The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-11-30
WHEN OUR FATHERS LIVED.

10 their young years look back to it
IN later days with the fondest recollec-
ton. If they have children about
them, aud are going through the
various besetments that accompanythe
bfinging up of a family, more than
ever do they look kindly back and re-
call their own waywardness and the
steady, kind hands that led them
SAFELY along. No matter how far from
the paternal roof we may have depart
edfrom the example and precepts of
our parents, yet we fondly recall them
their bread is on the waters and will
return to us; and when life is reced-
ins-age creeping on apace-and we
have but few of our old friends left
and are past the age of making new
ones, we long for home, and want to
be buried where the old folks lie
| tie dear parents who loved US with
unfaltering love.
Yes, ''love is the greatest thing on
earth. 1t is that which fills the
hearts ofthe parents and enables them
to open their doors and take back the
prodigals, aud once more try to lead
them along the straight way that leads
to peace and contentment.
One sometimes wonders why people
who wander the world over, and seem
to have no respect for the old home
life with its simple honest ways and
teachings, will yet desire to be brought
back to be buried with their fathers.
1t would not seem worth while to be
transported long distances to be buri-
ed in a place one had not cared for
while alive but such is often the case.
The world has been ransacked, and
its feeting pleasures tasted; we have
found how willing people are to take
advantage of us and mislead us, and
have discovered that the real Joy OF
living is only where affection dwells.
We leave never failing fountain of
love when we leave a good home and
good parents. Nowhere else is found
the deep, undying love of mother
for her child, and when this lesson is
learned, our hearts go back in men,
ories of her patient willingness to for
give our many transgressions, and we
want to acknowledge our affection for
her-and perhaps it is too late to do
it in any other way than desiring to re-
turn and sleep the last long sleepin the
sacred ground where she has been laid.
Is there no lesson we can profit by
In this love we feel for the good old
home where our fathers livedl Ihave
long thought that those people of
wealth who own three or four homes.
and 60 from place to place, bringing
up their children on the wing, as it
were, can have but a small share, if
they have any at all, of that deep-seat-
ed love for home that is felt by those
who through summers heat and win
ter cold abide under the same roof
and learn to endure the hardships of
the seasons as they roll. When tenn
pests rage and sleet and snow prevail,
what brighter, cheerier scene of true
home life could be imagined than the
farmers fireside with corn to pop,
nuts and jokes to crack, apples to
MUNICH, puzzles to work out, games to
play, songs to sing, and all the little
enjoyable exploits that farmers boys
and girls invent to fill up the hours
until bedtime. which comes along all
too soon. What is winter without
when it is summer within? Who
would forget the sleigh rides, coasting
parties, snowballing, and all the fun
and frolic winter brings.
Good parents can make any home
an enjoyable place that will be held
in fond remembrance by the children
who have grown up under its shelter
ing roof. It is pity that more pa
rents do not try to make such homes,
for everybody must want to live in
the kind remembrance of his children.
The Old Home Week, which is grow
ing to be quite popular in many States,
is intended to foster a spirit of love
for the old place of our ancestors but
the first and most important thing to
do toward this end is to make the
homes worth remembering. 1t is not
the sporting fathers-not the man
who goes gading about in automobiles,
drinking and card playing and seeking
his own amusement, regardless of the
fact that his lonely wife is home and
tied to the babies and not able to go
to church or to visit the dear parents
whom she left for his sake-who will
be likely to found home that his
children will revere in age. Like
every priceless possession that man
has, he must work for the respect of
his children; he must not provoke
them to wrath.
The geneologist, when he makes up
his family tree, doesn't dwell largely
on his scapegrace ancestors he stud
les most particularly and lovingly the
character of those who have done
something-those who have not only
created homes of thrift and plenty for
their families, but who have found
time 10 be helpful TO the nelgnOornooo
around them, and who by their clean,
useful lives have left records.
There is nothing more precious
than the knowledge that our ancestors
were respectable-"patterns Of every
virtue, every grace. Nothing more
humiliating than to know that they
were "black sheep" / once saw
tears of shame coursing down the fur
rowed cheeks of an old, gray-haired
man who was highly esteemed by all,
when he spoke of the lifetime load of
sorrow he had carried because his
father had disgraced his family. 1t
is the good old homes where our aO' :
thy fathers lived that we cherish in our
hearts. 81 can hardly bear to leave
here" said President Roosevelt to
his wife, when they visited the home
of his mothers young womanhood,
where she lived and was married.