The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1896-09-10

touches the keys, and the response OF those
Keys is away off amid the pipes and tho
chords, and you wonder at the distance be-
tween the key and the chord. And so it is
IN lie; II you touch child, the result will
come back from manhood or old age, telling
Just the tune played, whether the dirge OF n
great sorrow or the anthem of great Joy.
The word that the Sabbath-school teacher
will this afternoon whisper in the ear of the
class, will be echoed back from everlasting
ages OF light or darkness. The home and
the school decide the republic or the despot.
ism; the barbarism or the civilization; the
upbu1lding of an empire, or the overthrow
ing Of 1t. Higher than Parliament or Con-
gress are the school and the family, and the
sound of a 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 God: If they are
50 susceptible, and If this is the very best
time to act upon their eternal interests. what
are you doing by way OF right impuIsion2
There were some harvesters in the fields Of
Scotland one hot day; and Hannah Lemoni
was helping them gather the hay. She laid
her babe under a tree. While she was busy
In the field, there was futter of wings in
the air, and golden eagle cluched the swad-
ding band of the babe, and flew away with
it to the mountain eyrie. All the harvesters
hAi AIuuutu houlOHu StbItSu INC CllllS
1t was two miles before they came to the
foot Of the cliffs. Getting there, who dared
to mount the cliffs? No human foot had
ever trod it. There were sailors there who
had gone up the mast in the day Of terrible
tempest; they did not dare risk it. Hannah
Lemond sat there for a while and looked up
and saw the eagle in the eyrie, and then
she leaDed to her feet. and she
started up where no human foot had ever
fro oh lob; ho1I Of IN
root or that root, until she reached the
eyrie and caught her babe, the eagle swoop-
ing in fiarceness all around about her.
Fastening the chill TO her back, she started
for her friends and for home. Oh, what a
dizzy descent! sliding from this crag to that
crag, catching by that vine and by that root,
coming down further and further, to the
most dangerous pass, where she found
goat and some kids. She said: "Now I'll
follow the goat; the goat will know just
which is the safest way down." and she was
led by the animal down to the plain. When
she got there, all the people cried: "Thank
Godi thank God!' her strength not giving
way until the rescue was effected. And they
cried: "Stand back, now. Give her air!"
Oh, if woman will do that for the physical
life of her child, what will you do for the
eternal life Of your boy and your girl? Let
it not be told in the great day Of eternity
ton for the saving of the physical life Of
her child than you, o parent, have ever put
| forth for the eternal life Of your little one.
God help you!
I pass on to consider the power which
child yields over the parental heart. We
often talk about the influence of parents up
on children. I never heard anything said
about the influence of children upon their
parents. You go to school to them. You no
o5n1afa than than fhap o1noatp
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 and women from what you
were before they gave you the first lesson.
They have revoiutionized your soul. There
are fountains of joy in your. heart which
never would have been discovered had they
not discovered them. Life is to you more
stupendous thing than it was before those
little feet started on the pathway to eternity.
Oh. how many hopes, how many joys, how
many solitudes that little one has created in
your soul You go to school every day-a
school of self-denial, a school of patience, in
which you are getting wiser day by day; and
that influence of the child over you will in
crease and increase; and though your chill
dren may die, from the very throne of God
they will reach down an influence to your
soul, leading you on and leading You up I'M
| 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
will do for the child Storm and darkness
and heat and cold are nothing to you if they
stand between you and your child's welfare.
A great lawyer, when yet unknown, one day
stood in the court room and made an elo-
quent plea before some men of great legal
attachments; and gentleman said to him
afterward: "How could you be so calm
standing in that august presence?' sob,
| said Erskine, II felt my children pulling at
my skirts crying for bread" What stream
will you not swim, what cavern will you not
enter, what battle will you not fight, what
hunger will you not endure for your chill
dren? Your children Your children must
| have bread though you starve. Your chill
dren must be we'll clothed though you go in
rags. You say: "My children shall be edu-
Gated though / never had any chance. II
What to you are weary limbs, and aching
| head, and hands hardened and callous, il
only the welfare of your children can be
wrought out by it? Their sorrow is your
sorrow, their Joy your Joy. their advance
ulent your victory. And. oh. when the last
sickness comes, how you fight back the
march of disease. and it is only after a ire.
mendous struggle that you surrender. Aud
then when the spirit has fed. the great deeI
is broken up, and Rachel will not be com.
iorted because her children are not, and
David goes up the palace stairs, crying
"Oh, Absalom, my son, my son, would God
l had died for thee, oh, Absalom. my son
my son."
The brightest lights that can be kndled
Christ has kindled. Let us. old aud young
rejoice that heaven is gathering up so much
that is attractive. In that far land we are
not strangers. There are those there who
speak our name day by day. and they won.
der why so long we tarry. ii I could count
up the names of all those who have gone
out from these families into the kingdom o.
heaven, it would take me all day to mention
their names. great multitude before the
throne. You loved them once; you love then
now; and ever and anon you think you heal
their voices calling you upward. All, yes
they have gone out from all these families
| and you want no book to tell YOU of the dy
ing experience of Christian children Yor
have heard it; it has been whispered in your
ear. o father, o mother, o brother. o sister
Toward that good land all Christians are
bearing. This swapping of heart-strinSs, THU
flight of years, this tread Of the beart remind!
US that we are passing away. Under spring
blossoms, and through summer harvests, anG
across autumnal leaves; and through the
wintry snowbanks. we are passing on. Oh
rejoice at it, children of God, rejoice at it
How we shal. gather them up, the loved ant
the lost! Before we mount our throne, be
fore We drink of the fountain, before W,
strike the harp of our eternal celebration