.JiXt»L i; £. SW; | Surgeon General's Office •r^ *+~A iV j'O 2oqo^oqov-u'J/i-;j.o\i^i^S ^ Murphy & Co's New Publications, Ju*t Published, in a neat lfimo. volume, price in cloth, 50 cts.: in cloth, gilt edges, 75 cts. A COLLECTION of SHORT TALES and HISTORICAL SKETCHES. From the French of EMRLE SOVVMiSTBK. By S. J. Donaldson, Jr. This collection is written in that happy style that cannot fail to picas? alike young and old. The author—the Washington Irving of Fiance, and already favorably known to the American public by his Attic Philosopher. and other Popular Tales—has in this collection le;n peculiarly happy in combining useful instruction with delicate and refined humor. All these stories breathe that spirit of pure sentiment and innocent playfulness which pervades the other productions of his graceful pen. Just Published, iu a neat and attraethe style, suitable for a PRESENTATION BOOK, Price in cloth, 50 cts., iu cloth, gilt edges, 75 els. $jttalMiutl cgttsthtct, or J[oue. By J. M. Tonkk, M. D. This Little Volume, comprised of Fragmentary Chapters, illustrative of Maternal Ixstikct, on Love, written as relaxation from Professional duties, and not intended for publication, is now given to the public in deference to the wishes of friends, in the hope that their publication may t:ondueo to a more correct appreciation, by both sexes, of the true Sphere of Woman, and the Dignity of Maternitij. Murphy & Co. Publishers and booksellers, \>~1 Baltimoreetrett, Baltimore, 1 Murphy & Co's Recent Publications. Moral and Instructive Tales, k Uniform Series, in 10 vols. Square 10o., Stiff Fancy Paper Covers, 38; Cloth, 50; Cloth, gilt edges, 75 cts. per. vol. TALES OF THE ANGELS; or, Ethel's BOOK, By. F. W. Faber. THti QUEEN'S AND PRINCESSES OF FRANCE. FATHER LAVAL; or, The Jesuit Missionary. LIFE OF SISTER ROSALIE, of the Daughters of St. Vlnceut. MARTHA; or, The Hospital Sister. Translated from the French, LORENZO; or, The Empire of Religion. From the French. 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Embellished with Pine Engravings. jJEg" I' can be recommended with confidence as one of the most attractive, edifying and instructive Juveniles that can be placed in the hands of Cath- olic Youth. ay It shonld find a place in every Catholic Household. g3~ It is admirably adapted for a Premium or Gift Boo/.: FIKST COMMUNION. A Series of Letters to the Young. Mmo., Cloth, gilt back, 5(1 cts..........Cloth, gilt sides and edges, 75 cts. Panegyric of the Blessed Aloysius. Printed in Red and Black. Small S\ o., flexible cloth, 25 cts. Murphy Co. Publishers and Booksellers, 182 Baltimore strut, Baltimore. I Tales and Romances by Hendrik Conscience. I.—THE CURSE OF THE VILLAGE, The Happiness of Being Kich ; and Blixd Rosa. Tliree Tales in 1 vol.......cloth, gilt back, $1..............cloth, gilt edges, SI 50 The first tale in this volume is a bold description of the ravages of intern perance—that bane of villages in the Old World as well as the New. The second story is a humorous account of the discomforts and disasters of an humble and industrious family by a sudden accession'of wealth, and teacht-f the admirable moral of contentment with our lot in the world. The sketch cf " Blind liosa" is one of those rapid narratives in which the delicate and tender characteristics of it. Conscience are peculiarly displayed. II.—THE LION OF FLANDERS; Or, the Battle of the Golden Spck>. An Historical Romance of the Glorious Days of Flanders. Embosod cloth, gilt back, $1...................................cloth, gilt edges, 51 •*1'1 The work which is now presented to the American reader lias been very fiopular in England and on the continent of Europe, where it has been lonored by translation into most of the modern languages. The English press has been unanimous in commending it to the public: and one ot the critics declares that, in '* graphic pictures of national heroism, and touching narratives of domestio tenderness, it excels almost every thing of its kind since Scott penned his Ivanhoe and Heart of Mid-Lothian." The Church of England Quarterly says:—" The materials of this romance are worked up with an artistic skill little inferior to that exhibited hy om own unrivalled countryman, Sir Walter Scott. Many of the characters are drawn with great force, and the dramatic power exhibited in the dialogue carries the reader through with an irresistible interest which never flags Having once taken up a volumo of this stirring narrative, we found the greatest difficulty in laying it down; indeed, since ine publication of the Wavorly Novels, we have never been so absorbed by any work of fiction.'. III.—COUNT HUGO OF CRAENHOVE; Wooden Clara; and the Villagk Inn-Keeper. Three Tales in 1 vol..........cloth, $1............cloth, gilt edges and sides, $1 50 In "Count Hugo op Craenhovjs"—independently of the charming romance that invests the story—there aro dramatic descriptions of scenes during the plague that desolated Europe in the fourteenth century, which fully equal—if they do not surpass—in vividness, the tragic details of E«c- cacio and Dc Foe, and, in fact, realize its dreadful incidents with that palpable distinctness which we have only found in the celebrated "Repre- sentation of the Plague" preserved in the Museo d'Istoria Naturale at Florence. •* Woodex Clara" is a picture of a mother's trials under the most afflict- ing and embarrassing difficulties that can assail married life. It is touched throughout with the most careful delicacy and minuteness, and encnams our attention not only by the interest of the tale but by the surprising novelty of the situations and occurrences. " The Village Innkeeper" has been translated expressly for this edition. It differs from most of M. Conscience's stories in the broad satiric mirth with which he ridioules the egregious presumption of an ignorant, low-born upstart; while the pathos of its concluding scene displays that finer discern- ment of the human heart which is always to be found in the works of ou author. Murphy it Co. Publishers and Bool&ellers, 1S3 Baltimore street, Baltimore. Established, 1837. JOHN MURPHY «Sc CO. PnlJlisliers, Booksellers, Printers & Stationers 182 Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Wholesale and Retail Dealers in looks, lager, glanfe §ooR5, Stationers, fa. PUBLISH A LARGE AND VARIED LIST OF STANDARD CATHOLIC WORKS, Comprising Works of Devotion and Instruction, Histori- cal, Controversial, Theological, Biographical and Musical Works, School Books, Tales, Novels, &-c, together with a great variety of Popular Standard Prayer Books, in various Bindings, comprising upwards of 120 different styles, at prices varying from 15 cts. to $12 per copy. $£?'Catalogues, with prices, furnished on application. _JB&""M. ©f geese or other wild fowl to take wing, Sympathy Among Animals. 