The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1897-03-27

touching Illness
81 remember. re member
The fir trees dark and hfgi;:
used to think their slender tops
We're close against the sky.
II was a childish ignorance.
But now tits little Joy
To know I'm farther rff from hcav4
Than when was boy"
There is no happiness like o chilts. ~
I could l would exchange all that have
realized since / was sixteen years Id for
that had before. Those sixteen yers are
about one-third of the average life,and the
memories of them are more preciGs than
all the rest II child is blessed eth iCy-
ing. indulgent parents those year are an
unbroken season of unalloyed eHoyment.
Sometimes / see my wife looking SAD and
dreamily into the glowing emberstnd know
she is thinking about her childrn or ner
childhood and recalling the joys offer youth
when she had d mother and eov1 lay her
head upon her lap and feel the st caresses
CT her gentle hand. What d wefht OF care
and anxiety presses continual. upon the
heart of a mothef. How often % her pray
ers ascend to heaven in the dad watches OF
the night-prayers for their halth, their
welfare, their good conduct, thar salyatioh'
But with all the cares, anxietes and fore
boding, children are our greaest blessing
and the family the greatest bulfark OF good
society and good government 1t is the law
of our being that man and rprnan should
mate and marry and rear childen, and there
Is no substitute for the marriage relation: 1
hardly knew the value OF u cBld until a Few
weeks ago a dear little gratid5lild got sick
yefy sick-and for days and Fights was very
hear the gate of heaven. SD suffered ana
we watched and suffered witt her; Her lit,
! tie lips and throat were swolR IN and tniameu
with diphtharetic Sores Hf lungs ratified
with pneumonia. How she beaded with us
for help-for relief-pieada with eyes and
hands. and we could do ndhing but caress
her and weep. / would have given mil
| lion dollnrs-yes, ten millioa, if L had had
| ito relieve that child and save her from
| suffering. PRAYERS or medicine or good
nursing or something savedher, and we are
all grsteful What is the vaue OF child,
anyhow? If one was up auction what
would the mother give? Hw insigniileans
is property or gold or silyeIwhen compared,
with it. What are we all vorking for but
children, their happiness and prosperity!
Daniel Webster, the greatet man this eoun-
try has ever produced, SAID: "a good father
| will shrink from no toll, M sacrifice to raise
! his children to better coalition than his
| own.m II was Judge nd q father was
brought before me for sizzling or even for
| robbing, / would seek to know the hidden
motives that prompted Inn to the crime.
Many man steals or chats to get some
thing for the children, AM the world Is out
ragged and calls him a hief and the Law
sends him to the chaingug.
But after ALL 1t Is the mother who screens
them, protects them anewraps them in hel
bosom. 1 thought my wife was tired and
would like to rest In hei old age, but the
maternal instinct still possesses her, and she
seems ais much CONCERNED about the grand
children as she ever did about her own. II
fact. she Is less exactins, ind more indul
gent. The little boy We have with us is ;
Young cyclone and keeps the home In al
| uproar. When get outraged with his tn
multuous racket and hreaten him with pun
jshment. my wife takes his part and says h
Is nothing but a baby.
Yes. a four-year-old baby who slams tn
door like an athlete forty times an hou
and don't mind ANYBODY and l could regu
lite him in an hour III my way. -
wife never allowed such liberties from he
own. They were afraid Of spanking
or of being shut up in the parlor whe
they got too boisterous. And now sh
pleads for this boy and says he Is nothin
but baby. But III get him some of thes
DAYS when she goes to the missionar
meeting-see II | don't. I've promised hir
licking every day for two months an
he retreats to her and looks defiance 9
me- But I'll get him-see II don't. H
is nothing but baby, but he takes the do
to the COW lot and sets him on the COW, an
when tell him that the COW will horn hir
and that she gives him milk. he says
don't want any more milk. He lets I'll
chickens out Of the coop, but he Ia nothin
hut baby. But I'll get him before Ii
year Is out-see II / don't. I'll do like Die
. | Txk xphn 20 lac - Lox, n
love. But the boy got so bad that one da
Dick picked up lath and walloped hi
good. It was desperate remedy and had
fine temporary effect, and Dick walked IL
, piazza with a triumphant stride. 81 to
you was going to whip you, sir. For fl
long years have promised you whippir
and now you have got it, you son of Balial
! And Dick pulled and bowed like he la
S fought a great battle and whipped the iigf
He Dragged about the performance for
I week. But it didn't do the boy any lastiI
good. The whipping came Just FIVE yea
: too late. / never did take much stock
: bad little boys. They are nuisance. II
only at home but abroad. Boys rhyme wi
noise, and the little rascals want gun
some fire crackers or "a drum or a tin hor
!, | 1t always seemed strange TO me that mot
ers love their boys better than their girls b
/ reckon it is right. Ihave known boys w
I, had no other friend. father loves
i boys according to their conduct. but a mot
q or loves them anyhow.
!. A sweet little girl is a treasure in the IA
y lis. She Is very close kin to the ange
. Her value cannot be estimated in doll;
: and cents. II she Is seriously sick the ala
y paralyzes everything about the house.
whisper our anxieties in sad voices.
| walk lightly and close the door gently q
!. breathe our prayers silently. II she d
!. there is an aching void the world can ne'
: FIJI.
: What is the value 0 a child? When
> railroad train kills a man the lawyers /
for his value. II may be a thousand or
4 Thousand or Fifty thousand according to
8 consequence, but thai is nothing when co
: pared with the value Of a little child. H
Q rich these mothers are--rieh il their 81
u dr..11, How utterly nofr when they L