
country home is common property.
All nurse it, and the father does his
share when he returns from the field.
Go to a country church on Sunday
and see. how many fathers are not
ashamed to "tote the child" and keep
it while preaching is going on. Why
shouldn' he =? It shows his love to
the child and his loyalty to his wife.
The average farmer has not very
wide field for his ambition. He is
not seeking fame or Office or riches.
He has no longings for going to New
York or Washington or crossing the
ocean. His hope and desire is limit
ed to his family and his farm and he
looks to God for rain and sunshine.
There is nothing that weans him from
his wife and children or that gets be-
tween him and them. Sometimes he
takes the family to town in the big
wagon, and sometimes the children go
with him to the mill, and on Sundays
all 20 to meeting, and so the weeks
and months roll on-proving the truth
of the poets lines
Happy the man whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound.
1t is given to but few men in this
world to do any great thing, but all
can be happy if they will be content
with their humble lot I used to envy
the rich and great, but do not now.
As a general rule grief and sorrow are
the perquisites of riches and Of fame.
Great men are rarely blessed with low
ing children. Not long ago one of our
noblcst men found himself face to
face at Delmonico's with a drunken
son. His modification was intense
and the lines of trouble still linger on
his face. The pressure of public at
fairs and the constant struggle to keep
up socially and politically consumed
the time that should have been de-
voted to his children. In such cases
the mother is their only safeguard.
She may do all she can, but she can
not watch her boys when they get in
their teens. She can love and pray
ond ob;da hut sti1l thav will stray