53 as if they themselves had seen me; and many a shot have I lost by the cries of pee-wits and other birds. " I have often been led to think that, when different kinds of wild fowl were feeding in a quiet place, the mallards and widgeon have taken no heed to their own security as long as there were either cur- lews or redshanks feeding near them ; being apparently quite satisfied that these vigilant and noisy birds were sufficiently watchful sentinels to warn them on the first approach of danger. "A stag takes warning from the alarm- note of the grouse or plover, as quickly as if he had himself seen an enemy, and from the manner of the bird's flight knows pretty accurately where the dan- ger lies. In getting up to deer, it has more than once happened that I have had 54 Sympathy Among Animals. either to lie motionless for a long time, or to make a considerable circuit, to avoid putting up a cock grouse, who, eyeing my serpentine movements with suspicion, has been ready to rise with his loud cry of alarm had I approached a yard nearer to him. In fact there is a language of signs and observation carried on between animals of different kinds, which is as perfectly understood by them as if they could communicate by words." The females of all species are the most gentle, and the most easily and ^perfectly domesticated. There is ever a touch of wild, restless savagery in the male and in man. Sympathy is almost a feminine quality. But "one touch of nature makes. the whole world kin." Chapter VII. paternal getroiion. In sickness, the labor, self-denial and want of rest which the mother can per- form and endure in attending to the wants and in securing the comforts of her child, are truly marvelous. Nothing seems to check her perseverance, break down her constitution or lessen her heroism —even in fatal contagion — in the enthusiastic performance of maternal duties as long as hopes are cherished of the recovery of her child. But, oh, how changed in a mo- ment is this untiring angel of devotion and energy when all hope has fled, and only the cold form of her beloved child 56 Maternal Devotion. is left irresponsive to her caress! The child of her own bosom, its tender life and helpless condition excite to the high- est pitch her maternal sympathy, and stimulate to every exertion while life re- mains. Its death almost paralyzes her exhausted frame, which falls wilting, sometimes beyond the hope of recovery, from a debility of days or perhaps weeks of incredible labor, passed almost without food or sleep, for which she' felt no want while it lived, as her very soul was ab- sorbed in her exertion for her child's re- covery. Every nation and language has its pro- verbs illustrative of a mother's genius in protecting and caring for her children. " It is a poor hen that cannot scratch for her own chickens." There is a chiv- alry amongst all races of people which Maternal Devotion. 57 lends a responsive hand to help the widow and the orphan. God has im- planted that quality in the female, and particularly the mother struggling to sup- port her children, which commands al- most universal sympathy, and against the necessities of which no door is closed or heart unmoved. Her faith in God and his protecting goodness sustains and gives her strength to perform, for the love of her children, labor to which in youth she was an entire stranger, and to attain al- most impossible results for their good. Shakspeare makes Lady Macduff say, when complaining of her husband having left her children unprovided : " He wants the nat'ral touch, for the poor wren, The most diminutive of birds, will fight, Her young ones in her nest, against the owl." 6 58 Maternal Devotion. Man never did and never can labor with the spiritually-uplifted devotion, watchful care, and active personal super- intendence and self-denial that woman does in caring for her offspring. The mother suddenly left a widow, and thrown entirely upon her own exertions, hardly ever fails to provide ways and means to clothe and feed her children. The in- domitable force of maternal love sur- mounts all difficulties, and converts by her tact everything eatable into palatable and nourishing dishes ; and every kind of cloth or old garment is cut and fash- ioned into becoming clothing for her children. 'Like the bird that plucks the feathers from its own breast to make a comfortable nest for its young, she will rob her own back to clothe her children. There are no exertions which either her Maternal Devotion. 59 physical frame or her mental powers are capable of performing, that the mother will not willingly make to secure a home for protection and food to sustain her children. Even when conscious that, day by day, the late hours that she is compelled to work to secure the cheap necessaries and scant comforts for their lives is slowly but surely dragging her own life to the grave, she will, neverthe- less, devotedly persevere and sacrifice herself to her duty for their good. Un- murmuringly she will receive the shafts of cruel neglect, wrongs or persecutions upon her own devoted head, and shield and provide for her children as long as she has strength to do. so. When forced by stern necessity to defend herself or her children, she seems instantly, by vir- tue of her maternal relation, to be pos- 60 Maternal Devotion. sessed of miraculous courage, and repels, with masterly heroism, which has com- manded the admiration of the world in all ages, the attacks of ferocious wild beasts or brutalized man. She is like the elephant, the giant of the forest, which gives a noble example of true maternal love and courage, when it places its own body as a breastwork of defense between its young and the wily hunters who have conspired to capture them. Thus it marches them to a place of safety within its native jungles, cov- ering their retreat with its huge body, which receives the deadly arrows aimed at them until its sides are all lacerated and filled like a pin-cushion with arrows. It never abandons them; but either suc- ceeds in getting them into a place of safe retreat or falls exhausted a bleeding Maternal Devotion. 