The Laclede blade. (Laclede, Mo.) 1890-1945, 1905-11-25
Some Evening Rsvsrles.

England churchyard bears this 'briei
inscription, "She always made home
happy
! This epitaph was penned by be-
reaved husband, after sixty years of
welded life. He might have said of
his departed wife that she was beauti-
tul and accomplished and an orna-
: ment to s0ciety, and yet not have said
that I, she made home happy. He
might have added that she was a
christian and not have been able to
say, "She made home happy"
What rare combination of virtues
this wife and mother must have pos
sessed! How wisely she must have
ordered her house! In what patience
she must have possessed her soul!
How self-denying she must have
been! How tender and loving! How
thoughtful for the comfort of all
about her!
Her husband did not seek happi-
ness in public places because he found
enjoyment, purer and sweeter, at
home.
Her children, far away, did not
dread to return, for there was no
place to them so dear as home. There
was their mother thinking of them
and praying for them, longing for
their coming.
When tempted, they thought of
her. When in trouble, they remem-
bered her kind voice and her ready |
sympathy. When sick, they must go
home; they would not die away from
their dear mother.
This wife and mother was not ex-
empt from the cares common to her
place. She toiled; she suffered disap-
pointments and bereavements; she
was afflicted in her own person, but
yet she was submissive and cheerful.
The Lords will concerning her was
her will, and SO she passed away, leav-
ing this sweet remembrance behind
her, "She always made home happy"
Xxx
To guard our sons and daughters
from evil, or, at least, to maintain at
the very core of their being an ally
against all contaminating touch and
harmful counsel, let us win their con-
fidence when they are little, cultivate
it as they grow up and preserve it al
ways. There is no talisman more
magical, no better means of overcom- I
ing the difficulties of education that
arise from the changing age Of our |
children. As time goes on, authority
IS modified perforce. II you desire to
educate your children in freedom,
your authority must be felt less and
ess and at last efface itself altogether.
Confidence, on the contrary, must Y
persist. How many parents do not
this! Excellent at edu- n
,ating nurslings and guiding child e
rood, they continue to treat their v
'hildren the same at all ages; they N
teal away their power of initiative, 81
tife their aspirations and, by the tl
cry act of clinging to a passing au- b
hority, let perish confidence which d
night have been constant. Nor is it IL
nough to be resigned to seeing the
7ill and personal force of our children n
stablish themselves; we should well L
ONE with Joy all the signs of budding '
haracter and, so far as it can posi- r
ly be wise, give free play to the p
pirit of independence and enterprise. il
% not hinder the mans being formed fc
4 the child. To the somewhat femi- S
inc education of tenderness and solic- Il
Jude, of vigilance, perhaps over-anx- p
Jus and restrictive of liberty, let the
arile educator succeed, that educa- Of
on which is to forge and temper the b
! 1
,rces Of children, cultivates their re- e,
stance and their combativeness and m
oes not finch in the face Of their ia b,
gues, their trials, their difficulties, et