Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1909-12-03
He Kissed His Mother.
(Memphis News Scimitar. }

Sum up all there is i'm the world
and among il all can be found moth
ing that bespeaks better for boy
than the kiss he gives his mother.
Chicago Judge is somewhat OF
this same opinion. lie judged two
boys less from the evidence given by
witnesses than from the evidence
presented by themselves In theiv
treatment Of theiI mothers in court.
One boy whom the judge decided
must so To the reformatory tenderly
kissed his mother goodbye, sinking
his own misfoTtunes In sympathy
with the sorrow of his mother. The
judge looked on and insanity decid-
ed that there was enough good i'm
that boy To enable him and his
mother To work out his salvation.
Al the same time another boy
whom the same judge had announc-
Ell would probably go free, glanced
meanl at his mother, who was weep
ing, and started To walk out. That
boy went TO the reformatory.
We hear much OF the redeeming
Virtue OF boys love for his mother
No Que doubts il. II is recognized
everywhere in principle, but is sell
dom needed in practice.
This judge has only rippled COM
mon sense in Interpretation of the
law. Perhaps few judges take the
trouble To do that. But il is worth
while.
The boy against whom the testi-
mony seemed conclusive, but i'm his
extremity thought first OF his moth
er's sorrow, has good stuff i'm him.
In sending him back home with
that mother the judge sent him TO
the best reformatoTy in the world.
1t was no chance incident--that
kiss. People do not do things by
chance at crucial moments. 1t was
then that all the elements I'm the
boys character became strung TO
the highest tension and the resultant
act indicates the real character.
The kiss OF his mother had become
one OF the most imortant things I'm
that boys life. When the crisis
came he turned To il instinctively.
The mothers love, perhaps never
fully realized before, opened to him
as his first refuge. Memories of
lullabies, OF midnight vigils, Of toll
and worry and sacrifice, and I'M
wnvering devotion, came upon that
boys mind and heart and soul In q
| flood. He could no more resist that
inclination TO kiss his mother than
he could at that moment remold his
character.
Such boy may yield to tempta
lions. Bad companionship may
lead him into trouble. He may COM
NIT crime, and the evidence against
him be conclusive. But so long as
love of mother remains his strongest
emotional force, there must be much
hope for his complete redemption.
Government by Preachers"
An Indiana society which talks
about being engaged in the flight
for personal liberty" protests agains,
government and by preachers. y
1t is to be hoped that the doctrine
Of personal liberty Will not be car
ried TO the extent OF denying free
dom of speech to those who do moi
drink. Surely a preacher who has
no pecuniary interest to serve, bul
who acts--whetbei mistaken iu jude
msnt or not-according to what hs
concsientiously belives Is for In,
good OF people generally, is as muct
entitled to an opinion on the Iiquo
ques tion rs the man who because h,
manufacture res Ii or sells it as q mon
ey investment, has in the cultivation
Of the drink habit-Commoner.