61 martyr to maternal duty in its efforts to protect its young. I know of no female, however small or timid by nature, that will not, to the best of its ability, defend its young against all harm. 6* e*^* Chapter VIII. Paternal lore in glnhnals. The officers and crew of a vessel in the Northern Ocean were witnesses of a re- markable example of maternal devotion exhibited for her young by a bear of that region. The ship lay at anchor for some months within a half mile of an un- inhabited, ice-bound shore. The sailors had observed a bear to come down to the water's edge daily and gather food among the offal from the ship that was washed upon the shore. Although this was done within plain view of the ship, the dis- tance was, nevertheless, too great for a rifle-shot to take effect. A few days later she was seen to be accompanied by a cou- 64 Maternal Love pie of cubs, which she was teaching where and how to procure their own food. This sight excited the sailors to the highest pitch of adventurous sport to secure this game for the use of their table. Fresh meat, and especially game of this kind, is a rarity highly prized by mariners who are so long confined to salt diet in a protracted cruise. A boat expedition, by consent of the officers, was fitted out and directed to lay in wait off the shore and surprise the game on their next visit, which succeeded perfectly in the end, but not in the order designed. The first shot, which was a deliberate aim, was intended to kill the old one, but missed her and wounded, by chance, one of the cubs, much to the chagrin of the sailors. The mother, instead of escaping with her other cub, as she might easily have done, in Animals. 65 showed, instead of alarm for her own safety, the greatest distress and solicitude for her wounded cub, and endeavored to caress and coax it to follow her as she made pretense to retreat; but as it was unable, from the severity of its wounds, to do this, she, amid a shower of balls aimed at her from an inaccessible point, endeavored to drag it off herself to a place of safety, but fell mortally wounded in the effort, a martyr to her maternal love and duty. The two bodies were secured and the meat dressed, which afforded a superb feast to the whole ship's crew. The other cub was captured unharmed and taken on board the ship, where it grew up quite tame, and was afterwards brous-ht to the United States. The lion and lioness, undisputed mas- ters of the forest, roam in haughty, wild 66 Maternal Love freedom with their young whelps for prey, and free from molestation from all other animals, which, fearing them, keep out of their way. But if attacked by hunters, the lion forsakes the mother and her young, and takes to flight for his own safety. The lioness, however, becomes " terrible as the' lion," defending her young with determined and ferocious courage to the last. All fear^ is lost in the paramount sense of maternal love and her duty to protect her young. The professional trappers and hunters of the backwoods and mountain forests act upon a knowledge of those laws of maternal instinct which by tradition and observation they have learned, govern all animals. Instead of killing at once the young game the}7 capture, they tie them as decoys to lead the old ones into a trap in Animals. 67 set for them — as they will be sure to come to see after their young — or in such position that they can secrete them- selves so as to shoot the old ones on their approach. Many domestic animals are controlled in a great measure through this instinct, and can be haunted to any locality by seeing their young, as is well known of the cow. By securing her calf at its new home, her attachment is sure to lead her to it, forsaking her old associations and pasture grounds, although she may have lived for years in sight of the place. Natural history, and particularly the lives and habits of domestic animals, fur- nish striking examples of the strength of maternal love, or instinct. That chaste and classical writer, Addison, relates the fact that a bitch, unable to have her pup- 68 Maternal Love pies, her owner had them cut out, she bearing patiently the severe and painful operation ; but when they were about to be carried away from her, she whined in a peculiarly pitiful manner; and when they were returned and placed at her head, she expressed her joy amidst her agonies, and expired licking her offspring. There was recorded, a few years since, in a Pittsburg paper, a very striking in- stance of maternal devotion exhibited by a dog for her young. A raft of lumber had been completed on the head waters of the Allegheny river, and was waiting, with its crew domiciled on board, for a rise in the water to enable them to float it off to a city market. A bitch owned by a family'living close by, made a nest in the shavings on the raft undisturbed by the men, and had her pups there. Early one in Animals. 69 morning the rise in the river was suffi- cient to justify a start, but somehow, in the hurry and confusion incident to such an undertaking, the puppies were forgot- ten to be put on shore or the mother taken on board. So they became sepa- rated ; but this was not discovered until the raft was under full headway in the middle of the stream. To stop a heavy raft when the water is high, even where there are regular landings, requires skill, and is attended with great labor and some risk. To stop now where they were was out of the question. Nor could they spare men to send a boat ashore with the puppies. Keluctantly the mother had to be left to her fate, the men resolving to take as good care of the puppies as they could under the circumstances. The mother, however, in a few minutes dis- 7 70 Maternal Love covered her loss, and set up a howling cry of sorrow and distress, and followed in sight upon the shore, along the wind- ing banks, uttering her pleading wail, and making a number of daring endeavors by swimming to get on board of the raft, but the flood current was so strong that she was soon left far behind and compelled for her own safety to return to shore. Here she would shake the water from her dripping body and recommence her devoted journey. Elegant prints repre- senting this incident have been made, and are to be seen in books of engravings and hanging up in houses in the city of Pitts- burg and elsewhere. She swam, heroi- cally, rapid streams that crossed her path and emptied into the -Allegheny, pursuing with eager hope and unfaltering nerve the drifting raft that bore away, she knew not whither, the young she loved so well. in Animals. 71 The close approach of night compelled the raftmen to "tie up" until another sun would rise and light them on their way. For some hours, as nothing had been seen or heard from Portia, that had so bravely pursued them in the morning, it was be- lieved that she had become discouraged, or was unable to cross a large swift stream about fifteen miles back; but scarcely had they finished the fastening of the raft when their ears were saluted by the short exhausted barks of the persevering mo- ther that had traveled over fifty miles and swam numerous creeks that day for love of her young. She was welcomed by the whole crew, but received their congratulatory pats with evidence of im- patient pleasure, and rushed hurriedly away from them to her whining puppies, and, with the most marked whiskings of 72 Maternal Love demonstrative joy when she found them all safe, nestled herself down to feed and caress them, embracing them with a fond- ness that seemed almost human. Lamartine describes a beautiful instance of maternal love in the bird. A spring flood in the river Soane had risen to an unusual hight; the strong current had broken a branch from the parent tree upon which a bird had built with care its nest, and had its tender nestlings yet un- feathered in it. As the branch floated down the foaming stream, the female en- deavored to place herself upon the nest to warm and protect her young, while the male bird flew around and over the nest, uttering a pitiful cry of distress at the certain destruction of its helpless occu- pants. With the linnet and some other small wild birds, it is the custom of the male in Animals. 