The age-herald., 1902-03-23
THE MURMUR OF THE WORLD.

! outward manifestations of which we have no wish to conceal.
 ] The 1ret to go, the youngest and the fai-est. xent away upon Q wind that did blow to tbe South. The day after her departure there was Q stern that made the world gloomy, and our table was | gloomier still because she was gone away. Many days her place waa kept as mute tes:imoaial to her life and light; and then it was chrnscd. and we more Lonesome.
 By and by another fair one went away; ana then the morning came when tho last of the lovely ones departed for con- quests new An1 when the four survivors went to dinner our table had given place to a little board at which there were places for but the four. We were subject to much merry testing, but to us 1t was 1 "no joke"
 Great the joy of past days at our tablo, much the merrimcnt. Good cheer waited upon good appetite, and upon appetite waited cheer, and upon all was great jol- lity. Around the table comradcry and mirth ceasclcssly ran, and the longest feast was too briefly served. Joy, rap ture, happiness. all were there a goodly company, and the laughter was better music than was sounded by the dinner band in the antc-chambcr. Care fed. and many other things-th- world in fact were forgotten. Great was our table the brightest and happieet table in all Washington. Alas, that 1t should be broken, and that we shall know 1t no more
 Well-manncred little children are the angels of the earth. Of all the clements which go to make humanity attractive such children are the most beautiful. the purest, the best. the happiest. Their laughter fills the world with melody; their glee gives tenderness to all the glory of men, Their little fingers point the way to the stars, and their little feet lead to the gentle paths of virtue
 Therefore there Is scarcely any other thing so mournrul and so provoking as the rIdeness, the very priggishness of ill., hammered children. It is not a fault of their own, poor little things: the fault Hes In those responsible TOT the little ones upbringing. Those who bring up children in rudcness and vulgarity have no respect for divine law, ana so no fear of divine wrath. Nearly all the crime and vice, immortality from the smallest offense to the greatest, which Is murder, and all manner of gross sin-these are traceable in a very large degree to those who have wronged children by rearing them wrongfully.
 And even as a well-mannered child Is the sweetest and most attractive figure in the sum total of the worlds happiness. so is a rude and mean child the most painfully forbidding The ill-bred ones, the offensive little creatures who promise to swell the jails of the future-it isn't that they are naturally vicious; and that makes them all the more forbidding, be- cause one knows they would be as well as other children if they had been prop erly reared. Therein lies the element of mournfulness.
 To see ill-bred children in worst condi- tion and worst aspect one needs to live in a large hotel in Washington during the session of Congress. Here the bad ones are absolutely appalling, and no effort Is ever observed towards curbing them They howl, whistle, make modest noises offer insoence to men and women, slip into parlors and try to hear private con- versations, and at times drive respecta- ble persons into the street to escape from their pandemonium of beastiliness. One wonders if, with a very few exceptions. any wise or right-minded mothers ever bring their children to Washington hotels.
 Yet there are a few of the sweetest children in the world here in these hotels. Their mothers taught them good man. ners at home. and do not suffer Wash ington hotels to demoralize them; and amongst the ill-bred ones those who are good are as white-robed angels surround ed by a mob of chimney sweepers.
 There Is one little wide-eyed and laugh ing saint here who is lovely and lovable beyond all speech to tell, and whose voice is so infinitely sweet and tender that the echo of it is enough to make any man a better man. She brings into this hur- rying and sometimes tlresome life some- thing of heaven, and to hope she lends newer and worthi dreams. And she is such little thing-so roguish-so coy so wondrous fair-so surprisingly beauti- full. She Is only four, but in her little heart is imprisoned a millennium of sun shine. They call her Charlotte, and her father is in Congress. She would be a fit mate for the dear little saint Elizabeth of our valley of Birmingham whom the Murmurer used to make love to before the world.
 Children such as these make the world more beautiful, beloved. And the world is beautiful. isn't 1t? And life and love and truth. friendship, faith-all are beau- tiful, aren't they? So to all the beloved. "-I feel in the depths of my heart the
 truth
 There never was change in you"
 LUCIEN JULIEN WALKER.
 Marconi Company for America.