The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-03-27
BILL ARP as A MORSE.
Eliminates as He Watches the Chill
dren at Their Play.
hold Went Away and LEFT HIM 20
HIS RetrospeCtiona.

e.. @4A- = avs 49, - ~
HIS RetrospeCtioua.
1consider myself an injured person
wife gone to the missionary meeting,
my two daughters gone visiting and
here I am alone with three grandchik
dren-got to watch them till somebody
comes. I've never seen one OF the stock
that wasn't full Of mischief and frolic.
Thought would take little nap on the
sofa while they played around, but It
was no use. They got all the chairs in o
row and played railroad and locomotive
awhile. Then they played soldier, and
fired guns and killed one another and
fell dead. Then they played horse and
ran round the center table. / thought
the little girls would get tired after
awhile and settle down to their dolls
and make playhouse, but the boy
didn't like that and so the racket CON
tinued. They turned the chairs upside
down and slid down the backs head
foremost and rolled over and turned
somersaults, and then jumped or
the table and the lounge ndsshook the
floor and made the windows rattle ike
an. earthquake. viii they never get
tired? thought /. No, never. But by
and by, when my wife came home she
settled them down and played club
fist and trimbletoc with them and had
peace. +
My folks have got an idea that it
suits me to take care of the children,
and the children have an idea that they
are to do as they please when there's
nobody about but me-, and so I suffer
myself imposed on and feel like an In
jured person. believe I will go to the
missionary society myself next time.
But after all, there is no use in posing
as a'domestic martyr or a patriarchaI
packhorse about these things, for I do
like to have the little chaps around me,
especially little girls. Children are a
blessing to the household. They take
away our selishness and purify our
feelings. Their joy and glee and sport
i've happiness carries the old people.
back to their early life, when the days
were all sunshine. 1t is a sad sympathy
we feel when we see them so happy now
and foresee the troubles that await
them. Poor Tom Hood! How sad he was
when he penned those touching lines:
'I remember, I remember
The fir trees dark and high;
/ used to think their slender tops
Were, close against the sky.
1t was a childish ignorance,
But now tits little joy
To know I'm farther of from Heaven
Than when | was q boy"
There is'no happiness like a child's.
If I could I would exchange all that I
have realized since I was 16 years old.
for that / had before. Those 16 years
are about one-third Of the average life
and the memories Of them are more
precious than all the rest. If a child is
blessed with loving, indulgent parents
those years are an unbroken season of.
unalloyed enjoyment. Sometimes / see
my wife looking sadly and dreamilyinto
the glowing embers and know she is
thinking Rboutherc hildrenor her child
hood and recalling the joys of her youth
when she had q mother and could lay
her head upon her lap and feel the soft
caresses of her gentle hand. What a
weight of care and anxiety presses con
tinually upon the heart Of a mother.
How often do her prayers ascend to
Heaven in the dark watches OF the
night-prayers for their health, their
welfare, their good conduct, their sail
walton.
But with all the cares, anxieties and
foreboding, children are our greatest
blessing and the family the greatest
bulwark of good society and good gov
ernment. 1t is the law of our being
that man and woman should mate and.
marry and rear children, and there is
no substitute for the marriage relation.
I hardly knew the value of a child until
a few weeks ago "a dear little grand
child got sick-yery sick, and for days
and nights was very near the gates of
heaven. She suffered and we watched
and suffered with her. Her little lips
and throat were swollen and inhamed
with diptheretic sores. Her lungs rat
tied with pneumonia. How she plead
ed with us for help-for relief-pleaded
with eyes and hands, and we could do
nothing but caress her and weep. I
would have given a million dollars
JSSP vel AAIAA4OAl9 IA \ AbA 1G-tO TT
lieve that child and save her from suf-
fering. Prayers or medicine or good
nursing or something saved her, and we
are all grateful. What is the value of
a child, anyhow? If one was up.
at auction what would the mother
give? How insignificant is prop
erty or gold or silver when COM
pared with it. What are we all work
ing for but children, their happiness
and prosperity? Daniel Webster, the
greatest man this country has ever pro-
duced, said: "a good father will shrink
from no toll, no sacrifice to raise his
children to a better condition than his
own" If / was a judge and a father
was brought before me for stealing or
even for robbing, / would seek to know
the hidden motives that prompted him
to the crime. Many a man steals or
cheats to get something for his children,
and the world is outraged and calls him
a thief and the law sends him to the
chain gang.
But after all, it is the mother who
screens them, protects them and wraps
them in her bosom. thought my wife
was tired and would like to rest in her
old age, but the maternal instinct still
nnoea~so- 49, 49, -