And when this world has done its worst, when life's fevered fit is o'er,
And the griefs that wring my weary heart can never touch it more,
How sweet to think thou may'st be near to catch my latest sigh,
To bend beside my dying bed and close my glazing eye.
Oh! 'tis for offices like these the last sweet child is given;
The mother's joy, the father's pride, the fairest boon of heaven:
Their fireside plaything first, then of their failing strength the rock,
The rainbow to their wavering years, the youngling of their flock.
ALARIC A. WATTS.
* * * * *
Original.
THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
THE MOTHER OF SAMSON.
In the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Judges is recorded the short
but suggestive story which is our Bible lesson for the present month.
Horeb is long since left behind. The evil generation, who forty years
tried the patience of Jehovah, have fallen in the wilderness, and their
successors are now in possession of the promised land. Moses, and
Joshua, and Caleb, have gone to their rest, and Israel, bereft of their
counsel, follow wise or evil advices as a wayward fancy may dictate, and
receive a corresponding recompense at the hands of their God. The
children proved in no respect wiser or more obedient than their fathers.
Again and again "they forsook the Lord and served the idols of the
Canaanites, and in wrath He gave them up to their enemies.
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