The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1901-12-28

angels on their wings might nave
brought an infant Saviour to bethle-
hem without Mary's being there at all.
When the villagers on the morning OF
December &c awoke, by Divine arrange
ment and in some unexplained way the
child Jesus might have been found In
some comfortable cradle of the village.
But no. no., Motherhood for all time
was to be consecrated, and one OF the
tenderest relations was to be the ma
ternal relation and one of the sweet
est words "mother." In all ages
has honored good motherhood. ot.
Bernard had a good mother. sa1nuei
Budget a good mother. Doddrldge a
good mother. Walter SEQ a gooo
mother. BENJAMIN West a good
mother. In a great audience, most OF
whom were Christians, l asked tina all
those who had been blessed OF Chrls-
tian mothers arise, and almost the en-
tire assembly stood up. Do you MOI see
how important it is that all mother
hood be c~onsecrated? Why did I1tlan,
the Italian artist, when he sketched the
Madonna. make it an ltalan lace!
Why did Rubens, the German artlst, IN
his Madonna, make it a German face?
Why did Joshua Reynolds, the English
artist, in his Madonna. make 1t an Eng
lish face? Why did Murillo, the Span
ish artist. in his Madonna, make 1t a
Spanish face? ! never heard, but L
think they took their own mothers as
the type of Mary, the mother OF Christ.
When YOU hear some n in sermon or
Grafton speak in the abstract OF a good,
faithful, honest mother, your eyes I'LL
up with tears, while you say to your
self: "That was my mother"
The first word a child utters is apt
to be "Mother!" and the old man in his
dying dream, calls: Mother,
mother!" 1t matters not whether she
was brought up in the surroundings of
a city and in affluent home and was
dressed appropriately with reference
to the demands of modern life or
whether she wore the old time cap and
great round spectacles and apron of
her own make, and knit your socks
with her own needles seated by the
broad fireplace, with great backlog
ablaze, on a winters night; 1t matters
not how many wrinkles crossed and re-
crossed her face or how much her
shoulders stopped with the burdens of
a long life. if you painted a Madonna
hers would be the face. What a gentle
hand she had when we were sick and
49, 49,, 10 EAAtha min and was
there anyone who could so fill up a
room with peace and purity and light?
And what a sad day that was when
we came home and she could greet us
not. for her lips were forever still.
Come back, mother, in these Christian
times and take your old place. and as
ten or 20 or so years ago come and open
the old Bible as you used to. read and
kneel in the same place where you
used to pray and look upon us as of
old when you wished us a merry
Christmas or a happy New Year. But
no. That would not be fair to call you
back. You had troubles enough and
aches enough and bereavements
enough while you were here. larry by
the throne, mother, TIL we ION you
there, your prayers all answered, and
in the eternal homestead of our God
we shall again keep Christmas jubilee
together. But speak from your
thrones, all you glorified mothers. and
say to all these, your son and daugh-
tiers. words of love. words of warming,
words of cheer. They need your voice
for they have travelled far and with
many a heartbreak since you left them,
and you do well to call from the heights
of Heaven to the valleys of earth
Hail, enthroned ancestry! We are
coming. Keep a place right beside you
at the banquet.
Slow footed years. More swiftly run
Into the gold of that unsetting sun.
Homesick We are for thee,
Calm land beyond the sea.