The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-02-15
DIR, DhNI:S;'
Compound Syrup
Wild Cherry
and Tar
ALL THE VIRTUE OF THE
CHERRY AND THE PINE Is
CONCENTRATED IN IT.
It Cures CONarI,,sor, I.oso =

ron All assroaomy viii yet recognize ses the
Star of Bethlehem.
| Behold, also, in that first Christmas
night that God honored the fields. Come me
the child. moi" they say; eve are not
dressed good enough. to come in" Eyes,
YOU are: come in" Sure enough, the
storms and the night dew and the bram-
bles have made rough work with their ap'
parel, but none has better right to come
in. They were the first to hear the music
of that Christmas night. The first an
nouncement Of a Saviours birth was made
to those men in the fields There were
wiseacres that night in Bethlehem and
Jerusalem snoring in deep sleep, and there
were salaried officers of government who,
hearing of it afterward, may have thought
that they ought to have had the first news
of such a great event, some one dismount..
ing from a swift camel at their door and
| knocking till at some sentinei's question,
palace might have been told of the celes-
tial arrival. No; the shepherds heard the
| first two bars of the music, the first in t..e
major KEY and the last in the subdued mi
| nor, "Glory to God in the highest and on
earth peace, good will to men!" All, yes,
| the fields were honored!
The old shepherds with plaid and crook
have for the most part vanished, but we
| have grazing on our United States pasture
| fields and prairie about 100000 sheep,
and all their keepers ought to follow the
shepherds of my text. and all those who
| toll in fields, all vine dressers, all orchard
ists all husbandmen. Not only that Christ
| mas night, but all up and down the worlds
history God has been honoring the fields.
Nearly all the messiahs of reform and lit
eraturs and eloquence and law and benev-
ok hov 10
ington from the fields. Jefferson from the
fields. The Presidential martyrs, Garfield
and Lincoln and Mel inley, from the
fields. Daniel Webster from the fields.
Martin Luther from, the fields. Before
this world is right the overlooking popu-
lations of our crowded cities will have to
take to the fields. Instead Of ten mer-
chants in rivalry as to who shall sell that
one apple We want at least eight of them
to 60 out and raise apples. Instead Of ten
merchants desiring to sell that one bushel
OF wheat, we want at least eight of them
to 60 out and raise wheat. The world
wants now more hard hands, more bronzed
cheeks, more muscular arms. To the fields!
God honored them when He woke up the
He will, while the world lasts, continue to
honor the fields. When the shepherds
crook was that famous night stood against
the wall of the Bethlehem khan, it was
prophecy of the time when thrasher's fail
and farmers plow and woodlands axe
and ox's yoke and sheaf binders rake shall
surrender to the God who made the coun-
try, as man made the town..
Behold, also, that on that Christmas
night God honored motherhood. Two an
gels on their wings might have brought an
infant Saviour to bethlehem without
Mary's being there at all. When the vii.
layers on the morning of December 26
awolse, by divine arrangement and in some
unexplained way the child Jesus might
have been found in some comfortable era.
die of the village. But no, no! Mother
and one of the tenderest relations was to
be the maternal relation and one of the
sweetest words, mother" In all ages
God has honored good motherhood john
Wesley had a good mother; st. Bernard
had good mother; Doddridge, good
mother; Walter Scott, good mother;
BENJAMIN West. n good mother. In a
great audience, most of whom were Chris
tians, asked that all those who had been
blessed of Christian mothers arise, and
almost the entire assembly stood up. Do
you net see how important it is that all
motherhood be consecrated? Why did II.
tian, the Italian artist, when he sketched
the Madonna make it an italian face?
Why did Rubens, the German artist, IN
Why did Joshua Reynolds, the English |
artist, in his Madonna make it an English
face? Why did Murillo, the Spanish art |
ist, in his Madonna make it a Spanish |
face? never heard, but think they |!
took their own mothers as the type Of |
Mary, the mother of Christ. When you |
heal; some one in sermon or grafton speak |
mother, your eyes fill up with tears while |
you say to yourself "That was my moth
er."
The first word a child utters Is apt to
be mother" and the old man in his dY.
ing dream calls: "Motheri Mother!" It |
matters not whether she was brought up
in the surroundings Of a city and IN attiu-
ent 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 fire.
place, with great backlog abla2e, on win
ter night. 1t matters not how many wrin-
kies crossed and recrossed her face or how
much her shoulders stopped with the bur
dens of a long life. If you painted Ma
donna, hers would be the face. What a
gentle hand she had when we were sick,
and what a voice to soothe pain, and was
there any one who could SO fill up a room
with peace and purity and light? And
what SAD Gay tnaC was When we came |
home and she could greet us not. for her
lips were forever still! Come back, moth
er, in these Christmas times and take
your old place, and, as ten or twenty or
fifty 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 merry Christmas or q happy New
Year! But, no! That would not be fair
10 call you back. You had troubles enough
while you were here. larry by the throne,
mother, till we join you there, your pray
ars all.answered, and in the eternal home
stead Of our God we shall again keep
Christmas jubilee together. But speak
rom your thrones, all you glorifed moth
era, and say TO all these, your cons and
words Of love, words of warn
ing, words of cheer. They need your voice,
Tor they have travelled far and with many
i heartbreak since you left them, and you
10 we'll to cali from the heights Of heaven
To- the valleys of earth. Hail, enthroned
ancestry! We are coming! Keep place
right beside you at the banquet!
"Slow footed years.! More swiftly run
Into the gold of that setting sun.
Homesick we are for thee, /,
Calm land beyond the sea"
Copyright. 1901. L. Nopsch.l
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