The Washington herald., 1913-09-28
ny JULIA CHANDLER MANI.

bN j. -u-hNAs
The-Mother-of-Five has not Away
lived in 3 modest bungalow in a still
more unpretentious suburb. Long ago
before she thought of being more thai
The-Mother-Of-One, things were quit
different Her husband earned a goot
Halary and she lived in a very lovel!
apartment OF ten rooms, in the mos
stylish part OF town, where she enter
tanned friends galore and turned owe
the care Of dear little Jane to a Frencl
maid. She was very busy in those days
was e-Mother-Of-One. her morning
being given TO the modiste or the MILL
ner: her afternoons being gobbled up b!
teas and bridge parties, and her even
fngs likewise, as Allied with things Of tn
earth most earthly. And she thought sh'
was amounting 70 quite a bit in thi
lovely world Of ours. so thick is the vel
os selhshness which sometimes obscurci
our spiritual vision.
But down in the heart Of her the mothe
OF Jane was n wonderful woman, witt
uplendid potentialities. The trouble wa
that she was walking in her sleep, quite
unaware OF Gods purpose in giving he
life. She had entirely made up her minc
that children interfered with things thai
q woman with many social obligations
wanted to do, and so had determined e
be only The e-MotheT-Of-One, when on .
fair summer day the family doctor camt
in answer to her call and told her that
the child Jane was in for desperate
fight for her life.
Many weeks had dragged by since the
ooctors diagnosis when he told The
Aother-Of-One that the crisis had come
that the night which lay before them
would bring the change for the better
or else take the little life into the Great
Beyond.
4 Wonderful Dream.
The trained nurse left the child alone
with her mother toward midnight, gOinG
u her own room for a few hours sleep.
The mystery Of the night seemed to The
MotheT-Of-One TO deepen as she watched
beside the little bed, fearing to stir an
inch lest she awaken the child whose
restless delirium had given place TO a
quiet sleep.
Even now. after all these years, the
mother Of Jane does not know how it was
that she too, fell asleep in her chair, nor
did il seem to her that she had fallen
asleep when she was conscious that the
little girl stood before her dressed in a
lovely little frOCk that had come from
Paris, her French maid tying the long
velvet streamers of a beautiful hat over
the soft Curls.
The -Mother-Of-One held out her hands
,ffort to come to her, but could not
ru.e from the spot upon which she
r..ad. Then the maid lifted the hem OF
7, little frock and The-MOther-Of-One
that it was lined with lead. And
r I she lifted the hat from the curly
20. the child's hair was matted down
. the pressure Of the leaden lining.
mother stripped the crushing dress
.r the little figure, and 10, the child
vnriTNH HFu
ar lightly as thistledown, away. and
..7a7. and away. When the mother fol
.- "a To the window she faced great
-a ming gulf across which she could
1.. into "a valley of poppes shining glo-
.r.rsIy i'm the sunlight. and through them
a--gI the little girl. The woman buried
1.- tcc in her hands in i sobbing prayer,
a." when she looked again from her
s.. window TIL valley of pOppies was
r.- fIed with myriads of children, their
shining with the radiance of God:
"a. when she held out her hands 10 the
20. Jane to come back to her from the
Of loveIineSs across the chasm the
child cried hack:
I'm alive, I'm alive! I'm free from
the dresses and hats that are lined with
lead I nave gone to the land where
what you are is the thing that counts and
not what YOU wear
Not Sure IL Was Dream.
As the joyous tones trailed away in the
distance of drcamland The-MOther-Of-
One awakened with a start to find the
nurse returning to the room, and the
child Jane so still and white in her little
bed that the veil that interviewed between
our eyes and the Unseen World seemed
actually to have been lifted for her.
And now that she is The-Mother-Of-
liz IN sinh n
where the FIVE may play and grow strone
In body and .raCter; now that Jane
Is n grown young lady, the experience of
the night when as a child she called to
her ~om the Land of Spirit is so very
real that The -Mother-Of-Fi is not so
very sure that it was 4 dream.
The land where the sunlight shines on
the poDpies: the vast garden where mil
lions of children are free: the place
where what you are is the thing that
counts and what you wear mas nothing
20 do with the matter at ali would not
let The Mother-Of-One alone even when
the little girl was cOnvalescing. SO She
went down to the roots of the super
fiCiality Of her wasting life, ana when
she had dug them up, one by one Ito the
utter astonishment and intolerance Of
her fashionable friends), she found that
the baby OF the family was not the only
one who had been wearing frocks that
were lined with lead. for the good father
admitted that the load on his shoulders
had been pretty heavy, and confessed TO
wonder concerning the end of their
road when they, too, should go the way
to the place where neither fine apart
rnent, nor brilliant friends, nor imported
frocks, nor servants. nor fine linen, gold,
nor glitter, will count, but just the thing
that you are down in the deep, deep heart
% VA, tpbars ouly Cod CaD
And this is why The-Mother-Of-One
has become e-Mother-Of-F why
she lives in a real home-clcan, and
sweet. and sane; why she is teaching the
five, day by day, that neither man nor
woman can walk to the Throne Of God
by the road of extravaganza and a use
less wlsted life, and it Is also why those
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