St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-09-12

she had been praying all night
The mother saids 20, stop pray
ing! don't believe in praying. Get
over all those religious notions, and
will give you dress that will cost
$500. and You may wear it next week
to that party" The daughter took
the dress. and she moved In the gay
circle. the gayest Of all the gay all
night; and, sure enough, all religious
Impressions were gone. and she
stopped parying. A few months
after, she came to die; and in
her closing moments said: "Mother,
wish you would bring me that
dress that cost $500" The mother
thought it was q very strange request,
but she brought it to please the dying
child. "Now," said the daughter,
mother. hang that dress ON the foot
of my bed" and the aress 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 soul!'' O.
what momcntous thing it il to be =
mother!
Again, and lastly: Hannah stands
before you to-day the rewarded
mother. For all the coats she made
for Samuel; for all the prayers she of
fered for him; for the discipline she
excrted 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 children That man
useful in commercial life; that man
prominent in the professions; that mas
ter 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 influ-
ence you have exertcd, has gone back
to the old homestcad-fo there is some
one always ready to carry good tidings
and that story makes the needle in
the old mothers 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 Mt his father. and refuseth t ,
obey his mother, the ravens of the va;-
ley shall pick it out. and the young
eagles shall eat it, God grant that all
these parents may have the great satis-
faction OF seeing their children grow
up Christians.
But. o. the pang of that mother who. i
after life Of street gadding, and gos-
hanging on her children
the fripperies and follies of this world,
see 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 be the
mother who looks upon her children rs
sons and daughters OF the Lord AL
mighty! o, the satisfaction of Hannah
in seeing Samuel serving at the altar; |
Of Mother. Eunice in seeing her
Timothy learned in the Scriptures;
that is the mothers recompeuse--tose see |
her children coming up useful in the |
world reclaiming the lost, healing the |
sick. plying the ignorant, earnest and
useful in every sphere. That throws
a new light back on the old family
Bible whenever she reads it; and that
will be ointment to soothe the aching |
limbs of decrepitude, and light up the |
closing hours of life's day with tho
glorics of an autumnal sunset!
There she sits-the old Christian |
for Heaven. Her eye
sight is almost gone; but the splen-
dors of the celestial city kindle up
her vision. The gay light Of Heavens
morn has struck through the gray locks
which are folded back over the
temples. She stoops very much
now under the burden of care she
used to carry for her children. She
sits Mt home to-day, too old to find her
way to the house of God; but while
she sits there, all the past comes
back; and the children that "a
years ago troopsd around her arm
chair with their little griefs and joys
and sorrows-those children are all
gone now. Some caught up into bet
ter realm, where they shall never die,
and others out In the broad world, At
testing the excellency of q Christian
discipline. Her last days arc
lull of peace; and calmer and sweeter
will her spirit become. until the gates
IT life shall lift and let the worn-out
pilgrim into eternal spring-tide and
youth. where theolimbs never ache.
md the eyes never grow dim, and tho
,taff of the exhausted and decripit pill
yrim shall become tho palm OF the im-
athlete