The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-11-22

had given more time 10 looking after
herself and less time to looking after
YOU she would have been as fully up to
date as you, in music, in style of gait.
in aesthetic taste and in all sorts of in
formation. | expect that while you were
studying botany and chemistry and en-
broidery and the new opera she was
studying household economics. But one
day from overwork, or sitting up of
nights with a neighbours sick child, or q
blast of the west wind, on which pneu-
monias are horsed, mother is sick. Yet
the family think she will soon be well,
for she has been sick SO often, and al
ways has got we'll, and the physician
comes three times day, and there is a
consultation of the doctors, and the
news is gradually broken that recovery
is impossible, given in the words while
there is life there is hope" And the
white pillow over which are strewn the
locks little tinted with snow becomes
the point around which all the family
gather, some standing, some kneeling,
and the pulse beats the last throb, and
the bosom trembles with the last breath,
and the question Is asked in whisper
by all the group, els she gomez" And
The Disinterested Friend.
Now come the regrets. Now the
daughter reviews her former criticism
of maternal supervision. For the first
time she realizes what it is to have a
mother and what it is to lose mother.
Tell me, men and women, young and
old, did any of us appreciate how much
mother was to us until she was gone?
Young woman, you will probably never
have a more disinterested friend than
your mother. When she says anything
is unsafe or imprudent, you had better
believe it is unsafe or imprudent. When
she declares it is something you ought
to do, think you had better do it. She
has seen more of the world than you
have. Do you think she could have any
mercenary or contemplate motive in
what she advises you? She would give
her life for you if it were called for. Do
you know of any one else who would do
more than that for you? Do you know
of any one who would do as much ?
Again and again she has already endan-
gered that life during six weeks of
diphtheria or scarlet fever, and she
never once brought up the question of
whether she had better stay, breathing
day and night the contagion. The grave
yards are full Of mothers who died tax
ing care of their children. Better appre-
ciate your mother before your apprecia-
ton of her will be no kindness to her,
and the post mortem regrets will be
more and more Of an agony as the years
pass on. Big headstones of polished
Aberdeen, and the best epitaphs which
the family put together could compose,
and garland Of whitest roses from the
conservatory are often the attempt to
atone for the thanks we ought to have
uttered in living ears, and the kind
words that would have done more good
than all the Gala lilies ever piled up ON
the silent mounds Of the cemeteries
The world makes applauditory ado
over the work Of mothers who have
raised boys to be great men, and could
turn to my bookshelves and find the
names Of so distinguished men who4itad
great mothers--Cuvier' mother, Walter
Scott's mother, St. Bernard's mother,
Benjamin Vests mother. But who
praises mothers for what they do for
daughters who make the homes Of Amer
lea? I do not know of an instance Of
such recognition. declare to you that l
believe am uttering the first word that
has ever been uttered in appreciation Of
the self denial, Of the fatigues and good
sense and prayers which those mothers
go through who navigate family of
girls from the edge of the cradle to the
schoolhouse door, and from the school
house door up to the marriage altar.
That is an achievement which the eter-
nal God celebrates high up in the heav-
ems, though for it human hands SO sell
dom clap the faintest applause. Myl
My What time that mother had with
those youngsters, and If she had relaxed
care and work and advice and solicita-
ton of heavenly help, that next genera
tion would have landed in the poor
house, idiot asylum or penitentiary. 1t
is while she is living, but never while
she is dead, that some girls call their
mother maternal ancestor" or "the old
woman. "
Divine Sympathy.
And if you have a grief already, and
some of the keenest sorrows of wom-
ans life come early, roll it over on
Christ and you will find him more SYM
pathetic than was Queen Victoria, who,
when her children, the princes and prin-
cesses, came out of the schoolroom after
the morning lesson had been given up
by their governess and told how her
voice had trembled in the morning pray
or because it was the anniversary of her
mothers death, and that she had put
her head down on the desk and sobbed
Mother Motherp' the queen went
in and said to the governess my poor
child 1 am sorry the children disturbed
you this morning. l will hear their
lessons today, and to show you that
have not forgotten the sad anniversary,
1 bring you this gift. " And the queen
clasped on the girls wrist a mourning
bracelet with a lock of her mother S
hair. All you young women the world
around who mourn a like sorrow, and
sometimes in your loneliness and sorrow
and loss burst out crying, Mother
| Mother % mt ON your wrist this golden