The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-24
4 HkRVEST-FlELD SHADOW.
THE TENT OF DIR. TALMACE's SER
MON-u KINGS. g. NVIII-NN.

rental Heart ana It's hAAH-A-
Transition From Earth 10 Heaven
Washington. Aug. --Whiie the reap
srs are busy in many parts ot the land.
and the harvests are being eatherei the
scene brought before us iu This subject is
especially appropriate. The text is IL
KINGS AIS. 1s. -. And when the chLd
was grown. IL fell on a day -ha- he went
out TO his father 90 the reapers And Dee
said unto his father. my head my head.
And he said 90 LAD. carry him 10 his
mother And when he bad taken him. and
brought him 10 his mother. be- SAT- on her
knees till noon. and then died.
There is ar leas, one happy home In
shunem. To the Insurance and splendor
OF a great house. had been given the adj
vent OF child Even when the angel OF
life brings a new soul TO the poor man 3
hut, q star Of JOY shines over the man
ger. Infancy. with its helplessness and
innocence. had passed away Days OF boy
hood had come-days OF laughter and
frolic days Of sunshine and promise. days
OF strange question and curiosity and
quick development. I suppose among all
the treasures Of that house. the brightest
was the boy one day there is the shout
Of reapers heard aheld. A boys heart al
ways bound at the sound Of sickle or
scythe. No sooner have the harvesters
cut swath across the field than the lad
Joins them, and the swarthy reapers feel
young again as they look down AT that
lad as bright and beautiful as was Ruth
in the harvest fields of Bethlehem CLEAN
ing after the reapers. But the sun was
too hot for him. Congestion Of the brain
seized on him. ] see the swarthy laborers
drop their sickles; and they rush out to
see what is the matter. and they fan him
and they try TO cool his brow; but all Is Of
no avail. In the instant of consciousness
he puts his hands against his temples and
cries out: My head! my head" And the
father said: Garry him to his mother"
Just as any father would have said: for
our hand is too rough, and our voice is
TOO harsh, and our foot Is too loud to doc
tor sick child. il there be in our home
Eentler voice and a genuer hand and
stiller footstep. But all OF no avail. While
the reapers of Shunem were busy in the
field, there came stronger reaper that
way. with keener scythe and for a richer
harvest. He reaped only one sheaf. but O
what a golden sheaf was that! / do not
want 10 know any more about that heart
breaking scene than what / see in just
this one pathetic sentence: He sat on
her knees till noon. and then died.
Though hundreds of years have passed
away since that boy skipped to the har-
vest field and then was brought home and
died on his mothers lap. the story stiu
thrills US. Indeed, childhood has a charm
always and everywhere. / shall now
speak TO you Of childhood; its beauty, its
susceptibility to impression, its power
over the parental heart, and its blissful
transition from earth to heaven.
The ohild's beauty does not depend upon
form or feature or complexion or apparel.
That destitute one that you saw on the
street. bruised with unkindness and in
rags. has a charm about her, even under
her restitution. You have forgotten a great
many persons whom you met of finely
cut features and with erect posture and
with fauitless complexion. while YOU will
always remember the poor girl who. on
cold, moonlight night. as you were passing
late home, in her thin shawl and barefoot
on the pavement, put out her hand and
said: please TO give me a penny" Ali
how often we have walked on and said:
20, that is nothing but street vagabond-
ISM but after we got a block or two on,
we stopped and said: "Ah, that is not
right" and we passed up that same way
and dropped a mite into that suffering
hand, as though IL were not matter of
second thought. so ashamed were we of
our hard-heartedness. With what admira-
ton we all look upon a group of children
on the playground or in the school, and we
clap our hands almost invountarily. and
say: How beautiful" All stiffness and
dignity are gone, and your shout is heard
with theirs and you trundle their hoop,
and fly their kite. and strike their ball
and all your WEAKNESS and anxiety gone
as when a child you bounded over the play
ground yourself. That father who stands
"a. fnefi 10 q no
fulness of children, ought never to have
been tempted out of a crusty and unre-
deemable solitariness. The waters leap
down the rocks. but they have
not the graceful step of child
hood The morning comes out of the
gates Of the east, throwing its silver on
the lake and its gold on the towers and
ats fire on the cloud but 1t is not so bright
and beautiful as the morning of life
There is no light like that which is kin
died in a child's eye, no color like that
which blooms on a child s cheek, no mu-
sic Ike the sound of child's voice. It's
face in the poorest picture redeems any
1mperfection in art When we are weary
with toll their little hands pull the bur
dens of our back. o, what a dull. stale
mean world this would be without the
sportfulness Of children. When I find peo-
pie that do not like children, I immediate
~ doubt their moral and Christian char.
upon a child, how unspeakably attractive
When Samuel begins to pray, and Timothy
begins to read the Scriptures, and Joseph
shows himself invulnerable to temptation
how beautiful the scene! l know thai
parents sometimes get nervous when theil
children become pious, because they have
the idea that good children always die
The strange questions about God ant
eternity and the dead, excite apprehen,
sion in the parental mind rather than con
graduation. Indeed, there are some PEG
pie that seem marked for heaven This
world is too poor a garden for them e
bloom in. The hues of heaven are in tn,
petals. There is something abou
their forehead that makes yol
think that the hand of Christ has been or
it, saying: Let this one come to Me. and
let it come TO Me soon While that one
tarried in the house. you felt there was ar
angel in the room. and you thought thai
every sickness would be the last; and
when, finally, the winds of death did
scatter the leaves you were no more sur.
pr1sed than to see a star come out above
the cloud on a dark night. for you had
often said TO your companion: my dear
we shall never raise that child" Rut
scout the idea that good children always
die. Samuel the pious boy. became Sam.