The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-20

/ There nave been children who have grown
| up and gone 10 glory without ever having
I had their ears boxed %. how much care
and Intelligence Is necessary IN the rear
iug Of children, But 90 this day. when
ihere are so many books on this subject
no parent ls eXclEable in being ignorant
% the best mode Of bringing up a child
I II parents knew more Of dicties, there
would not BE- SO many dyspcpuc stomachs
aud weak nerves and inactive lvers
among children. If parents knew more OF
physiology. there would not BE- 50 many
curved spincs and cramped chests and in
famed threats and diseased lungs as there
are among children. II parents knew more
% art. and were IN sympathy Win All lnat
iz beautiful. there would not be so many
children coming out ia the world with
b1Orish prOcliVities. II parents knew more
Of Christ and praticed more Of MS re-
ugion, there would not De so many httle
feet already starting on the wrong road,
and all around as voices OF riot ana bias
phemy would not come up with such &c
stacy OF Internal triumph. The eaglets in
the eyrie have no advantage over the
eaglets Of thousand years ago; the Kids
have no superior way OF climbing up the
rocks than the old goats taught them
. hundreds OF years ago; the whelps know
no more now than did the Whelps OF ages
agO-they are taught no more by the lions
OF the desert: but 10 is "a shame that IN this
day. when there are so many opportunities
Of improving ourselves IN the best man
uer Of culturing children, that so often
there Is no more advancement in this re-
spect than there has been among the KIDS
and the eaglets and the whelps.
Again. Hannah stands before you to-
day AS a Christian mother. From her
prayers. and from the way she cOnse-
Grated her hoy to God, know she was
good a mother may have the finest Gull
ture. the most brilliant surroundings but
she g. not fit for her duties unless she be
Christian mother. There may be Well
read Libraries In the house ana exquisite
music IN the parlor; and the canvas OF the
best artist adjoining the walls; and the
wardrobe be crowded with tasteful appar-
el: and the children be wonderful for their
attainments. and make the house ring
with laughter and innocent mirth; but
there is something wofully lacking N that
house II IL be not also the residence OF
Christian mother. / bless God that there
are not many prayerless mothers. The
weight OF responsibility Is 50 great that
they feel the need of a divine hand 10 help,
and divine voice to comfort ana d.
vine heart to sympathize. Thousands OF
mothers have been led into the kingdom
OF God by the hands Of their little chill
dren. There are hundreds of mothers to-
day who would not have been Christians
had IL not been for the prattle OF their
little ones. Standing some day in the nur-
sery, they bethought themselves, this
child God has given me to raise for eter-
nifty What Is my influence upon itE not
being a Christian myself, how can / ever
expect him TO become a Christian Lord,
help met o. are there anxious mothers,
who know nothing of the infinite help OF
religion Then ! commend TO you Hannah,
the piOus mother Of Samuel. do not mink
IL Is absolutely impossible that your chill
dren come up iniquitous Out of just such
fair brows and bright eyes and soft hands
and innocent hearts, crime gets its VIC
tims-eXtirpating purity from the heart,
and rubbing out the smoothness from the
brow, and quenching the lustre Of the
eye, and shriveling up and poisoning and
putrefying and scathing and scalding and
blasting and burning with shame and
woe.
Every child is a bundlel of tremendous
possibilities; and whether that child shall
come forth in life. its heart attuned to
the eternal harmOnies, and after life Of
usefulness on earth, go TO life OF JOY In
heaven; or, whether across II shall jar
eternal discords, and after a life of wrong
doing on earth. 1t shall go to a home OF
impenetrable darkness and an abyss OF
Unreasonable plunge, is being decided by
nursery song and Sabbath lesson and eve
ming prayer. and walk and ride and look
and frown and smile. O, how many chill
dren In glory! crowding all the battle
ments and lifting a milliOn-voiced hosanna
brought to God through Christian par
entage! One hundred and twenty clergy
men We're together, and they were telling
| their experience and their ancestry; and
of the one hundred and twenty clergy
men. how many of them do You suppose
assigned, as the means of their CONVEX
sion, the influence of Christian mother?
one hundred out of the hundred and
twenty Philip Doddrdge was brought
TO God by the Scripture lesson on the
Dutch tile of the chimney fire place. The
mother thinks she is only rocking a child:
but at the same time she may be rocking
destiny Of empires-rocking the fate Of
Misunderstanding the glories of heaven.
The same maternal power that may lift
a child up. may press a child down. A
daughter came to a worldly mother and
said she was anxious about her sins, and
she had been praying all night. The
| mother said: 80, stop prayingl l don't
believe in praying. Get over all those
religious notions. and I'll give you dress
that will cost FIVE hundred dollars, and
you may wear 1t next week to that par
/ ty." The daughter took the dress; and
she moved in the gay circles, the gayest
| of all the gay that night: and sure
| enough, all religious impressions were
gone, and she stopped praying. A few
/ months after, she came to die; and in her
closing moments said Mother. l wish
| you would bring me that dress that cost
/ $500" The mother thought il was very
| strange request; but she brought 1t to
/ please the dying child. Now" said the
/ daughter mother, hang that dress on
| the foot Of my bed" and the dress was
hung there on the foot of the bed Then
! the dying girl got up on one elbow and
| looked at her mother, and then pointed to
| the dress, and said; Mother, that dress
| is the price of my soulH' o, what a mo-
mentous thing II is to be a mother
Again, and lastly: Hannah stands be-
fore you to-day, the rewarded mother. For
! all the coats she made for Samuel; for all
! the prayers she offered for him; for the
| discipline she eXerted over him, she got
abundant compensation in the piety and
| the usefulness and the popularity of her
| son Samuel; and that is true in all ages.
| Every mother gets full pay for all the
| prayers and tears in behalf of her chill
dren That man useful in commercial life;
that man prominent in the profession;
that master mechanically every step he
| takes in life has an echo of gladness in the
| old heart that long ago taught him to be
| Christian and heroic and earnest The
| story of what you have done or what YOU
| have written, of the influence you have
| exerted, has gone back to the old home
| stead--for there Is some one always ready
to carry good tidings-and that story
makes the needle in the old mother :
| tremulous hand fly quicker and
| the fail in the fathers hand
/ come down upon the barn floor
with a more vigorous thump. Parents
/ love to hear good news from their chill
dren. Do you send them good news al
ways? Look out for the young man who
speaks of his father as the governor, -
the squire" or the "old chap" Look
out for the young woman who calls her
mother her maternal ancestor" or the
| "old woman" THE eye that mocketh
al his father, and refuseth to obey his
| mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick
IL.