73 to set on the nest by turns, so as to pro- tect and keep it warm while the female gathers food for its own sustenance. If you approach the nest when the male is setting upon it, he will fly off immediately, uttering indeed a distressed chirp or cry, but still he abandons it and flies away. But if you go to the nest when the female is in possession of it, you may advance so near as to see its bright little eye expand and glitter with fear, its chest heave with contending emotions, its heart beat al- most to bursting under its slightly-raised wings, and its whole frame pant and quiver with agitation and terror. You may even go so far as to lay your hand upon her, yet she budges not from her post of duty. This is love. Here is courage, because there is fear, and devo- tion, because there is sacrifice. 7* 74 Maternal Love The numerous species of marsupial animals are peculiar in their anatomical conformation, as their name implies, and especially so in their domestic habits. The opossum is a familiar example of this class; but all of them are remarkable for the intelligent care of their young, which are born in the most rudimentary state of organic development of any animals known, and placed by the mother's devo- tion and instinctive tact in the abdominal sack, or pouch, arranged with teats, at which they feed, and where they grow until they are able to run about, when they occasionally leave this snug retreat. The opossum, which is not much larger than the domestic cat, is, however, nearly as prolific as the house rat, often having a brood of a dozen young ones to take care of at a time — this pouch answering in Animals. 75 as a place of refuge to all, while small, in case of danger, as well as for food and shelter. When partly grown, the mother will, with great affection, induce the whole brood — which is an instructive and amu- sing sight — to fasten themselves on her back and around her neck and legs, hold- ing on with their arms and tail, which is prehensile, and in this way she will re- move them from one place to another for food or security, defending them most heroically if attacked by man or beast. Cats, squirrels, dogs and other domes- tic and wild animals exhibit great mater- nal solicitude for their young, and will remove them, as has often been witnessed, in their mouths, with special care and tenderness, long distances and into places of difficult access, from one nest to an- other, as safety or convenience may sug- 76 Maternal Love gest to them. Wherever there is animal life, there is all the intelligence that the preservation of its species requires. The mother in all cases, too, is ever the guar- dian, teacher and defender of her young. Her heart is a constant sentinel, ever on guard for their protection. The pelican, the bird of wild, tropical, sea-beaten shores, and of Africa's lonely desert, will bring food and water to its young, obtained from far distant rivers, and in emergencies it is said to open its own breast for its blood to flow for its young to feed upon, rather than they should suffer or die for want of food. " Have you heard how it loves its tender young, And toils and cares for their good ? It brings them water from fountains afar, And fishes the sea for their food ; In famine it fceils them, what love can devise ! The blood of its bosom, and, feeding them, dies !" in Animals. 77 As most boys have learned, parent wild birds will continue to labor for and feed their young through the bars of the prison cage in which their captors confine them, even when there can be no hope of es- cape. It is a fable, as I have more than once proven, that at a certain age the old ones, finding their young cannot escape or accompany them, will feed them on poisonous berries to insure their death. The mother only foregoes her attentions when she finds them to be well fed and no longer requiring her care, or when the advancing season and scarcity of food admonish her to seek a more southern clime. Who has not witnessed the anxious so- licitude of the hen that has been robbed of her own eggs, and sat upon those of 78 Maternal Love the duck or goose and brought forth a brood with very different propensities from those of chickens? She attends them, however, with every care that the young of her own species requires; but, in obedience to their own natures, when they come in sight of water, with what impatient delight they will tumble them- selves into it and enjoy it against the pro- testations and to the infinite alarm of their foster mother! There is scarcely a youth who has not witnessed the affectionate care with which the hen gathers her brood under her shel- tering wing for protection from storms or threatened harm, and admired the heroic fortitude she exhibits in defending her young, with beak and claws, against the attacks of real or supposed enemies, no in Animals. 79 matter how large or how numerous. The ruse practiced by some animals and field birds, and particularly the partridge, of feigning a crippled condition to attract special attention to themselves by hob- "bling along and adroitly leading their pursuers after them and away from their young, that are thus warned to secrete themselves, shows reflection and a judg- ment and affection little less than human. Many tribes of ephemeral insects, as the day-fly, or the may-fly, the aphis and the butterfly, enjoy but a brief existence of a clay. They yield up their lives after depositing their eggs for the continuation and preservation of their species, in ac- cordance with a law of their being. Some of the tribes pass through several inter- mediate forms of organic existence before tliey are fully fledged members of their 80 Maternal Love class. But, in fulfilling the law of their lives, they sacrifice their then existing forms in their progressive development and the instinct of propagation. The locust, which remains in the egg and larva state together for seventeen years, enjoys' but about thirty days of winged life and maturity, or just long enough to prepare and deposit its eggs for the preservation of its species. Even vegetable life seems to be instinct with this principle of maternal self-sacri- fice, that, loving so truly, willingly yields up its own individual existence to perpet- uate and protect its kind in obedience to the Creator's first command to all living things—"to multiply and replenish." The aloe plant of Egypt's fruitful clime patiently grows until it is a century old, then blooms a numerous progeny to pre- in Animals. 