Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-12-12

love caCn C(ner WIFI deeper. Wluer
and boiler affection after you together
nursed the little sufferer through that
last long painful sickneSs2 DO you not
now love each other more after you
together have arranged the little white
flowers upon the little white casket
DO you not today love each other the
more because when those sad anniver-
saries of your baby'S death come you
never mention her name but give 20
each other n holy kiss, while your eyes
and cheeks are wet with falling tears
Yes, your little dead chlld's life had a
distinct mission. She lived long enough
to make the twain one flesh. From her
casket today she reaches out one arm
and puts IL about her fathers neck.
She reaches out the other arm aud puts
Il about the mothers neck. And now
her dead lips part as she gives you this
holy benediction, Papa, mamma, be
true TO each other and love each other
for your dead baby's sake"
A Heavenly Magnet.
An empty cradle is potent magnet
for a true, consecrated. spiritual. pa
rental life. 1t makes n great deal of
difference how an average father and
mother feel toward heaven, whether or
no they have a little one In the spirit
land. where your treasure is, there
is your heart also" can be interpreted
in more ways than one. You have a
boy who has started out to earn bis
own living. He has become the owner
OF a little shoestore in one Of the out
lying districts of some large city. When
you visit him and his young bride. does
he take you the first day to see any of
the great stores IN the downtown dis
trlcts1 Does he want you as soon as
you arrive to visit the noted art gal
leries or the libraries or the famous
auditorium, where the mightiest ora
tors of the world have spoken and the
most beautiful voices Of Europe and
America have sung7 oh. no. The frst
place the boy takes you 10 Is his own
little store. why, bis face beams with
pride as be says: Mother. just look nj
these show wipdowsl Are they not
splendid? Those windows cost me
$500, but they are worth II. Then.
mother, 1 intend as soon as the bust
ness increases enough to warrant II to
build an addition on the back OF the
store. Then perhaps may be able to
hire this corner store and knock out
the intervening walls. Then I shall
run a line of furnishing goods as well
as a shoestore. Don't you think this
IS O tine situation7 And, mother,
made all this myself practically out OF
nothing-out OF the $50 you gave me
when 1 left home" Why does your
boy go on like tbat7 Easy enough to
understand. His treasure is In that
store. There his heart is also.
What Is true in reference to the bust-
ness life Is true In reference to the
home. You may travel all around the
world. You may stand In a Louvre OF
Luxembourg. You may wander
through q Windsor castle or a Vatican
You may even travel for time among
the poetic beauties of India or Ceylon
but when the evening hour comes your
thoughts will leap over continents and
swim over seas. They will travel past
palaces and cathedrals and London
Towers filled with crown jewels until
ut last they enter some humble home
and smile and laugh and cry by some
coy ireside. Why? Because your
loved ones are In that home. And
where your treasure is there is your
heart also.
Now. by the same law of reasoning
God wants to make heaven q place, O
practicality; no condition, but n verita.
bic actually How is the Divine Fa.
Hnr 20 1A tao H., A-l- A.
heaven ourselves2 oh, mol God will
not do this, because our work Is not yet
done But God can make us feel that
heaven Is a home by coming into our
homes and taking our best and dearest
treasures theie. What does he take,
Our money! Sometimes. But gener
ally something dearer and more pre-
cious than that God as loving Fa
Their takes the dearest possession We
have. He tak,s q little child out OF
the nursery. He takes that for which
n mother would give the diamond rings
on her fingers. the silk dresses out ri
her wardrobe, the house over her head
for which she would give anything ant
everything If she could only get bach
her child. God in love takes that littl,
child out OF the parental arms. Hs
takes 1t as hostage, as the great king,
of old used to demand the sons AMI
daughters OF their defiant subjects, tc
be sent to the royal court as a guaran
tee that those subjects would there
after behave themselves. God, wher
he comes into our nurseries and takes
the little ones home with him Il
heaven, practically says to the beref,
parents: Father and mother, live purel
and nobler and more consecrated lives
Live as Jesus would have you live
Then some day you will come to tn,
heavenly land where you shall be abl,
forever and ever TO dwell with YOU
little ones" Does not this suggestion
give 10 you an added force to the beau
tiful words, And he shall gently leat
those that are with youngT
Gathering the Lambs.
An empty cradle signifies. In n genera
sense. n populous heaven. Some year,
ago I read mathematician's figures
in reference to the size OF heaven, Civ
the prophetic vision. have forgotten
what those figures were and would no
give them even IL i could remembe
them. But this i ~ remember: TIL
mathematician stated that IL the worl,
were to last q hundred thousand years
and IL the human race could keep OF
doubling Itself every few years. accord
Ing TO the Malthusian ratio. and II al
children born would grow TO maturit,
and all those grown men and womel
would be ultimately saved. there woul,
still be room enough In heaven for ev
cry immortal soul to have an immens
palace all 10 himself and have immens
/ grounds around that palace. Now, I
heaven be such an immense place. how
would II be possible for God to popu
late 1t, In any true sense OF the word
unless he every year had wholesal
emigration to heaven OF the little chill
drenf He surely could not depend en-
tirely upon populating heaven from tn
old folks. God knows. and we ais,
know, that all men and women can b.
xr<ad vl.D Lob. -