The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-02-10
atlanta Constitution.

like an injured person. L believe l Will
60 to the missionary society myself
next time.
But, after all there is no use in pos
ing as domestic martyr or a patri-
archal pack horse about these things,
for I do like to have the little chaps
around me, especially little girls.
Children are blessing to the house
hold. They take away our selfish
ness and purify our feelings. Their
JOY and glee and sportive happiness
carries the old people back to their
early life when the days were all sun
shine. It is sad sympathy we feel
when we see them so happy now and
foresee the troubles that await them.
Poor Tom Hood. How sad he wa
when he penncd these touching lines:
II mber, rem her
The fir trees, dark and high;
I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky.
1t was childish ignorance,
But now tits little Joy
IL huOW tul ldI tliol Oll llOlA uco
ven
Than when I was boy.
There is no happiness like child S.
If I could I would exchange all that I
have realized since I was sixteen
years old for that had before. Those
sixteen years are about one-third of
the average life and the memories of
them are more precious than all the
rest. If childis blessed with loving,
indulgent parents those years are an
unbroken season of unalloyed enjoy
ment. Sometimes I see my wife look
ing sad and dreamily into the glowing
embers and know she is thinking
about her children or her childhood,
aud recalling the joys of her youth,
when she had 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 moth
er. 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 sal
vation.
But with all the cares, anxieties
and forebodings, children are our
greatest blessing and the family the
greatest bulwark Of good society and
good government. 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 knew the value Of
a child until few weeks ago a 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 little lips and throat were in
famed and swollen with diphtharetic
sores. Her lungs ratified with pncu-
monia. How she pleaded with US for
help-for rclief-plcaded with eyes
and hands, and we could do nothing
but caress her and weep. would
have given million dollars-yes, ten
million, if I had had ito relieve
that child and save her from suffering
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 auc-
tion what would the mother give?
How insignificant is property or gold
or siyer when compared with it. What
are we all working for but children,
their happiness and prosperity. Dan
iel Webster, the greatest man this
country has ever produced, said "a
good father will shrink from no toll,
no sacrifice to raise his children to a
better condition than his own. If l
was a Judge and a father was brough ght
before me for stealing, or even for
robbing, l would seek to know the
hidden motives that prompted him to
the crime. Many man steals or
cheats to get something for the chill
dren, and the world is outraged and
calls him thief and the law sends him
to the chalngang.
But, after all, it is the mother who
screens them, protects them and wraps
them in her bosom. I 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 cxacting
and more indulgcnt. The little boy
we have with us is young cyclone
and keeps the home in an uproar.
When l get outraged with his tumul-
tuous racket and threaten him with
punishment my wife takes his part
and says he is nothing but baby. :
Yes, a four-year. old baby, who
slams the door like an athlete forty
times an hour and don't mind any,
body, and l could regulate him in an
hour if | had my way. My wife ncv-
er allowed such liberties from her own.
They were afraid Of spanking, or Of
being shut up in the parlor when they
got too boistcrous. And now she
pleads for this boy and says he is
nothing but a baby. But I'll get him
some of these days when she goes to
the missionary meeting-see if !
don't. I've promised him a licking
every day for two months and he re.
treats to her and looks defiance at nc
But III get him, see if | don't. lie
is nothing but a baby, but he takes
the dog to the COW lot and sets him on
the COW, and when l tell him that the
COW will horn him and that she gives
him milk, he says he don't want any
more milk. He lets the chickens out
of the coop, but he is nothing but q
baby. But II get him before the
wear is Uut--see If ! don't. I'll dc