81 serve its race, honor the parent stalk and worship its Maker. "But the plant to the flower is a sacrifice, For it blooms but once, and blooming dies. * * * -x- * » And as fast as the flowers drop from the dying stem They take root and grow lovely around. By dying, it liveth a thousand fold In the young that spring from the death of the old." Such is the maternity of the living world, patiently bearing and enduring all things, even unto death. To become a mother is to hold her own life cheap, and to sacrifice it, if need be, for the preser- vation and good of her offspring. 8 Chapter IX. % Potherb borrow (or the ^oss of . her (Thill What a remarkable phase of love and faith we witness in the mother who be- lieves that the life of her lovely babe is so pure and so holy as to be immortal, yet fears that it is not, and when it is sick labors incessantly, and with the most ten- der devotion, to restore its health and preserve its life. And even when the vital spark that animated the lovely form has fled, and friends have visited the house of mourning and condoled with her in her affliction, and the body has lain for days stark and cold in the best room in the house, dressed by sympathizing 84 A Mother's Sorrow for the friends as in life, and bedecked with beau- tiful flowers as a guest for a festive com- pany of kindred spirits in a world close by but just beyond the vision of mortal eye, still the mother is entirely unable to reconcile herself to the fact of her child's death, or relinquish its precious body into the hands of the undertaker, to be con- signed to the cold cerements of the mould- ering grave, so that it has to be taken by gentle yet actual force from her agonized and tender embraces. Sad and afflicted, she follows it to its last resting-place, and there, over its newly-made grave, she plants with her own hands flowers to bloom — bright symbols of its. beauty and its innocence—often watering them with her tears of loneliness and sorrow. Visit when you will those calm, beautiful re- treats where are buried at least one-half Loss of her Child. 85 of the loves and hopes of a living genera- tion, and you will always see a pilgrim- age of mothers mourning for their buried sons and daughters. It is to her heavenly influence, more than to any other, that we owe the beauty of those calm retreats where sleep our dead kindred. Bancroft, in his history of the United States, relates the following of the Indian mother : " If a mother lost her babe, she would cover it with bark, and envelop it anxiously in the softest beaver skins ; at the burial place she would put by its side its cradle, its beads and its rattles : and, as a last service of maternal love, would draw milk from her bosom, in a cup of bark, and burn it in the fire, that her in- fant might still find nourishment on its solitary journey to the land of shades. Yet the new-born babe would be buried, 8* 86 A Mother's Sorrow for the not, as usual, on a scaffold, but by the way-side, so that its spirit might secretly steal into the bosom of some passing ma- tron, and be born again under happier auspices. On burying her daughter, the Chippewa mother adds, not snow-shoes and beads and moccasins only, but (sad emblem of woman's lot in the wilder- ness !) the carrying-belt and the paddle. ' I know my daughter will be restored to me,' she once said, as she clipped a lock of hair as a memorial ; ' by this lock of hair I shall discover her, for I shall take it with me,' — alluding to the day when she, too, with her carrying-belt and pad- dle, and the little relic of her child, should pass through the grave to the dwelling-place'of her ancestors." Some animals will lie by the side of their dead young and caress and endeavor Loss of her Child. 87 to feed them until the stench from their putrefying bodies drives them away, or convinces them that there is no hope of their recovery left. ^ ) ma I^N 6 1 v\£*Ut Chapter X. fhe Obligations of Paternity Nature is prodigal of the life of the individual, but studies with care the pres- ervation and the good of all her species and races. Gestation in the human fe- male is well known often to arrest for the time the progress of fatal constitutional maladies in obedience to this law, which studies with such care the multiplication and preservation of the species. The physiological laws of life and de- velopment in the different species of ani- mals are inexorable. Experiments with the domestic cow prove that, which is true of all animals, if she be fed on food, while with young, in which there is no 90 The Obligations of phosphate of lime, she will, in obedience to this law of maternity, yield the lime from her own bones, even to a point of seriously weakening her own frame, or, in some cases, of entirely destroying her life, to supply that required to develop the bones of her young, so that it may come into the world perfect The preservation of the health of the expectant mother is of the highest impor- tance, and her diet and cravings for par- ticular food at the time cannot be disre- garded with impunity, as they arise from a want in her system of some important element required for the physical develop- ment of her child. The mother, if left to exercise her own free and uninfluenced choice, never de- serts her child. Barbarous customs, the tyranny of laws and the exactions of so- Maternity. 91 cicty, may force the unprotected mother, who is a slave to or dreads their power, to murder or abandon her child. But these are the exceptions, and they only occur when the moral sentiments of the mother are deranged by luxurious cus- toms, pampered vanity and foolish and debasing fashions, or dementing fear of losing caste. Too often, exalted and ir- responsible positions in life, the posses- sion of great wealth, or the passion for acquiring it, and the absorbing devotion to purely philosophical and intellectual studies and pursuits, tend to weaken vir- tuous sensibility and the influence of our conscience over our actions. The posses- sion of these prized yet dangerous gifts too often leads us to neglect our duty to our God, and soon to doubt the justice of his law that demands restitution and 92 The Obligations of satisfaction for the violation of his holy precepts. There is, however, a redeem- ing virtue in the soul whose faith teaches that God, who knoweth all things, re- wards or punishes every infraction of his law justly, according to our deserts. The religion or scheme of morals that can justify and support institutions that approve and facilitate the separation of even the illegitimate child from its unfor- tunate mother, must be in possession of the most indubitable proofs, by long ages of experience, that greater good than evil flows from its sanction of this violation of the natural law and maternal duty. Nor can we as Christians be indifferent to the irreparable calamity of an enfee- bled constitution forced upon the unof- fending child by such a course, as well as to the greater danger of imminent and al- Maternity. 