The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-02-11
BILL ARP AS a NURSE.

BILL ARP AS ~ NURSE.
Inc Children arc Itomping Around
Him and tho Family Loft Him TO
Look Artcr Them.
consider myself an injured person
wife gone to the missionary meeting,
my Two daughters gone visiting and
nero am alone with three grandchil-
dren--got to watch them till somebody
comes. I've never secn one of the
stock that wasn't full Of mischief and
frolic. Thought l would take a little
nap on the sofa while they PLAYED
around, but 1t was no use. They got
all the chairs in q row and PLAYED rail.
ROAD ana locomotive awhile. Then
they played soldier, and fired guns and
Killed one another and fell dead. Then
they played horse and r"r ro~~H ~"
centre table. ! :ECu ,i.I ,nu litlic g,r.s
would get tired after q while and settle
down to their dolls and make play
hou:o, but TIC boy didn't like that and
SO the racket continued. They turned
the chairs )side down and slid down
the backs Ecadforemosta and rolled over
and turned sOmmersaults, and then
jumped of the table and lounge and
shook the Il 'or and made the windows
rattle like an earthquake. Will they
never get tired ? thought |. No, never.
But by and by, when my wife cane
home she settled them down and play.
ed club fist and trimbletoe with them
and had peace.
MY iolke have got an idea that it
suits me to take care of the children,
ana the children have an idea that they
are to do as they please whom there's
NOBODY about but me, and so | sufcr
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 pos
Ing as domestic martyr or q patri-
archal packhorse about these things,
for do like to have the little chaps
around me, especially little girls.
hold. They take away our sellishness
and purify our feelings. Their Joy
and e zee and sportive happiness car
ries the old people back to their early
life, when the days were all sunshine
1t is sad sympathy we feel when we
sec them SO happy now and foresee
the troubles that await them. Poor
Tom Hood. How sad he was when he
penned those touching lines:
81 remember, | remember
The fir trees dark and high;
l used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky.
1T was childish ignorance,
But now it's little JOY
TO know Pm farther off from heaven
Than when | was a boy"
There is no happiness like child's.
If l could l would exchange all that I
have realiZ ed since ] was sixteen years
old for that l had before. Those six
teen years are about one-third of the
average life and the memories of them
are more precious than all the rest. II
child is blessed with loving, indul-
gent parents those years are an un-
broken season Of unalloyed enjoyment.
Sometimes | see my wife looking sad
and dreamily into the glowing cmbers
and know che is thinking about her
ing 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 continually
upon the heart of u 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 salvation.
But with all the cares, anxieties and
foreboding, children arc our greatest
blessing and the family the gre attest
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.
] hardly know the value of child
until few weeks ago dear little
grandchild got sick-very sick, and for
days and nights was very near the
gate Of heaven. She suffered and we
watched and suffered with her. Her
littlc lips and throat were swollen and
inhumcd with diptharctic sores. Her
lungs ratified with pneumonia. How
she pleaded with us for help-for re-
!ief-plcadcd with eyes and hands, and
we could do nothing hut carcss her
and weep. would have given mil
lion dollars-yes, ten million, If had
had ito relieve that child and save
her from suffering. Prayers or mcdi.
cine or good nursing or something saw
ed 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
property or gold or silver when com
pared with 1t. What are we all work
Ing for but children, their happiness
and prosperity. Daniel Webste,, the
greatest man this country has ever
produced, said: GA good father will
shrink from no toll, no sacrifice to
raise his children to p better condition
than his own" II was q Judge and a
father was brought before mo for steal
Ing or even for robbing, 1 would seek
to know the hidden motives that
prompted him to the crime. Many a
man steal ls or cheats to get something
Tor the children, and the world Is out
ragged and calls him a thief and the
law sends him to the chaingang.
But after all, 1t 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 in
stinct still possesses her, and she
seems as much concerned about the
grandchildren as she ever did about
her own. In fact, she is less oxacting,
and more indulgent. The little boy
we have with us is a young cyclone
and keeps the home in an uproar.
When get outraged with his tumul-
| tuOus racket and threaten him with