Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-07-23


that every mother ought 10 be observant
of her children's walk, her children's be-
havior, her children's food her children's s
books, her children's companionships.
However much help Hannah may have, I
think she ought every year at least make
one garment for Samuel The Lord have
mercy on the man who Is SO unfortunate
as to have had a lazy motheri
Hannah's Intelligence.
Again, Hannah stands before you today
Isa an intelligent mother. From the way in
which She talked in this chapter and
from the way she managed this boy you
know she was intelligent. There are no
persons in community who need to be SO
wise and well informed as mothers. Oh,
this work of culturing children for this
world and the next This child Is timid,
and it must be reused up and pushed out
into activities This child is forward, and
he must be held back and tanned down
into modesty and politeness. Rewards for
one, punishments for another. That which
will make George will ruin John. The
rod is necessary in one case, while frown
of displeasure is more than enough in an
other. Whipping and a dark closet do not
exhaust all the rounds of domestic disci-
pline. There have been children who have
grown up and gone to glory without ever
having had their ears boxed. Oh, how
much care and intelligence are necessary in
the rearing of childrenl But in this day,
when there are so many books on this sub
ject, no parent is excusable in being igno-
rant of the best mode of bringing up q
child If parents knew more of dietctics,
there would not be SO many dyspeptic
stomachs and weak nerves and inactive
livers among children. If parents knew
more of physiology, there would not be SO
many curved spines and cramped chests
and infamed throats and diseased lungs as
there are among children. If parents knew
more of art, and were in sympathy with
all that is beautiful, there would not be 30
many children coming out in the world
with boorish proclivities If parents knew
more of Christ and practiced more Of his
religion, there would not be so many little
feet already starting on the wrong road,
and all around us voices of riot and bias
phemy would not come up with such &C.
stasy OF Internal triumph. The eaglets in
the eyrie have no advantage over the ca
glets Of 1000 years ago, the kids have no
superior way of climbing up the rocks
than the old goats taught them hundreds
Of years ago. the whelps know no more
now than did the whelps of ages ago-they
are taught no more by the lions Of the
desert, but it is shame that in this day,
when there are SO many opportunities of
Ab, ~
culturing children, that SO often there is
no more advancement in this respect than
there has been among the kids and the
eaglets and the whelps.
Hannah's Piety.
Again, Hannah stands before you today
as Christian mother. From her prayers,
and from the way she oonsecrated her boy
to God, know she was good A mother
may have the finest culture, the most bril-
liant surroundings, but she is not fit for
her duties unless she be Christian moth
er. There may be well read libraries in
the house, and exquisite music in the par
lor, and the canvas of the best artist adorn-
ing the walls, and the wardrobe be crowd
ed with tasteful apparel and the children
be wonderful for their attachments and
make the house ring with laughter and in
nocent mirth, but there is something Woe
fully lacking in that house if 1t be not also
the residence Of q Christian mother. I
bless God that there are not many prayer
less mothers. The weight of responsibility
is SO great that they feel the need of di-
vine hand 10 help, and a diyfhe voice to
comfort, and divine heart to sympathize
Thousands of mothers have been led into
the kingdom of God by the hands of their
little children. There are hundreds of
mothers today who would not have been
Christians had it not been for the prattle
of their little ones Standing some day in
the nursery they bethought themselves:
"This child God has given me to raise for
eternity What is my influence upon ita
Not being Christian myself, how can I
ever expect him to become Christian.
Lord, help mel! oh, are there anxious
mothers who know nothing of the infinite
help Of religiopp Then commend to you
Hannah, the pious mother of Samuel Do
not think 1t is absolutely impossible that
your children come up iniquitous. Out of
just such fair brows and bright eyes and
soft hands and innocent hearts crime gets
it's Misunderstanding purity from the
heart, and rubbing out the smoothness
from the brow, and quenching the luster
of the eye, and shriveling up and poison
ing and putrefying and scathing and scald-
ing and blasting and burning with shame
and woe.
Every child Is bundle of tremendous
possibilities, and whether that child shall
come forth In life, its heart attuned to the
eternal harmonies, and after life of use
fulness on earth go to life of Joy in heav-
en-, or whether across 1t shall jar eternal
discords, and after life of wrongdoing
on earth 1t shall go to home of impene-
trable darkness and an abyss of immeasur-
able plunge, is being decided by nursery
song and Sabbath lesson and evening
prayer and walk and ride and look and
frown and smile. Oh, how many children
in glory, crowding all the battlements and
lifting million voiced hosanna-brought
to God through Christian parentagel One
hundred and twenty clergymen were TO-
gether, and they were telling their expert
ence and their ancestry, and of the 1870
clergymen, how many of them do you sup
pose assigned as the means of their con-
version the influence of Christian moth
er? One hundred out Of the hundred and
twenty Philip Doddridge was brought to
God by the Scripture lesson on the Dutch
tile of the chimney fireplace. The mother
thinks she is only rocking child, but at
the same time she may be rocking the des-
tiny of empires, rocking the fate of ma
tions, rocking the glories Of heaven. The
same maternal power that may lift o 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: ooh,
stop praying! 1 don't believe in praying.
Get over all those religious notions and
I'll give you a 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 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 mo-