93 most certain death, which follows such unnatural and premature separations of mother and child. In such cases a worldly policy of cloaking vice in defer- ence to the opinions of society, makes de- tection the very soul of crime. And the philosophy of society is, that, by hiding moral infirmities or sins, their existence is practically denied or contradicted; and that knowledge of evil, instead of curing itself, multiplies its baleful influence. To my mind, this policy of cloaking vice is too much like the policy of him who con- ceals ill-gotten goods that he may escape suspicion and preserve, though by fraud, a good name in society. I know of no condition in life which ought to appeal more strongly to our better nature than the mother with a tender infant in her arms begging shelter and sustenance. I 9' 94 The Obligations of would not add one feather's weight to the already great sorrows, which are( deep and ineffaceable, of her who has wandered from the paths of virtue, pleasantness and peace, by any undue exposure of her mis- fortune, or publicity of her progeny — the latter of which society makes her painfully feel, so far as it can, to be more of a curse than a blessing. Female frail- ties are viewed by men with judgment mingled with pity; but by women with feeling and aversion. Woman is, there- fore more severe and unrelenting in her attitude toward her erring sisters than man, just as an insult is more keenly felt anfi. more certain to be resented than an injury. But there is no " sweet oblivious antidote" that can neutralize the bitter regrets of a life poisoned by so fatal an error. Time and a wasting life rather Maternity. 95 sharpen the ever-piercing sword of re- .gret. No key can unlock the archives of Time to efface the records of her shame. Nor is there a lethean draft that can " pluck from the memory a rooted sor- row." If she is a victim of man's base deception, her sorrows are inseparable from herself; but if she retain the sym- pathetic nobility of her sex, she will bear her crosses with dutiful meekness for her child's good and her own honor. She ought not to be taught the Pagan substi- tute for virtue—to assume a purity she has not, pretend a chastity she has lost, and, to preserve their semblance, delib- erately abandon the fruit of her own life. Such a step or position would but further complicate her honor. This new shock to her conscience would destroy whatever of innocence remained. Hence- 96 The Obligations of forth she would labor under the .delu- sion that there is no valuable distinction between deception successfully practiced and virtuous respectability. And ever after she would believe that crime or want of virtue is not disreputable, if secrecy is preserved. Who is responsible for such doctrine ? How far are accepted creeds and doctrines responsible for the evil deeds they encourage ? When accusations are made against prominent or leading spirits, they haugh- tily throw themselves back upon their dignity and presumed virtues, and, with an assumed self-righteousness, proclaim that they are not wicked as other men. Exposure or scandal is the horror of hor- rors to families, political associations and religious denominations, and particularly to the prominent members of the latter, Maternity. 97. who pride themselves upon the extraor- dinary purity of their lives, and wish others to believe their well-assumed moral perfections to be real. When, however, the evidences of guilt, or the deviations from the ordinarily recognized code of morals, cannot longer be covered up or hidden from the public, the lower and less influential classes or persons will be by them unhesitatingly sacrificed to the interests of the higher and more power- ful. Pretenders of every kind are gra- ciously conceded privileges and granted immunities by the masses. The aristoc- racy of practical morals, whether pos- sessed through merit or assumption, by the religious, by the churches and their proteges, must be protected and kept free from all specific imputations of moral tergiversations, no matter how debauched 9* 98 The Obligations of or debauching their lives may be, or how unjustly and to what extent others may suffer in fortune, honor or reputation, so that they are not exposed. With them the end justifies the means. The idea of the " favoritism of heaven," and the "elect of God," or that some persons by virtue of their position or office are too good to be even suspected of evil-doing, or pun- ished at the bar of public opinion, if guilty, has a practical existence and is occasionally enforced in all the relations of life. Thus the guilty often escape and the innocent suffer. Wickedness is even concealed, not exposed and crushed, by the ministers of heaven. The humble and defenceless are by such a course pre- sumed to be guilty, and the sinner of in- fluence escapes unimpeached and unre- penting. The shepherd consents to Maternity. 99 conceal the wolf in sheep's clothing among his flock, and hush the cry which his wicked practices have justly excited against him—his experience in ' crime hardening him in wickedness and giving him more cunning with which to ensnare new and innocent victims for his depraved appetites. We all know that human nature is perverse and wicked. Men are not angels, and their most earnest strivings cannot make them perfect in this life. Philanthropists and moralists must therefore deal with him as he is; but it is every man's duty to endeavor to purify his own nature and to elevate his race into worshipful obedience to God's holy precepts. ymm Chapter XI. Paternal Obligations nof-Stats- ferabte. No duty to family or friends, respect for persons, or considerations for the opin- ions of society; no statutory law or regu- lation, church decree or usage, however well intended, can absolve the mother morally from the higher and divinely im- posed obligation to her child, to whose tender life she owes, while strength re- mains, a mother's untransferable duty. Every woman who becomes a mother does so in accordance with fixed natural laws of her being, ordained to this end by Providence. And although she may vio- late the moral law, yet the poorest child 102 Maternal Obligations born out of wedlock possesses a soul as dear to God as the child of a king after the most imposing marriage ceremony. The natural and the moral law have the same God as their supreme law-giver. Mankind have but one Maker — the same who is their Judge. It is, therefore, almost blasphemy for man or society to institute for themselves such a code of morals as insists upon separating the illegitimate child from its unfortunate mother, even with the seemingly charitable intent of hiding her shame and preserving her character before the world; since God himself for wise purposes has made every child dependent upon its mother for sus- tenance. She has, in becoming a mother, assumed the obligation to support her off- spring. The true Christian is bound in charity to protect the mother as well as jNot Transferable. 