St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-01-25

canvas, to present Mary and her Chill
and the incidents of that most famou
night of the worlds history. Raphael
in three different masterpieces, cele
brated them. Tintoretto and Ghirlan
dajo surpassed themselves in the ado
ration of the magi. Correggio needed
to do no more than his Madonna to be
come immortal. The Madonna of tn,
Lily" by Leonardo da Vinci, will kindl'
the admiration of all ages. But all thu
galleries of Dresden are forgotten whe1
I think of the small room of that gal
1ery containing the ''Sistine Madonna
Yet all of them were copies of St. Mat
thew's Madonna and Luke's Madonna
the inspired Madonna Of the old Book
which we had put into our hands wher
we were infants and that we hope tt
have under our heads when we die.
Behold, in the first place, that on the
night of Christ's life God honored the
brute creation. You cannot get into
that Bethlehem barn without goins
past the camels, the mules, the dogs
the oxen. The brutes of that stable
heard the first cry of the infant Lord
Some of the old painters represent the
oxen and camels kneeling that night
before the newborn Babe. And well
might they kneel! Have you ever
thought that Christ came, among 9th.
er things, to alleviate the sufferings OF
the brute creation? Was it not appro.
pirate that He should, during the first
few days and nights of His life on
earth, be surrounded by the dumb
beasts, whose means and plant and
believing have for ages been a prayer
to God for the arresting of their tor
lures and the righting of their wrongs?
Not kennel in all the centuries, not a
birds nest, not a WORKOUT horse on
towpath, not herd freezing in the
poorly built cowpen, not freight car
in summer time bringing the beeves
to market without water through a
thousand miles of agony, not a sur
geon's room witnessing the struggles
of fox or rabbit or pigeon or dog in the
horrors of vivisection, but has an in
terest in the fact that Christ was born
in stable surrounded by brutes.
Standing then, as imagine now I do,
in that Bethlehem night with an infant
Christ on one side and the speeches.
creatures of God on the other, I cry:
Look out how you strike the rowel into
that horses side; take off that curbed
bit from that bleeding mouth; remove
that saddle from that raw back; shoot
not for fun that bird that is too small
for food; forget not to put water into
the cage of that canary; throw out
some crumbs to those birds caught too
far north in the winters inclemency;
arrest that man who is making that
one horse draw load heavy enough
for three; rush in upon that scene
where boys are torturing cat or
transfixing butterfly and grasshopper;
drive not off that old robin, for her
nest is mothers cradle and under her
wing there may be three or four mu-
sicians of the sky in training. In your
families and in your schools teach the
coming generation more mercy than
the present generation has ever shown
and in this marvellous Bible picture of
the nativity, while you point out to
them the angel, show them also the
camel, and while they hear the celes-
tial chant let them also hear the cows
moan.
Behold also in this Bible scene how
on that Christmas night God honored
Childhood was to be hon
ored by that advent. He must have a
child's light limbs and child's dimpled
hand and child's beaming eye and a
child's faxen hair, and babyhood was
to be honored for all time to come, and
a cradle was to mean more than
grave. Mighty God, may the reflection
Of that one Child's face be seen in all
infantile faces!
Enough have all those fathers and
mothers on hand if they have a child
in the house. A throne, crown,
scepter, kingdom under charge. Be
careful how you strike him across the
head, Earring the brain. What you say
to him will be centennial and millennial,
and a hundred years and thousand
years will not stop the echo and reecho.
Do not say: ut is only child" Rath-
er say: ut is only an immortal" It
is only masterpiece of Jehovah. tits
only being that shall outlive sun and
moon and star and ages quadriennial.
God has infinite resources, and He can
give presents of great value, but when
He wants to give the richest possible
gift to a household, He looks around
all the worlds and all the universe and
then gives child. Yea, in all ages God
has honored childhood. He makes al
most every picture failure unless
there be child either playing on the
floor or looking through the window or
seated on the lap gazing into the face
Of the mother.
It was a child in Naaman's kitchen
that told the great Syrian warrior
where he might go and get cured Of the
leprosy, which at his seventh plunge
in the Jordan was left at the bottom
If the river. It was to the cradle of
leaves in which child was laid, rocked
oy the Nile, that God called the atten-
ion of history. It was sick child that
evoked Christ's curative sympathies.