The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1897-12-26
Shristnnas
Meditations
Written for the Standard


every belfry, proclaiming the glory of
God and advising peace and good will
among men. All other Iongings of the
human heart seem TO have died away
this morning and been succeeded by a
desire for the pleasures of home 1t is
a time of union. 1t awakens domestic
4 love in the great heart of mankind, and
makes stronger the brotherhood of
all men. 1t unites us, in thought at
| least, with the firesides and compan-
I ion of our childhood, when Santa Claus
was the giver of all our Christmas
| joys. And even more--it Is the season
when mother time tears away the
shades of almost 10 centuries and leads
all Christendom back to unite us with
the events of the first Christmas morn
at Bethlehem. Yes, ii takes us back
TO Bethlehem, the home of Christianity,
and turns our thoughts toward the
home of our childhood.
There Is no sentiment more univer-
sally held than that of love for home.
To satisfy the wants OF their firesides
we see men toll and struggle from the
cradle to the grave. To protect their
homes we see whole nations rise up
as one man and offer their brave sons
to die on the fields of battle and leave
their bodies to feed the vultures of
some desert plain. But have we ever
has so great power over the human
heart? Why is IL that natures gayest
charms, or the most magnificent en-
chantments Of art, all fail in their
strife to divert the true man from his
humble home? All it is because home
shares the dignity of heaven. So sa-
cred is 1T TO us that the very word
which gives ii voice touches every fl
Der of the soul and strikes every chord
of the human heart with it's angelic
ringers. Home constitutes the magic
circle within which the weary spirit
finds refuge.
How could we do otherwise than
love our home? God has sanctified it
with the bonds of grace ana love He
keeps an angel watching DER it in the
person of our mother Heaven has i'm
printed an angels smile on the moth
ers face. What can we imagine more
admirable, more noble. more sublime
than mother watching DER the era
die of her helpless babe? So tender is
her love for her child heaven only
knows its strength. Even she is bind
cd to its power. 1t urges her on to
give up her life with pleasure if she
but sees that child benefited by her
sacrifice. So high are we in our moth
ers affections that her eyes are yelled
against our faults. Though we cause
ner cheeks to shrivel up with care;
though our follies cause tears to fur
row her face; though our wlckedness
cause her aged head TO bow in shame.
yet her love for us lives on in all it's
tenderness. IT'S yet pleasure for her
to toll and struggle for our comfort,
TO kneel and pray To heaven for our
good. What earthly prize did virtue
ever win of greater worth than moth
er's smile? What vengeance did crime
ever call upon itself more scalding
than mothers tears? Man may for
get his most intimate friend. his
l.a#.. Il ii.
God, but he never can forget a good
mother Among the greatest ruins of
his wicked heart the word ''frr ae-
s1ll shines in characters of gold 1t
Is because this word is the
and simple expression of a something
IN our bosoms whose name is real
pure. interrupted love.
But house and fireside are not the
telling feature of home. Many a
gltterlng palace enwrapped in a sea
Of luxury lacks all the qualities of
nome III the inmates of a house are
not bound heart to heart in love. it is
no home. If union, love, order. char
tN, virtue, religion, contenimenr reign
not there the home is INCOMPLETE
Home is where we turn for Joy and
for good emotions. courage,
advice IL is for good and not
-or show or pomp.
Home is the teacher of the race.
he nursery of nations. 1t is the guar |
han, the law, the church. the school |
or childhood. 1t takes up the child !
when neither church nor state nor |
school can reach or move him. 1t takes |
nm when a helpless handful in the |
'radle and leads him on to the service |
# his country and his God
Home imprints the first stamp and !
'ets the first seal upon the plastic ma
ufe of the child. These Impressions
ire indelible and durable as life They \
;,1H
GOOD or for evil. They cannot be neu-
raj. They are like the waters OF q
ieep and mighty river moving on in /
silence, but with overwhelming power.
someone tells us that manners
make the man." another, that the
n and wiser still. has said home
makes the men" The child cannot
lelp initiating what he sees. Every
hing IL to him a model of speech, of
labit. of manners. of character. The
,oet Cowly, speaking of the influences
II early example. and ideas early i'm
printed in the mind, compares them
With letters cut in the back of young
rec which grow and widen with age
he pure and holy thoughts imprinted
y parents in the heart of their child
ontinue to grow up into holy aspira-
ions and noble deeds. long, long after
he aged parents have been laid within
heir silent graves.
Home had its origin with the origin
[ man in the Garden of Eden Be-
ever me. reader. your home, though
be lonely cottage. is the most roy
| palace that You may enter till YOU
ross the Threshold of heavens gate
he little kingdom is made one by a
lngular union of affections. 1t is more
ecure behind the walls of love than is
he palace of an emperor guarded by
is most trusy legions. Such is the
UNIVERSAL respect for the privacy of
ONE that governments have provided
a iron law TO bar the door of every
rec home against intrusion Even
houEh man be condemned to die
non the gallowS for his crimes, vet
lw respects his home.
But alas, home. like other goods of
arth, must suffer from ingratitude.
We are prone to forget the value Of
ur homes and To look upon them as
ommon qualities of life. Not that we |
njoy them less. but because We know
ot what il is to be homeless. But
tait till duty calls and Keeps us from
hem; wait till cruel death has laid |