The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1905-05-28
sARRArH REFLEcTIoNs.

SABBATH REFLECTIONS.
Some one has said that the true test
OF love is the willingness to endure
and suffer for another; that il is the
suffering element that measures love
ami that characters that are great
must Of necessity be characters that
shall be willing. patient and strong to
endure for others; that to hold our
nature in the willing service of another
is the divine idea Of manhood. Tn
questionably the average parent would
successfully meet the test, even as II
was met by the father Of Nan Patter-
son. An illustration of this was tne
devotion displayed by the distracted
father toward his wayward daughter
When during her first trial, Nan Pat
terson stepped from the witness stand
after having passed through the ordeal
of a relentless cross-examination. ths
old man put his arm affectionately
around his child and said: You did
splendidly little girl.
No human pen can accurately de-
scribe tna- love. Il is wonderfully
elastic, and as child after child Is
born into the family, covers them all,
giving the same portion to the new
born while lestehing nonh OF that
ensCyed by the others. The good
mother when asked which Of her chill
dren she loved the best said "the one
who is sick" pointed out in happy
way the only difference a parent can
feel in his attitude toward his chill
dren. We love best 'the one who Is
Sick" We love best the one who is
crippled in body; We love best the one
who has some weakness, for which he
is not entirely responsible; We love
best thH one who has fallen. even
though he fell as Nan Patterson did.
even though the doors Of society are
closed against him, even though all but
the hope Of heaven has been denied
him.
Don't worry, little girl, It will come
out all right yet" said Nan Patterson's
father and will all her faults she was
his little girl" then, now and she will
be his 'li:tle girl" until the end. The
faithful father best remembers his
daughter as she was when inieed a
little girl. Although she has grown into
womanhood there is always picture
of the little innocent plaything, or
praying al the mothers knee. That
little girl may have met the world and
been conquered by the world; her
friends one By one may have turned
from her; she may have fallen even as
Nan Patterson fell; but at the critical
moment the majesty OF, parental love
asserts itself: the divine idea Of man.
hood" is manifested. At the critical
moment the love Of the parent for the
child is supreme and arm in arm the
devoted father and the wayward
daughter face frowning world and
walk together through the dark valley
the one loving as he always loved, the
other appreciative Of the majestic af-
fection perhaps for the first tine in her
life.
All the world loves a lover. It
smiles at the swsethearts gathered at
the trysting place. II mods approval
when the husband and wife grow day
by day into fonder and holier union;
1t admires the manly devotion of
brother and sister; it respects the af-
fection Of friend for friend; it is in
spired by the lovelight in the mothers
eyes when she bends over the cradle
of the babe. It must stand uncovered
in the presence Of that parental love,
for that is the true reflection Of the
love shown by the Savior Of men: that
is the spirit which hoyered over the
manger at Bethlehem: made Gehsem-
ane endurable and Calvary possible.
Greater love than this hath no man"
Painters have sought to paint love
upon canvass; poets have tried to pic
ture 1t In verse; dramatists have en-
deayored 20 describe ii in play. But it
is not a thing to show in picture or in
words. 1t was manifested in all its
majesty when the Nazarene cried: 1T
is finished" And since then Il has been
shown in the palaces Of the rich and
In the novels Of the poor whenever a
good parents love for his child has
been put to the test. But it would he
worth all the tears and all the grief
and all the toll and trouble If the plain
moral presented could be written in
dellibly upon the heart of every other
mans elittle girl' in all this wide wide
world.