Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1910-05-14

| that garment from home, for the pro
| visions for the temple service were al
| ways ample. But Hannah could not be
| contended unless she was doing some
| thing for her darling boy. If | read
| rightly the story of her home surround
| ing there was no need for her to work
| for her husband was well to do and
loved her much. And so she might have
sat with folded hands, or read novels
or spent her time shopping" or gaddin9
about. But no! And when | see hel
| busy with her needle on that garment
know she is Industrious.
Now YOU must not misunderstood me
as saying or limiting that God would
have the mothers become as drudge or
slave. ] believe He would have her en-
ploy all the help possible in this day of
invention and labor saving machinery i'll
the rearing of the children but the true
mother ought never to be ashamed to be
making coat for Samuel Many mothers
need no counsel in this direction. The
thread marks on the fingers, and the
wrinkles on the brow attest their faith
fulness
There are two extremes to be avoided
in this connection-the one that banishcs
the mother, and leaves the care, clothing.
food, books, company and schooling in
the hands of others, thus allowing them
to come under influences which may
cripple their bodies, faint their purity.
spoil their manners and destroy the soul /;
the other, which turns the mother into
the slave of the family and finally sends
the offspring out into the world, great
crowd of grownup babies, unframed, un
tanned, saucy, willful, and wholly in
competent for the practical duties oi
life, and ready to be caught in the first
whirlpool of crime and sensua1ity.
The great men and women of the
world have come from the home of an
Industrious mother, as rule; while the
people in socalled society" light as
froth, blown every whittier of tempta
tion and fashion, the tavern louuging,
store-infesting do-nothings, have come
from mothers idle in life and disgusting
in habit.
The modern Hannah may keep help"
but she is no model unless personally
observant and director of her children's
walk and talk and food, and books and
company and clothes; and | think she
ought at least once a year to put the
needle to their garments in person.
But again, Hannah stands before us,
and eminently as woman of Faith
and Prayer. Her motherhood began real
ly with prayer. Indeed, in her case,
there was no motherhood possible till
she began to pray for it. But as soon
as the prophet assures her that her
prayer is heard. she goes on her way re
ioicing as tho the desire of her heart
was already before her eyes, SO strong
is her faith.
And such, the model mother must ever
be, woman of strong faith and earnest
prayer. She may have all other quail
ties essential to true motherhood, but if
she lack this she is weak indeed and no
true model. However else well fitted
to my mind there is something lacking
i'll the house if it is not the residence of
a Christian mother. The model mother
must be a Christian. and Christian OF
strong faith and power in PRAYER; and
because every mother is the mother of
such tremendous possibilities. Whether
the child shall come forth to life with
the heart atuned to the eternal harmon
les, and, after a life of usefulness on
earth. 90 to life of greater usefulness
and JOY in heaven: or whether it shall
jar with unholy discord. and, after Il
life of wrong doing OH earth, plunge into
an eternal night of impenetrable dark
ness Is being decided ill large measure
by nursery song, by Sabbath lesson, by
evening prayer, and walk and ride and
look of the mothers, or by the absence
and opposite of these.
Oh, the responsibility that rests upon
the mothersl The little hand that today
strokes SO lovingly your face, may yet
be lifted TO hurl thunderbolts of war
or to drop benedictions of grace. That
child voice twenty years from now may
blaspheme God in the grog shop, or cry
forward" to the Lords hosts as they
90 out for their final victory. In a com
pany of l20 ministers, gathered in con
vention, testimony disclosed the fact that
more than 100 of them had Christian
mothers.
| told you at the beginning that
spoke by the book of experience as well
as by the Bible. 1t is true; for, under
God, j owe more to the calming, restrain
ing, stimulating, moulding influence of
my mother upon my life, and especially
in its forma tive period, than to all other
influences combined. She would have
told you that in those days it was differ
cult for careful observer to see where
the impression had been made, even with
the much used slipper. But the impress
ion there made were deeper than the
surface, and more powerful than the
temporary smart of chastening rod. They
were the impressions which true moth
ers love. and patience, and prayer, cou-
pied with great faith, industry and in
telligencc. made upon the inner nature
of the soul, and which, thus rooted and
grounded within, in due time sproute
and came to the surface for the world to
acknowledge, and the mother to rejoice
in.
And that is the last portrait | give
you of the model mother-the natural
result of the possession of the three es-
scntials | have named-Her Reward. 1t
is sure to come, tho she may have long
to wait for it, Hannah's reward began
early as she saw her conseerated boy,
before he had reached his teens, minist-
ering unto the Lord before Eli 1t may
come, as it came to one from the battle
field of our civil war. 1t was just after
the battle of Williamsburg, where hun
dreds of brave fellows had fallen, and
where hundreds more wounded, that a
soldier came to the tent of delegate
of the Christian Commission, and said,
chaplain, one of our boys is badly
woundod and wants tn 500 Won riUht