103 her child, and in the enjoyment of their natural relation recognizing her duty and her child's claim. When the mother re- fuses to feed and care for her child, she violates both the natural and divine law; sins which fearfully imperil her soul's sal- vation. Fidelity to her maternal trust is a duty she owes to her child, and is morally responsible for to her Maker. The faithful performance of this high and honorable trust may win her a crown of glory in heaven; or its neglect or faith- less performance be her utter condemna- tion before her just Judge and Maker. God's providence is over all. No crea- ture of his is too abject or insignificant to be shielded by his love or protected by his goodness. How often he casts down the proud and raises up the humble 1 The blackest heart, a nest for every crime, 104 Maternal Obligations may be covered up under costly gar- ments, even where the world yields its highest honors ; and the fairest soul may be hid beneath unsightly rags, bowed down by heart-sorrows, contemned and misjudged by the world and consigned to hopeless poverty and every earthly mis- ery. The Allwise alone can discriminate, who knows our frailties and temptations, and weighs motives and ends, and whose judgment is always tempered with mercy. One of the principal reasons for the es- tablishment by St. Vincent of Paul of the Order of Sisters of Charity, was to collect and protect the abandoned and perishing children of cruel and unnatural parents. Much good has been and will continue to be done by this Order, in the performance of its pious Christian duty in caring for infants of this class. Not Transferable. 105 The miraculous interposition of God for the preservation of Hagar and her child Ishmael —the handmaid and son of the patriarch Abraham—from perishing in the desert, is a wonderful example of special protection to the- child born out of lawful wedlock, and a proof that they found favor with God, although they were outcasts from Abraham's own house by his wife Sarah. However, Abra- ham himself was solicitous for their safety and prayed for their protection. Hagar clung to her child, and succored it while human exertion, supported by the most devoted maternal love, could hold out, and, in the last extremity, when death seemed inevitable, miraculous aid came to both and their lives were saved. And God caused Ishmael to prosper and be- 10 V\ 106 Maternal Obligations come the head of a great and powerful people. The mother of the twins Romulus and Remus—the former the founder of the city of Rome and the great Roman Em- pire— was cruelly executed by order of her uncle, a ruler, because she was . un- married, and, by giving birth to natural children had wounded his pride or polit- ical ambition. Her children were also directed to be drowned. They were ac- cordingly placed in a bowl or cradle, and consigned to the bosom of the drafting Tiber, to perish. The receding waters gave them a hospitable lodgment among the bushes on the bank, where their help- less cries were heard by a straying Avolf, whose motherly sympathy, tradition tells us, gave them all that love could sug- gest—her own milk—and preserved them Not Transferable. 107 from death, and carried them tenderly to her den, where they were discovered by a shepherd in a thriving condition, and removed to his own house, and cared for by his wife, growing up in his own family. Chapter XII. Parriajje. Marriage is an institution of divine origin, from the instincts given by God himself to all living things, and the com- mand enjoined upon all to multiply and replenish the earth, each after its kind. And to our race it only becomes a sacra- ment of his church, meriting the blessing of heaven, when the conditions and inten- tions of the parties give reasonable hope of a fulfillment of its sacred obligations and designs. " The sacraments were made for man, not man for the sacraments." The holy institution of matrimony is protected in its rights in all countries by civil or ecclesiastical laws. It is meant 10* 110 Marriage. to harmonize and domesticate our race, and regulate the all-imr3ortant natural law for the propagation of our species in a manner that will best conduce to man's moral elevation. Man cannot elevate himself above the influences of the natu- ral law under which he is created to live. But his observance of the rules of morals prescribed by the precepts of Revelation for his guidance through life, raises him to the highest level of perfection that he is capable of attaining on earth. The non-observance or violation of the re- straints imposed by the moral law upon the exercise of the natural law must, un- der God's providence, be reproved with charity and punished with parental soli- citude for the transgressor; forgiven as God forgave, with the injunction to "sin no more;" while the erring must be led Marriage. Ill back repenting, to do willingly and pa- tiently the will of her Master. There is no praise due to or special merit in her who simply preserves her original chastity, because it is a natural gift, and her first Christian duty is to guard it; but there is positive shame and disgrace attached to her who weakly yields or recklessly abandons this priceless and irrecoverable jewel. The law of nature, prompting the mo- ther to cling to and protect her child, is scarcely less strong than that which. teaches her to preserve her own life. The two are equal. The woman with true maternal instinct will accept as a mortifying necessity the disgrace attach- ed to the publicity of her shame, which requires no small degree of moral cour- age, rather than criminally destroy or 112 Marriage. wantonly abandon her offspring, and, by doing so, cloak her unfortunate inconti- nence, and remain the admired attraction of society. No misfortune, disgrace or crime, how- ever appalling to others, can stop the perpetual heart-throb of noble love, which ever beats responsive within the mother's breast—every breath of whose life wafts a prayer to God for her 'child's good. When all testimony seems to imperil the honor and blacken the fair fame of her child, she still views him and his mis- fortunes through the light of love, chari- ty and mercy, forgiving and excusing as none other can, still hoping the best, with faith the purest, and a trust that never falters. The more contemned by the world, harassed and persecuted by rivals and enemies, pressed down by cares and Marriage. 