Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1897-03-06
H,hat a Home Should Be.

IL matters little now Efanu uotile 1
may be, how elegantly appointed and |
furnished, or how humble and poor il
may be, If it is only built right, if it |
has a good and solid foundation. You
remember the man that our Savior
tells of, who builded his house upon
the sand, and how the winds and the
floods beat upon it and il was washed
away. And so we are admonished to
dig deep and build our house upon that
safe and sure foundatiou-Christ Jesus;
and when the storms of life shall sweep
around us, and dire disaster threaten,
we may sweetly rest in perfect peace,
and sit beneath the shadow of our own
vine and fig-tree, with none to modest or
make Us afraid, for he has promised to
be very present help in time of trou-
bic.
And this home should be place of
rest to the weary ones, who have to
bear the heat and the burthens of the
day: place where they may come
gladly, and where they draw the cur
tain and shut the door.
And, again, the good mother requires
as much purity of thought, speech and
action, of her boys, as OF her girls.
She teaches her children to be truth
full and honest, not because it is the
best policy, but because it is right.
oh 1dFsan
when the shades OF evening fall, and
what company they are keeping, what
books they are reading, and, the good
mother begins at the cradle side to teach
temperance; she don't wait until her
boy gets TO be big and headstrong and
begins to think ne knows good deal,
anyway, if he don't know it all. She
teaches her girls what motherhood
means, and what great responsibility
will rest upon them some day, when
immortal souls shall be given into their
keeping 10 train for the Master.
Who can measure the far-reaching
influence of good mother? The first
word hsped by the babe, the last word
upon the lips of the dying is, ''Moher"
When the children come from school,
or from work, the first question is,
always: Where is mother?n
Talmage loves to think that, when
we weary ones of earth step over into
the great beyond, that that also will be
the first question on our lips: Where
is mother?''
At night shut out the world, and its
cares and perplexities and shut in the
love and peace. and happiness, OF the
family circle. The home should be a
place where good books, magazines and
papers abound-where history and cur
rent events are discussed; where the
father and mother never grow too old
take part in games or the amusements
of the children
II our homes were what they should
be, there would be fewer boys on the
streets at night: there would not be
so many men spending time and money
in the saloons; there would not be Sc
many young girls going astray.
The true home should have family
altar, where we may kneel and ash
God to guide US in all things. A fitt1ns
center to this home il mother that i
all that a mother should be.
A mother may be able TO broil steak
and see that the coffee does not boi
over, and watch the cat that she doe
not steal the meat on the kitchen table
dress the youngest boy and set the ia
BILE, see to the toast and stir the oat
meal, give an order to the butcher a
one and the same time and still not b,
all that mother should be.
! don't think that all the good moth
ers are in heaven, neither are they al
to be found between the covers Of stor
books. We have them scattered al
over the land, but they are not maxim!
any stir about it-they live their live
quietly. patiently.
Talk of the patience Of Job! He ha
been held up as pattern Of patienc
all through the ages; but it seems t
me he did powerful lot Of talkin
back about it, and how he gathered nj
friends around him and sat on th
ground and threw dust in the air an
howled land took on when his trials cam
upon him. Now, have seen mother
that had about all to contend with thu
jon had. They have been deserted b
their husbands and left with q larg
family, or else they were worse tina
widowed with drunken husband /
support, in addition TO the famil!
They have seen property swept ava.
and been left penniless. Do they >
down and wall and fold their hand
and do nothing? No indeed. but at til
point Of the needle, or the end OF tn
dashboard. they are doing loyal bait
with the world for the helpless lit
ones dependent upon them. raisin
them In tho fear and adfnuuitinn of N