The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-15
GOVERNOR SAMFORD'S
 LAST CHRISTMAS. Alabama's Beloved Executive Was COnvalescent Dur ing Last Holidays.
 BY WILLIAM H. THOMAS
pY wILLIAM H. THOMAS.

 inconvenience that he might be present, but his family well knew the father ana husband would he with them at such time. On one occasion he traveled about home.
 DO we not get the beautiful lesson that if there Is q will. we may usually spend with the loved ones at home this new the ties of chll5hood, feel again the benedictions of the love Of ageing pa rents. gladden. their saddening autumn lives and at least If Providence or mis- fortune has broken up the family altags, and ambition. pleasure or passion has extinguished those sacred fires, that We should erect them again, and kindle them anew, if not possible in reality, then in the most sacred recesses of our hearts. If in the past we have been un- mindful or dereliet in duty, we can make the future considerations do ample atone, ment for the neglects of the past IT we may not go home to loved ones, we have a thousand ways of making our love and gratitude felt; If we cannot carry to them tokens of present, we may carry token of love in smiling conn-- tenance; we can establish, the rule of writing home Christmas letter; 1T we cannot go. we may send; if there is no home or family circle left. we can at least join that circle of Gods people who will gIorify and magnify His name.
 As long as Governor Samfords s parents lived-which was to within few years
 
 with them during Christmas; and saw to 1t that the occasion was one Of joy and happiness to them. This custom was observed until four. years ago. when he went and found his mother ill, and there remained at her bedside, until the closing days of that sad Christmas cast a shadow across his life that rested on him till he went to join her in the Chr1s- tian's some In glory.
 For more than a half century. she had been the loving. watchful, prayful motn~ full, loving child; and when those glad days were saddened by her death, this was his Gethsemane: and hts soul went out after her in this cry of anguish, which I pray do not profane by giving, as written with his own hand in his diary:
 December 18th, 1Ss7
 This day is a black letter day to my humanity. My mother breathed her sweet life away at a. m, just before the dawn. As dies a zephyr in bed of vio- lets, in the soft rays of a May days dying sun, robed in shining vestments tabernacle, gently conveyed by angel band, for the Christians Home in Glory" and the ~rorld was dark to me: My mother. oh. my mother. If I did mornings first ray, my bruised heart would not echo the disconsolate notes of human agony. On your loving breast my weary head has often lain in sweet re,
  my crushing cares. Your soft voice has often been music to my troubled spirit. My humanity bows to the earth with a Psalm of Thanksgiving. that with the blessed Savior you are walking beside the still waters in the fair helds Of Eden My soul will forever dwell on your last. sweet smile that lighted up Jordan's dark waves, and, God being my helper, I shall seek that motherly smile again around the throne of God!! Oh, my God grant that. that prayer; o,,as,1 Mother
 I. repeat this, his apostrophe to his mother with hesitation, but with the hope at least that, if there be those to dead to what . mother has been and should be, that this perfect picture of the depths of fillial love and trust in God, may quicken such hearts to life again.
 At Christmas time Governor Sanford searched for the poor and needy, and those he thought might not be remem- bered by the community, and either sent or carried gifts to them. Some he invit- ed to his home to eat Christmas dinner with him. This had grown into custom with him, and which was extending in its circle as the years came and went. His considerations on these occasions, like all his acts of charity and kindness, were not mentioned. The writer remem- bers his being with us on one occasion case of Restitution. of which she had learned. and he remarking of the severity of the weather inquired of her the price of a ton of coal in this city, when in the evening he came to go away, handed her the sum named with the request that she have sent a ton of coal and to please not make mention of it." Many poor and indigent at the coming of the approaching Christmas will remember again that he is gone.
 And all over this prosperous land, what opportunities are right at each door for Christian kindnesses! Will we forget hn n i0diPpnt those friends and influence that we may, with out ostentatiOn, carry ray or the sea sons joys to such heavy hearts? We may be sure there are those who will not only lack Its pleasures and its hap | pness, but will stand in Ueed of it's dire necessities. The supplicating hand Is al- our duty without waiting till what we | may do is known.
 For many years he never failed to send | his pastor a Christmas turkey, and in | the other churches the Thanksgiving | bird for Christmas. In this. as in all | his doings, We see the scope of his love and kindnesses extended as the nobility l of his nature heightened.
 In his own home, as he was ever pres ent on that day. so he entered fully into the true spirit of thc. occasion, and with the children, was child again, shooting fireworks. playing their games, and toy ing with their toys
 He manifested great delight In aiding to HI the children stockings; ana per sonally saw to it that every individual from the humhlest servant to the highest in the house, was well provided with gifts He would rise with the youngest child to catch evcrybodys Christmas gift-only to be the giver. Giver in life, in the warmth of his love and truth of | friendship, and in death the giver still by the nobility of example in the life he | had lived. Yes he has
 Joined the choir invisible, | Of that immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence; live
 In pulses stirred to generosity,
 l In deeds of daring reCtltude, in scorn | For miserable aims that end with self.
 In thoughts sublime that pierce the night | like stars,