Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1899-07-15
MOTHER.

Written for Kentucky Irish-American. !
! There is none in all this cold and hol-
low world, no fount of deep, unchanging
love, like that within mothers heart. I"
None but those who have been deprived
of this, the kindest and best of earthly
friends, can ever fully appreciate the
real worth of a mothers love. What
love can equal the fond devotion that
burns in a mothers heart? Earth has
| none; no tie so tender, none so strong, so
unchanging, none so pure. Her love
and influence are like the silent dews of
heaven, falling gently upon the fruitful
soil of the heart, and every tender germ
springs up to meet it as the dropping
flower raises its blushing head to catch
the genial shower. If there be but one
tender plant it grows the greener; if but
one bright flower, it takes new and more
beautiful colors from its parent stem so,
if there be but one loved object on which
to bestow a mothers care, her affections
Irvine closer around it until it seems a
part of her own being, and she watches
over it with increasing fondness and more
devoted interest as she sees her infant
blossom expanding into the flower of
youth and vigor and age.
Though that fond mother may long
since have been laid away in the silent
grave, and the cold clods of the earth lie
Wondering over her decaying form, yet
her influence lives, and it will live for
ever, throwing its silent charm around
the rugged scenes of life, elevating the
soul to nobler aspirations and more ex-
allied motives; it hovers around the infant
couch and breathes its silent power over
the child it fingers around him like a
spirit of the dead, through all the rough
paths of life, and if ever guardian angel
is permitted to visit earth and watch over
the loved ones left behind, it is the saint
ed spirit of an affectionate mother ever
lowering near with fond delight and
clinging love, to guide the hayward steps
in the paths of duty and point the way
to heaven. Who so fondly as mother
could cherish her infant blossom and
watch beside our infant couch by night
and by day with toilless vigilance, and
whose ear was first to catch the slightest
sound at pleasure or grief Who antici-
pated our every want, and who soothed
our little hearts when they were sad2
Who but fond mother first taught us to
lisp the prayer,
"Our Father, who art in heaven"
And who told us of God, of heaven, and
directed our youthful steps in the ways
of truth and virtue? When suffering upon
a bed of pain and languishing disease,
who so well as mother can smooth the
aching breast and cool the fevered brow
or smooth the dying pillow and catch the
last faint whisper ere the soul takes its
eternal fight to the spirit world?
But alasl how little do we appreciate
her kindness and devoted love until too
late. When the death damps gather
around her aged brow, when the ardent
fires of that sparkling eye grow dim,
when the sweet and tender accents of her
familiar voice grow fainter and fainter,
when the last dying whispers fall with
crushing weight and mournful interest |
on our ears and the soul takes its upward |
fight, then the startling truth flashes |
DER the mind that we have never known |
the intrinsic worth of that fond and af-
fectionate mother now pale and silent |
and hushed for ever in the long sleep of
death.
"Gentle reader, hast thou mother"
Love her with all the intensity of your
heart, cherish her with fondest affection,
heed her counsel and instructions;
prize her as you would some rare
jewel and smooth her rough path
way down to the gates of death.
If you are bereft of her, then can
you truly mourn. Let the flowers that |
bloom around her grave often be watered |
with the tears of thy affection and sor-
row and ever preserve her memory fresh |
and green in your heart.
IT'S only when her lips are cold
We mourn with late regret,
Mid myriad memories of old,
The days forever set.
"And not an act, or look, or thought,
Against her meek control,
But with sad remembrance fraught,
Wakes anguish in the SOUL"
A. A. M.
New Albany, Ind, July ~.
PLEASANT OCCASION.