228 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



cious moments. But how do you know that 

 it was not laying the foundation for this sa- 

 cred rehHtioushipV It takes a good while, 

 my friend, for a man and woman to know 

 each other perfectly. 



A few days ago we were studying the 

 Sunday-school lesson where it told of Abra- 

 ham and iiis son Isaac. My wife asked the 

 question, " Wasu't Isaac frightened when 

 his father was making preparations for that 



I replied, '^ Tlie father trusted God. The 

 boy was a 'chip of the old block," and trust- 

 ed God, and also trusted iiis father. What 

 his father had decided to do, he knew by 

 years of experience was riglit; both father 

 and son were preparing to obey God, fearing 

 nauglit." 



" But," said my wife, •• have we any illus- 

 trations nowadays of such a faith as that ? '' 



I replied, '• How about yourself and your 

 four-year-old boy ? Do you suppose that 

 any thing you could d() would frighten 

 himV 



She replied, " To be sure, it would not, for 

 he knoivs his mamma, and his mamma 

 knows him.'" And siie turned to him lov- 

 ingly. Now, one of the most beautiful 

 sights in this world, to me, is the love be- 

 tween mother and son. Boys, especially 

 small boys, need a great deal of mother, and 

 they get it too. 1 have often thought of it ; 

 I have often watched the looks of love and 

 confidence and faith that passed between 

 the two. Tiie little man tells by his look 

 that he loves his mother more than all else 

 in the world— more than all the world to- 

 gether, in fact. Father, brothers, and sis- 

 ters may be near, but none of their names 

 have the fullness of that endearing sound, 

 mother; or, if you choose, '■'■ my ma.''' The 

 mother, too, for the time being — at least 

 while the boy is in his dresses, perhaps just 

 getting ready for different clothes and a dif- 

 ferent field of action— getting ready, as it 

 were, to go out into the workl— during this 

 period the mother's whole soul and all the 

 capabilities of her nature are poured out on 

 this boy. Now is the critical period. If he 

 loves and oheys his mother now, he will 

 probably not only love and obey her always, 

 but he will love and ol)ey God also. The 

 love the mother has for the father is a dif- 

 ferent kind. The father can take care of 

 himself; but the chihl's whole future life, 

 almost, depends upon her. God has given 

 this embryo man into her care and keeping, 

 and God holds lier responsible. 



Please liear with me, friends, if we study 

 a little furtiher this relationsliip between 

 parent and child— between a good mother 

 and a child wiio loves this motlier, and has 

 implicit faitli and confidence in her. It is 

 sometimes the duty of the mother of our 

 little liome to punish our four-year-old boy. 

 Now, does this punishment l)reak the union 

 of faith and confidence that exists between 

 them ? By no means, lie seems to recog- 

 nize, as it were, that the punishment is nec- 

 essary. I have seen the confiict going on in 

 his little heart lietween good and evil, and I 

 have seen him put his little arms about 

 mamma's neck, almost before the tears were 

 dried, and say by actions, if not by words, 



that ^ he has no other friend in this wide 

 world like that mother; and on her part, 

 when she punishes, that the great absorb- 

 ing love that she has for her boy is in no 

 whit abated. It is on account of that love 

 that she punishes, and because she has 

 prayed for him, and is praying in her heart, 

 that she does it. Present ease is nothing to 

 her, compared with the great broad future. 

 She wants him to be a good man— an evenly 

 balanced, intelligent, and useful man ; and 

 she knows he can not be this if he goes 

 through life crippled by an uncontrolled evil 

 temper or selfish and evil impulses. Some- 

 times when he is talking with me he tells 

 me of these contlicts. His childish words 

 are something like this : 



" Ma punislied me, she did.'" 



" Why, papa is real sorry to hear that. 

 Why did mamma have to punish her boy ? "' 



" 'Cause, I was naughty.'' 



" Well, you are not naughty now V " 



"No, I am good boy now." 



You will notice from the above, that there 

 is no unkind feeling— no thought of disput- 

 ing the mother's right. His faith and confi- 

 dence in her are so great, that, even if he 

 did not understand it entirely, there would 

 be no hard feeling toward his own mamma. 

 We don't always know what is going on in 

 these little hearts. Sometimes we totally 

 misunderstand; and if there is any place in 

 the world where we need to have great 

 charity and much forbearance, I think it is 

 in the care of children. Mamma once asked 

 me to talk with Huber when he seemed to 

 be stubborn and willful. For quite a time 

 he did not reply, and I began to think he 

 would have to be punished. Finally I 

 thought I would see if I could not win his 

 confidence, and get him to tell me his rea- 

 sons for his misconduct. At length he made 

 a statement that seemed to me so unreason- 

 able I decided at once he was untruthful. 

 His childish heart grasped the idea, and he 

 looked me full in the face while he repeated 

 his statement, and ended it with a phrase 

 he had probably heard some of the children 

 use — "In 'honest troot' I don't care, pa." 

 He seemed to be grieved, and to be in real 

 trouble and almost anguish because his pa- 

 pa did not believe him. Then I saw that 

 the misunderstanding and stubbornness 

 were all explained by the fact that he had a 

 wrong understanding of the meaning of 

 some of the words he had been using. But 

 I had caught a glimpse into that little soul, 

 and I understood him perfectly. He meant, 

 "I diclnt mean to.'' I presume I shall 

 always remember it, and the way he looked 

 up to me as he said, almost with a sob, " In 

 honest troot.'' 



Now, friends, what a sad and grievous 

 thing it is for a parent and child to misun- 

 derstand each other. Friends are some- 

 times estranged by misunderstandings, and 

 by being iti haste to conclude that the other 

 has deliberately committed a wrong. Sucli 

 things are sad ; but to misunderstand a 

 child, and to scold him when he is not 

 guilty, is a grievous thing. When punish- 

 ment is added to the little innocent uncon- 

 scious offender, it is sadder still. Such 

 things usually come about by want of faith 



