The Leon reporter., 1900-03-01

ritants. In the sins OF Lady Macbeth
all the evil deeds OF life seem TO make
the very nnsers soak the blood.
When you think OF the injustice to-
ward the Jew in The Merchant oi
Venice. we hear poor Shylock turn
upon his prosecutors and demand a
pound OF Antonio's hesh In revenge fos
stealing his daughter. What Is viii
liam Shakespeare's testimony in ref
erence to children who have been
brought up by too lenient parents!
When King Lear as king had the two
daughters at his feet; when the two
daughters were queens the poor old
man was driven from house to house.
Adv,os e Parenta
But sometimes the tather's mis-
takes sharpen the poisonous fang. The
best way to hold the affections Of your
children is to be Independent of them.
Never let them finger the purse
strings; divide not unto them the liv-
ing, not only for your own sake, but
for theirs. The younger son will not
find much fun in drinking bottle of
champagne at $3.50 per bottle II he
earns a salary Of only 81 week
There is not much enjoyment in smok-
ing 25-cent cigars II poor clerk has
to go without his dinner on account of
the expense. There Is not much poetry
about the far country If a young man
has to tend the swine as soon as he en-
ters it. If your children are bound to
go to destruction, make them pay their
own way.
Lastly, learn when the young prodi-
gal gathered all together and took his
journey into the far country he left his
mother as well as his father. Some
preachers go SO far as to suppose this
boy did not have mother. The para
BILE mentions her not. Perhaps on ac-
count Of the dissipations of the young
er son the mothers hairs prematureiy
silvered. Then. like the blossoming OF
the almond tree. became as white as
snow. The long. deep wrinkles grew
deeper; the eye sadder; the lip more
ready to CULVER. The doctors said she
was worrying about something. One
day the old trouble came. There was
an awful cry. as the spasm of the heart
clutched at her life. and she was dead.
This Interpretation may be true, but
we do not think SO. and you and have
Just as much right to our opinion as
others have to theirs.
'In the first place. the man is at the
head of the house. By the eastern
custom he alone is mentioned. The b.
BILE tells US that Christ was to be born
Of Mary the Virgin. Yet in the two
distinct genealogical tables of the New
Testament, the one in Matthew and
the other in Luke, only the genealog-
ical table of Joseph is given; the one
tracing the family history from God
down to the manger. the other from
the manger back to God.
Old Homo Recalled.
Shall describe scene which hap
pened last night? No. 1t was not In
Chicago. Not in that low saloon or
cheap theater where you were play
ing billiards and gambling away your
life. The scene was way back in the
country. You remember the old farm,
the white house, the pillared porch. the
- barn ip the rear. the wood pile to
tne ieft 6f the kitchen door. The hens.
are now running around begging for
food because the earth is a frozen tomb
in which the worms have gone to sleep
for the winter. 1t is about evening,
and an old woman. an old gray-haired
woman, is cooking over the kitchen
stove. She looks thinner than when
you saw her last. The neighbors say
she Is aging very rapidly and will not
live long. An old man comes in and
stamps the snow OH his great boots.
The woman, this gray-haired woman.
looks up and says. Pa. have you let
ter? Have you been to the postof-
fee? Is 1t not strange he has not writ
ten? He has been gone Eve long years.
Do you think God viii let ne live long
enough to see him Just once before I
go?'
"The old man says nothing, but goes
to the door and looks down the road.
He shades his eyes as II he could see
great way OF. Then he turns and
says, Mother. that is a fine calf We
have there in the barnyard. She IL
getting fatter each day. We must kill
her COON. Perhaps We can have big
feast II our boy ever comes home
"They sit by the IRE a little while
after the dishes are wiped. Their even
ing talk is soon ended. They are so
tired they cannot stay up late. They
are too tired to Sleep Then they take
the old Bible and the mother says, PA,
won't you read that story Of the prod
igal SOM Somehow I never can hear Il
enough. You read it last night. It IL
in the fifteenth chapter of Luke. About
the younger son that went away and
starved and was too proud to come
home When home to parental
heart without the boy was even a
more desolate place than the pig Pen
was where her boy was starving.
Then they knelt. As they prayed
the little candie-light began to flicker
in sympathy. The tears trickled down
through the four withered hands. Thus
the two tottering old folks staid upon
their knees pleading with God until an
angel in heaven could hear their grief
no longer. and he fiuttered away and
whispered to me the secret that am
now telling you. Boy. will you not 60
home? Before they are dead 60 home
an6 leave this Tar country of sin, even
this wicked. selnsh city. where We now