The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1896-09-17

tWhbn eUb Key anu tuC OuOIoA Aa' " -
In u'ei If YOU touch a child, the result will
come baok from manhood or old ag., telling
| Just the tune PLAYED, whether the ditge OF O
great sorrow or the anthem OF great Joy.
rhp word that the Sabbath-schooi tearhef
/ will this afternoon whisper ia the ear OF the
class, will be echoed back from everlasting
ages Of light or darkness. The home ana
the school dec de the republic or the despot.
! ism; the barbarism or the civilization; the
upbuilding OF an empire, or the overthrow
ing Of it. Higher than Parliament or Con.
gress are the school aud the family, and this
sound Of d child's foot may mean more than
| the tramp Of host. What; then, are you
\ doing for the purpose Of bringing your chill
| dren into the Kingdom OF Godf IL they are
] So susceptible. and II this Is the very best
/ time TO act upon their eternal interests, what
are YOU doing by way o right fmpulsionI
There we're some harvesters in the fields Of
| Scotland one hot day; an Hannah Lenionq
was helpiny them gather the hay. She laid
her babe undor tree. While she was busy
! in the field, there was fintter o. wings in
| the air, and golden eagle cluched theswad,
| ding band Of the babe, and flew away with
1t to the mountain eyrie. All the haryesters
an Hannah Lemond started for the Gins.
1t was two miles before they came to the
| foot Of the cliffs Getting there, who dared
i 10 mount the cliffs? No human foot had
ever trod II, There were sailors there who
| had gone up the mast in the day OF terrible
tempest: they did not dare risk 1t: Hannah
Lemond sat there for a Will and looked up
and saw the eagle in the eyrie, and then
she leaped to her feet. and she
| started up where no human foot had ever
| tfed crag above crag, catching hold OF this
root or that root, until she reached the
! evrie and caught her babe, the eagle swoop-
| ing in ferceuess all around about her.
Fastening the chilli TO her back, she started
for her friends and for home. Oh. what
dizzy descrnti sliding from this crag to that
crag, catching by that vine and bythat roof,
coming down further and further, to the
most dangerous pass, where she found q
poat and some kids. She said: "Now L II
follow the goat: the goat will know just
which Is the safest way DOWN. and she was
I'D by the animal down to the plain. When
she rot tn re. all the people cried: "Thank
| Godi thank Goit' her strength not giving
way unit the rescue was effected. And they
/ cried: "S.nnd back now. Give her ARR
! Oh, If n woman will do that for the physical
life OF her child what will you do for the
/ g ernal life Of your boy and your girl? Let
| it not be told in the great day OF eternity
| that Hannah Lemond put forth more exer-
ton for thu saving OF the physical life OF
! her chi than you, o parent, have ever put
! forth for the eternal life of your little one.
| God help you!
child wields over the parental heart. We
often tall about the influence of parents up
on cpildreu. l never heard anything said
about the influence of children upon their
parents. You go to school to them. You no
more educate them Than they educate YOU
With their little hands they have caught
hold Of your entire nature and You cannot
wrench yourself away from their grasp. You
are different men aud women from what you
were before they gave you the first lesson.
They have revolutiouize9 your soul. There
are fountains of JOY in your heart which
never won d have been discovered had they
ro1 disrovere them. Life is to you more
sIuDendous thing than it was before those
little feet started on the pathway to eternity.
Oh how many hopes. how many joys, how
many soitudes tina, little one has created in
your soul You go to school every day-a
school OF splf-denial a school Of patience, in
which YOU are getting wiser day by day; and
that influence of the chilli over you will In
crease and iurrease and though your chill
iren may die, from the very throne OF God
they will reach down an influence to your
soul, leading you on an leating you up un-
til you mingle with their voices and sit be-
side their thrones.
The grasp which the child has over the
parents heart is seen in what the parent
| viii do for the child. Storm and darkness
| and heat ard cold are nothing to you If they
stand betw zen you and your child's welfare.
| A. great lawyer, when yet unknown, one day
/ stood in the court room and male an elo-
| uuent plea before some men of great legal
! attainmpnts; and a gen eman said to him
afterward: "How could you be so can
| standing in that august presence| "Oh,"
! said Ers6ine, II felt my children pulling at
my skirts crying for bread" What stream
wi you not swim, what cavern will you not
enter, what battle will you not fight, wat
| hunger will you not endure for youi chill
dren? Your children! Your children must
| have bread though you starve. Your chill
dren must be well ciothed though you go in
rags. You say: "My children shall be edu-
Gated though l never had any chance"
| What to you are weary limbs, and aching
head, and mis- hard ned and callous, II
| only the welfare of your children can be
wrought out by il? Their sorrow is your
sorrow, their joy your joy: their advance,
sickness comes, how you fight back the
march Of sease. and it is only after Il tre-
mendous struggle that you surrender. And
then when the spirit has Ned. the great deep
is broken up, and Rachel will not be COM
iorted because her children are not, and
David goes up the pa ace stairs, crying:
"Oh. salon. my son, my son. would God
| had died for thee, oh, Absalom, my son,
my son."
The brightest lights that can be kindled,
Christ has kndled. Let US. old and young,
rejoice that heaven is gathering up so much
that is attractive. In that far land we are
no, strangers. There are those there who
speak our name day by day. and they won-
der why so long we tarry Ii l could count
up the names of all those who have gone
out from these families into the kingdom of
heaven, it would take me all day to mention
their names. A great multitude before the
throne. You loved them once; you love them
now; an ever and anon you hink you hear
their voices calling you upward. All. yes.
they have gone out from al these families,
ana you want no DO k to tell you of the dy-
ing experience Of Christian children. You
have heard it; it has been whispered in your
ear. father, mother, o brother o sister.
Toward that good Ian all Christians are
bearing. This swapping of huart-strin IS, this
flight of years, this tread Of the heart reminds
us that we are passing away. Under spring
lessons. aud through summer harvests, and
across autumna leaves; and through the
wiutry snowbanks. we are passing on. Oh,
reio ce at it, children of God rejoice at 1t!
How we sha gather them up, the Lived and
the ost Before wa mount our throne be-
fore We drink of the fountain, be ore we
strike the harp of our eternal ceiebration.
We will cry out: "Where are our loved and
los?" Aud then, how we shall gather them
up! Oh, how we shall gather them up.
In this dark world of sin AMI pain
We only meet to part again;
Rut Uhan raaph the haa Won In, ct, o.o