The San Francisco call., 1896-04-05

wicked life, you were an unkind mother.
an unloving wife, and | see no page In the
book OF your life that can make the Judg-
ment waiting for you any less severe than
it is" And this woman looked around Tor
her children, but they were strangers 10
her. And she looked for the societies over
which she had presided, but there were
none. Every man was trying to care for
his own soul, knowing that he would Do
judged according to his works.
And there was another. One OF whom
the world had said that harm was not In
him. But he was reprimanded for lndo-
lence, for lack of thought and reminded
that at ease with himself he never allowed
him self to be troubled about the sorrow OF
any one else. Then looked at the skies
above me and they were blackest over
those men who. had wronged women and
little children, over those women who
had been hard of heart and cold of speech,
but they were also dark over those who
had wronged the weak and hurt the dumb
animals who couldn't speak, and yet who
were so loyal, And some claimed that
they only had little sins.
The little sins collected together seemed
to make huge black bail ready to strike
them and send them into darkness. An
other woman l knew went by me and
caught my skirt, saying she was so afraid.
And the Voice said to her, ''You thought
of nothing while living but that which
made you more attractive in the eyes of
the world. Here your jewels and your
velvets and your silks do not hide
the black heart that they cover. The
little pink tongue that shows between
those deceitful lips has liar writ
ten upon it. and the white hands are
marked dishonest for instead of using
your beauty for some great purpose you
made fools of men with it. You stole
away their brains and made them misuse
hat fn
heaven" And as she went away some
thing awesome came about. Under her
beautiful clothes could be seen her body,
and on it burned in letters of fire the sins
of which she had been rightfully accused.
All at once every body disappeared. But
where men and women had been 1 saw
troops and troops of little children hurry
Ing as fact as they could, the tlnlest ones
tumbllng over each other in their eager
ness to get ahead. And [ stopped one and
asked her what it all meant; and III the
voice of q child that knew, OF child who
had gone to sleep long ago, she answered:
I'VE are the little children going to plead
for our mothers" And the Voice said:
''There ara women wicked enough to kill
their unborn babies, and yet these chill
dren are, so many tines, their salvation.
Baby hands have led many a woman In
the way she should go. and to a woman
whose heart is loving even a dead baby
means much, for it is one who kneels at
the throne and never ceases to pray"
1t is wonderful story this of the resur-
rection OF the dead-none the less wonder
full because it is true. Isn't IL beautiful
that we women can think that the last to
give tender thought to the Christ Man
were women-the mother who bore him,
and the woman who had sinned and been
forgiven. And it is more beautiful to
think that they were the first to hear the
wonderful news that he had risen from
the dead, and become the first fruits of
them that slept.
God bless everybody on Easter morning!
God give them happy day and make the
year to come a better one-better, because
in it there may be buried those sins that
seem so little, and that means so much.
Again. l say, God bless everybody on
Easter morningl All that 1 can remem-
ber; all that is imprinting itself on my
mind, are the last lines of the Easter
hymn:
Till mornings Joy shall end the night OF weeping
And life's long shadows break in cloudless love.
A dream? Yes. But believe in dreams;
and 1t seems to me that special one came
to teach some of US to live, that when we
die and have to spend those few minutes
alone with God, though we may be afraid,
still we need not fear that we will be Judged
too harshly, for in the verdict there will
be considered the temptations and the en-.
vironments as we'll as the prayers of the
little children, who are pleading for their
mothers. [ believe it. Believe that the
dream was meant as a lesson to You and
your nelghbor, and BAB.