The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-08-05

| in the best manner ot culturing cnlluren.
that so often there is no more advancement
In this respect than there has been among
| the Sids and the eaglets and the whelps.
| Again. Hannah stanc before you to-day as
A Christian mother. From her prayers and
| from the way she consecrated her boy to
God know she WAS good. A mother may
have the finest culture, the most brilliant
surroundings, but she Is not ft for her
duties unless she be Christian mother.
There may be we'll read libraries in the
house, and exquisite music In the parlor,
| and the canvas OF the best artist adorning
the walls, and the wardrobe be crowded
with tasteful apparel, and the children be
wonderful for their attainments and make
the no use ring with laughter and innocent
mirth, but there is something woefully
lacking In that house If 1t be not also
the residence Of Christian mother:
bless God that there are not
many prayerless mothers. The WelRht
OF responsibility is 80 grent that they feel the
need OF divine hand to help and olViae
voice to comfort and divine heart W
sympathize. Thousands OF mothers nave ave
been led into the kingdom Of God by the
hands of their little children. There are
hundreds of mothers to-day who would not
have been Christians had 1t not been Tor the
prattle of their little ones. Standing some
dav in the nursey, they bethought them
selves: "This child God has given me to
raise for eternity. What is my 1nnuence
upon It? Not being Christian myself, now
can ever expect him to become CHRISTIAN.
Lord. help me! -
sibilities. And whether that child shall come
forth in life, its heart attuned to the eternal
harmonies, and after life OF usefulness on
earth. 90 to a life of Joy in heaven. or
whether across 1t shall jar eternal discords,
and after life Of wrongdoing on earth 1t
shall 20 to home OF impenetrable darkness
and an abyss Of immeasurable plunge-1s be-
ing decided BY nursery song and Saohatn
lesson and evening prayer and walk ana rae
and look and frown and smile. On, now
many children In glory. crowding all the
battlements and lifting million voiced no.
sanna, brought to God through Christian
parentage! One hundred and twenty clergy
men were together, and they were telling
their experience and their ancestry, and OF
the one hundred and twenty clergymen,
how many OF them, do you suppose, as
signed as the means OF their conVer.
sion the influence OF Christian mother!
One hundred out of the hundred and
to God by the Scripture lesson on the
Dutch tile of the chimney fireplace. The
mother thinks she Is only rocking a child.
but at the same time she may be rocking the
destiny OF empires. rocking the fate OF
nations, rocking the glories OF heaven. Inc
same maternal power that may lift child
up may press child down. A daughter
came to worldly mother and said she was
anxious about her sins and she had been
praying all night. The mother said. "Oh,
stop praying! ! don't believe in praying:
Get over all those reiig1ous notions ana ~
give you dress that will cost five hundred
dollars, and you may wear 1t next week to
that party"
The daughter took the dress, and she
moved In the gay circle, the gaye5t 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, I wish You would bring me
that dress that cost $500" The mother
thought 1t was q very strange request, put
sha brought it to please the dying child.
"Now," said the daughter, smother. hang
that dress on the foot Of my bed" And the
dress was hung there on the foot OF ths 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 soul" Oh. what momentous
thing 1t Is to be a mother!
Again, and lastly, Hannah stands before
you to-day, the rewarded mother. For all
the coats she has made for Samuel, Tor all
the prayers she offered for him, for the dis
cipline she exerted over him, she got abun-
dant compensation in the piety and useful
ness and the popularity Of her son Samuel,
and that Is true in all ages. Every mother
gets full paw for all the prayers and tears in
behalf of ner children. That man useful IN !
commercial life, that man prominent IN the
profession, that master mechanic-WnY..
every step he takes in life has m 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
homestead-for there is some one always
ready to carry good tidings--and that story
makes the DSedle in the old mothers tremu-
lous 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 children.
Do you send them good news, always? Look
out for the young man who speaks Oh MS
father as the governor" the esquire" or
the sold chap" Look out for the young
woman who calls her mother her "maternal
ancestor" or the "old woman" "The eye
that mocketh at his father aud refuseth 10
obey his mother the ravens OF the valley
shall pick 1t out, and the young Gag es shall
eat It." God grant that all these parents
may have the great satisfaction Of seeiuS
their children grow np Christians.
But, oh, the pang OF that mother who,
after life Of street gadding and gossip re.
failing, hanging on her children the "trip
peries and follies of this world, sees those
children tossed out on the sea Of life like
foam on the wave or nonentities in world
where only brawny and stalwart character
can stand the shock! But blessed he the
mother who looko upon her children as sons
and daughters of the Lord Almighty. On.
the satisfaction Of Hannah in seeing Samuel
serving at the altar OF Mother Ennice III
seeing her Timothy learned in the Scriptures.
That is the mothers recompense-to see
children coming up useful in the world, re-
claiming the lost, healing the sick, plying
the ignorant, earnest and useful IN every
sphere. That throws new light back on
the old family Bible whenever she reads il;
and that will be ointment to soothe tue ach-
ing limbs Of decrepitude and light up the
closing hours OF life's day with the glories
OF an autumnal sunset.
There she SitS-the old Ch ristlap mother
ripe for heaven. Her eyesiSht is almost
gone, but the splendors OF the celestia! city
kindls up her vision. The gray light oil
| heavens morn has struck through the gray
locks which are folded back over the wrin-
killed. temples. She stoops very much now uu-
der the burden Of care she used to curry for
/ her children. She sits ut home to-day, 30
old to ind her way to the house Of God; but
while she sits there all the past comes back,
and the children that 40 years ago tr3opc !
around her armchair With their little Griefs