Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-06-01

ing to tear your parents from your
thoughts and affections, merely be-
cause you can get no more service out |
of them? How can you expect your
little children to love each other after
you are gone when you yourself have
nothing to do with the brothers and
sisters of your childhood? Is it moth
ing to you when they are sick or in
financial trouble? Is 1t nothing to you
when they are dead? Why, some
mothers who think they are good and
true mothers never pretend TO have
any affection for their parents or
brothers and sisters or for their
nephews and nieces. The inevitable
result will be that some day your own
children will cease to love each other.
All, my friends, blood ought to be
thicker than water. The ties which
bind the human heart to the home of
childhood ought to be as strong as
links of steel.
Today the sacred memories of the
past are calling many mother to her
nobler and truer self A short time
after her marriage a young wife told
me of vision she had that was SO
vivid ii was difficult to believe that 1t
| was not real. AS she lay in bed in the
early morning of the day when she
was to leave her fathers home her
thoughts were busy with her past life,
in which her mother, then six months
dead, occupied a prominent place.
What, she thought, would that dear
mother say to her If she were then liv-
ing? The beloved form, the tender
tones of her voice, were we'll remem-
bered. AS she dwelt on the memory it
seemed to her that her mother stood
beside her. She had the same dear old
face, the same look of love. Dressed
in pure white, she came and stood at
the foot of the bed 81 was not in the
least affrighted," said the young girl.
II felt and knew that l was awake. 1
raised myself upon my elbow and said,
is that you, motherT Yes, daughter
the mother answered. 1T is l. have
come back to have a few parting words
before you start out in your new life
Then, after talking awhile, the mother
said: Daughter, be true to yourself; be
true to your new home; but, daughter,
also be true to your old home. Never
forget or neglect your old father. He
Is alone now. Never cease to love your
brothers and sister, You cannot be
true. my daughter, to your new home
unless you are true to your DID, Then
the strange vision slowly turned and
disappeared" So today the sacred
memories Of the past plead for a noble
motherhood which will be true to the
old loves and which will therefore be
doubly true to the new.
The true mother should also be a true
friend to the great suffering world at
large The woman who would try to
train her children merely within the
four walls of home or in the family
relation to their father and grand
parents and uncles and aunts and cous-
ins has a too circumscribed territory.
The mother bird might just as well try
to teach her young how to fly without
their leaving the parental nest or the
horseman train the colt to draw a load
without his taking it from the stall or
child to learn how to sing by merely
studying music scroll without letting
her voice run the scales. A mother in
teaching her children what they ought
to be has her relation with the great
Of her own home.
Sympathize With the Afflicted.
The true mother goes forth in life
and sees the miseries and the suffer
ings and the troubles which are every
where self evident. Her heart bleed
ing with sympathy, she returns home
and begins to plan how she can help
the poor. When her children would
destroy their old clothes she turns
and says: Daughter. that is a sinful
waste. That dress may not be useful
to you, but 1t may clothe some little
girl and keep her warm all winter. l
wish that you would wrap it up in a
bundle and take it to Mrs. So-and-so's
house. Her husband is out of work,
and l fear she is having a hard time
to get along. l was in to see her to-
day" When that little girl carries
that dress to the home of restitution
and there sees the poverty sticking out
through cracks of the humble cottage
and the grateful tears of the mother
who received the dress she learns a
lesson of heart love she could learn
in no other way. She learns the same
kind Of self sacrifice which gentle
Louise Alcott taught in one of the best
of all books, that called Little Won
en-" There are many beautiful lessons
|, taught in that book. but not one sweet
: er than when the mother of Joe and
Amy and Beth and Meg comes in one
, morning from making a call upon q
poor family. She in substance says
Girls, l have just been visiting Mrs
> So-and-so. The family have not ha6
any food in that house for two days
There are a number Of little children
there. Are you girls willing to give
: them your breakfasts and go with
outY' YES" answer all four girls
Under her direction they formed