Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1899-01-05
Twilight Reveries.

who has not felt its sweet influence,
and sitting alone in the twilight, idly
watching the blue-tongued flames play
hide-and go-seek in the open CRATE,
made countless resolutlons? Such
host of resolutions! Resolutions to
lead a higher life; to profit by the les
sons of the past, days which come not
back again, and make the new year
glorious achievement lustrous star,
shining pure and clear, and contrast
ing most wonderfully with the dull,
Pickering glow of the sordid past.
1t is wonderful what memories are
awakened from their long sleep-what
recollections arise of things we might
have done to brighten some life, to
make some day bit easier for anoth-
or, to gladden. some dreary heart The
opportunities are so many. They
crowd life's pathway and how often we
pass them by.
We recall, as if it were but yes erday
our peevishneSs when little Clarence
wanted new tail for his kite, and how
the childish face heightened and the
| lips quivered as we answered sharply,
Don't bother me, don't you see Pm
busy?' TASTY words, scarcely remem-
bered at the time-not meant, but
burned into our memory in letters of
fire, and which, on this glad new year,
again confront our gaze, grim, accus-
Ing specifies OF the past. Poor little
Clarence. We had not meant to be
unkind. Had we foreseen the next
few days, this long hours of fever and
delerium; could we have heard the
plaintive voice speaking of his cherish
ed kite, and could we have known the
bitter end, should we have been so
cruel? All, no. We should have been
glad to amuse him, nor counted it a
sacrifice. Now it is too late. There is
an empty chair in the household, a lit
tie rocker that is never Tiled, a vacant
place at the table, tiny pillow where
no curly head ever rests. Alas, the
\ bitterness OF 1T all.
Oh, If any there he who have ever
been hasty to the little supplicants
who have ever turned aside from child
ish demands, or brought unnecessary
pain to tiny souls, let him remembs
how but too often the little buds OF
humanity never open; how sometimes
the rude touch of death pitilessly
blights the fragile petals, leaving us t.
only imagine what they might have
been in their full perfection and grace
BE gentle with your child; be- sympa-
thetic. Remember how much his Int.
tie pleasures are to him, and how he
grows old and careworn and callous
only 90 fast. Let him be young; lie,
him string his kites and roll his mar
bles. Let the sturdy little feet tramp
as noisily as they will and be glad
there is this activity, this restless little
soul finding expression in the only way
it yet knows.
Or if Susie breaks her doll, bringing
it to you with many tears, do not max,
light of her grief, or repulse the tiny
figure come to you for love and conso
iation. Sympathize with her and men,
the doll if you can. 1t takes so littl.
to make child happy, and is it no,
worth while? Is it not something t.
see the dear eyes brighten and note TIN
smile that creeps over the baby face
Besides, has not God given her to 20,
to cherish, and mould and direct? Ant
il you are gravely told, very likely i,
the middle of an interesting book, tina
! "dolly is fairy with wings and queer
of the elm realm, see Mamma?" d.
not speak absently to the child, OF seel
to dispel her happiness by the rude en-
lightenment of older years. The ser
+ pent of Wisdom, the knowledge o
E good and evil has not yet touched th
little soul She lives in the ideal realr
in world of her own thought an
> fancy, and who shall say the innocenc
and purity OF childhood may not brin
to the little ones glimpses more beaut
q full than our dull eyes can behold. d
not attempt to deceive her by feignin
g an interest you do not feel. She know
whether you are interested or not, an
penetrates the slightest fabrication {
subterfuge. She does not reason, M
assign any name of falsehood or indi
y ference, but she knows, and she know
l. instinctive)y.
=. Possibly it is net of tie children v
- dream tonight, but of the tired, pa
. lent mother. the mother who has 81
q omized all her life, gone WITH
unnecessary things very Liz
der that Jenny might b1 IN
gov and ribbons, or ne
, } J ! :;
or set of encyclopS bic
What selfish Veted.
- |life/ erhaps of
, II beings ir
mothers we
-abneg
AZ and condo