The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1902-02-25


in, shepherd boys, T. Bethlehem and see
the child. Mo- they say; eve arc 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 APP
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 n S0viour's birth was made
TO those men in the fields There were
wlseacres that night in Bethlehem and
Jerusalem snoring in deep sleep, and there
were salaried officers of government who,
hearing of II afterward may have thought
that they ought TO have had the first news
OF such great event, some one dlsmount-
ing from swift camel at their door and
knocking till at some sentinePs question.
WHO comes unere-- the great ones OF the
palace might have been told of the celes-
tial arrival. No; the shepherds heard the
first two bars of the music. the first in the
major key and the last in the subdued mi
nor, GLORY to God in the highest and on
earth peace. good will to mem" 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 1000 900 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
lists, all husbandmen. Not only that Christ
mas Hhsilbs uuI All up ana down the world )
history God has been honoring the fields
Near'y all the messiahs of reform and lit
eratIre and eloquence and law and benev-
olence have come from the fields Wash
lngton from the fields. Jefferson from the
helds. The Presidential martyrs Garfield
and Lincoln and Mckinley, 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
n lnA E.1l 4
chants IN rivalry as TO who shall sell that
one apple we want at least eight of them
TO go out and raise apples Instead of ten
merchants desiring to sell that one bushel
OF wheat, we want at least eight of them
TO go 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
shepherds by the midnight anthem, and
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 a
prophecy OF the time when thrasher's fail
and farmers plow and woodlands axe
and oN.s yoke and shcaf 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 10 Bethlehem without
".
layers on the morning of December 90
awoke. 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
hood for oil time was to be cOnsecrated
and one OF the tenderest relations was TO
he the maternal relation and one of the
sweetest words. mother" In all ages
God has houored good motherhood John
Wesley had a good mother; St. Bernard
Nna i n ] u - 4
mother: Waiter Scott, good mother;
Benjamin West, a good mother. In
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 M. Do
you not see how important it is that all
motherhood be consecrated? Why did Ii
tan, 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
faceZ Why did Murlllo, the Spanish art
list, in his Madonna make it Spanish
face? ! never heard but ] think they
took their own mothers as the type of
Mary, the mother OF Christ. When you
hear some one IN sermon or Grafton speak
in the abstract of n good, faithful honest
mother your eyes ill up with tears while
you say to yourself, That was my moth
err"
The first word child utters is apt to
be mother" and the old man in his dv-
ing dream calls: Mother! Motherl" 1t
matters not whether she was brought up
in the surroundings of a city and in aftiu-
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 spcctaclcs and apron of
her own make and knit your socks with
her own needles seated by the broad fire
place. with great backlog ablaze, on win
ter night. IL matters not how many wrln-
Eies crossed and TecTossed her face or how
much her shoulders stopped with the bur
deus of a long lire. II YOU painted n Ma
donna hers would be the face. What
gentle hand she had when we were sick,
and what a voice TO s0othe pain. and was
there any one VINO could so fill up a Dom
with peace and purity and lightE And
what sad day that 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 MS. "a of old. when you wished
MS a merry Christmas or q happy New
Year! But, not That would not be fair
to call YOU back Eou had troubles enough
while YOU were here. larry by the throne,
mother till we join YOU there, your pray
erS all answered, ana IN the eternal home
stead of our God we shall again keep
Christmas jubilee together. But speak
from your thrones. all you glorihed moth
ers and saw TO all these your sons and
daughters words of love. words of warn
ing. words of cheer They need your voice,
for they have travelled far and with many
q 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
"Siow footed years. More swiftly run
Into the gold of that setting sun.
Homcsck we are for thee
Calm land beyond the sea-
Copyright, 1901, T.. Klopsch.1