Year: 1879

street in company with a friend, our at
tention was attracted by some of tn,
most dreadful oaths | had ever heprd
and in this instance they were uttered
by little boy scarcely FIVE years old
One seldom sees a more forsaken looking
| object than he was. His face and hand.
were so besmeared with dirt that it was
| almost impossible to tell their natural
color. His hair was long, and SO tangled
and matted together that it looked as il
neither comb nor brush had ever passed
through it, Every garment that he had
on was ragged and covered with dirt.


He was merely surrounded by group
of half a dozen or more larger BOYS,
some Of whom seemed 10 be plaguing
him for no other reason than simply to
hear him swear


" Who is that poor child ?" said my
friend. He must be an orphan. He
certainly cannot have mother"


l was ust about to tell her | did not
know whose child he was, when the front
door of house near by opened, and a
woman, whom | recognized as a Mrs.
Brown, who had called at our house a
few days before, called out:


Johnnie, come here this instantl'


" Can it be possible that that is Mrs.
Browns child % said |.


g 1t must be, said the lady who was
with me, ''for she has little boy about
five years old but l have never seen
him before. | have heard that he is
shamefully neglected, but | did not ex-
pect to see him on the street in such q
condition as that"


| do hnE
neglect a child" said l. HAS she
other children?"


No, he is her only one," was the an
swer, "and it is well that she has no
more, for she has not time to care for
this one


mot timel What do you mean by
that?" [ asked, somewhat surprised.
"She does not have no labor to support
the family, does she?"


''By DO means; but her time and at
tention are so taken up in trying to re
lieve the wants of others that she has
| but little time or thought for her own
household. l have known her to spend
nearly a week i'll arranging for festival
| or public entertainment of some kind,
the proceeds of which were to be sent





purpose, and during the greater part of
that time her little boy must have been
running about the streets learning the
language we have just heard him utter,
for his father is engaged in b siness and
can not care for him. | have heard
that he often comes home at meal time
only to find her away, the house cold and
nothing to eat except what has been left
from some previous meal. He can
scarcely say even that his home is
place in which to eat and Sleep


He is to be pitied. What disap-
pOintment life must be to him? Some one
has written; "A man takes a wife to look
after his affairs, and to assist him in his
journey through life. Another has said:
The highest and holiest work for woman
is that which she accomplishes in the re
lation of wife and mother | think the
theatre of her exploits should be in the
bosom of her family, and her highest
earthly ambition should be to so live and
labor as to promote the welfare and hap
piness of her husband and children.
Most women, after having done this, can
can still find time for little deeds of kind
ness, i le words OF love, outside Of the
nome circle.


''It has also been written" my friend
added, ''that the temporal and eternal
destiny of children to great extent is in
the hands of the mother. When | see
children so neglected by mother, those
lines of Upper which express so much
truth, are always forced upon my mind:
Scratch the green rind of the sapling, or


wantoAly twist in the soil,


The SCARED and crooked oak will tell of


thee for years to come.


Even so may It thou guide the mind to good,


or lead it to the massings of evil.


'For disposition is builded up by the
fashioning of first impressions"


Ny friend here left me, and l contin-
ued my way alone; but | could not dis
miss the subject Of our conversation
from my mind. | believe that even as
the Egyptian Princess said to the mother
of the infant Moses, Take this child
and nurse it for me, and l will give thee
thy wages even so God says to every
mother when he entrusts to her keeping
the care of child.