113 poverty, dispirited by crushed hopes and failures, enfeebled by labor or disease, the more lavishly her affectionate atten- tions are bestowed upon her child—the jewel of her heart—which she protects with her life's best efforts and worships with a mother's regenerating love. Familiarity with the dying proves that they give their last thoughts to their mo- ther, if she be living, in preference to all other earthly friends, although they may themselves be parents. The recorded exclamations of wounded soldiers dying upon great battle-fields, where grim-vis- aged war reaps a precious harvest with carnival prodigality, afford unanswerable proof of this fact. Oh, what a costly field for the nation whose soil is soaked and fattened by the heart's blood of Christian kith and kin—the more lavish the liba- 114 Marriage. tion, the brighter growing the fancied laurels that deck their hero's brow and glorify their deeds ! Here the young, the blooming, and the patriot, ripe "with hon- ors as with years, fall together beneath death's relentless scythe. The dying all call upon the magic name of mo- ther in accents of melting tenderness, breathing a last fond, ineffaceable remem- brance of her as a duty in return for her maternal devotion, sufferings, cares, and self-abnegations during their helpless in- fancy—though, in their agony, they may forget to name a sorrowing wife and chil- dren. The Bible tells us with beautiful pa- thos how a mother's unconquered love circumvented Pharaoh's barbarous edict against the lives of infant male children,. and saved to the world the great Jewish Marriage. 115 Lawgiver. And, although Moses grew up the adopted child in the King's house- hold, when he arrived at maturity he re- fused the wealth and distinction to which his position entitled him, choosing rather to live with his mother and kindred in poverty. It also contains the touching recital of a mother's unselfish love for her child, and natural devotion to its welfare, in the history of the two women who came to Solomon, each persistently claiming the same child as her own. When, however, the King ordered a sword to be brought and the child divi- ded in two, so that each of the claimants mis;ht have a half, the shock to the feel- ings of the true mother caused her to beg that the child might be given alive to the other woman, as she would rather surrender it than see it injured. The 116 Marriage. other claimant, however, desired that it should be divided, so that it could be- long to neither. Thus Solomon knew the real mother, and restored to her af- fectionate embrace her living child. Oh, what a beautiful and purely disin- terested love is this of a mother for her child! It is the great elevating love of our race, binding each to each with a golden band, strong as our love of life, yet as soft as the lightest, pleasantest joy of the heart. It begins with our being, and is ever constant and active through life, and rests only when the grave covers the loved form that gave us existence, and, at the same time, the best part of herself. Chapter XIII. Paternal Jnsttnrt Universal. It is this wonderful maternal instinct, operating on the generous heart of the woman who either never has been bless- ed by a child of her own, or been robbed of her darling by death, that induces her to adopt and care for the deserted child of obscurity—often without a name—■ from the Poor House or the Orphan Asylum, the latter the great Christian home and rendezvous of the little parent- less waifs of society. This yearning for a living embodiment of human hope, up- on which to bestow the sympathetic and emotional part of our nature, is enjoyed almost exclusively by females, and they 11 118 Maternal Instinct Universal. exercise their prerogative in a manner the highest degree honorable to them- selves. There is not wanting in history, nor even among our acquaintances, shi- ning examples of noble and successful ef- forts of foster-mothers who have reared children at great sacrifice of their per- sonal comfort and ease, educating their hearts and minds by the best' precepts and examples in moral principles and mental culture. This genius, which so pre-eminently fits woman for this high Christian duty, pervades every element of her character. It is not choice nor taste alone. Nature has invested her with this ready sympathy to relieve the multitude of little wants of childhood. Her loving caress is a potent balm for every pain, and her smile is sunshine in the darkest hour of childish sorrow. Maternal Instinct Universal. 119 Some women, but mostly those who have no children of their own, and pos- sessing better heads that hearts, pervert this feeling of sympathetic fondness for children, which so superabundantly per- vades their characters, from its natural channel, to seek relief, if not satisfaction for it in the unprofitable but attractive elegancies and absorbing pleasures of a purely fashionable life; or, else, they are apt to become, through the strength of this unemployed sympathy and intellect, the enthusiastic followers or patronizing heads of some new-fangled reform move- ment, society or ism, which has to be kept alive rather by the amount of feel- ing than judgment that is brought to bear upon it. Others, with the same feel- ings, but with perhaps less mental ener- gy, physical strength, or active heart 120 Maternal Instinct Universal. qualities, content themselves in the en- joyment of ease or luxuries at home, by indulging a real or fancied taste for liter- ature and the fine arts, or by entertain- ing their devotees. Perhaps a still less useful or poetic employment may occupy their time, as we see in the devotion ex- hibited by some for animals, dogs, cats, birds, and other pets. One thing is certain: this force of sympathetic love exists in every female breast, and it will select some person or object upon which to expend itself. The step-mother occupies the most dif- ficult and anomalous position in which a woman can be placed, there always be- ing a popular but very unjust prejudice against her. She is too often received in her new home wit.h more frowns than smiles by the children, who are some- Maternal Instinct Universal. 121 times secretly encouraged by injudicious friends to treat her with cold hauteur that is unbearably insulting, and which, if continued, may sooner or later engen- der what otherwise would never have ex- isted— reciprocal ill-feeling. The title -to property owned or to be acquired ; her conception of duty to her own children, if she is or ever hopes to be a mother; and the unequal positions of honor and trust in the family circle, may unawares cause her to be less tenderly attentive or considerate to her step-children than she would be to her own. This is human nature, and none but those possessing the best balanced minds on matters of human and individual rights, and with the unbounded generosity of maternal sym- pathy can raise themselves above these impulses. And, although maternal in- 11* 122 Maternal Instinct Universal. stinct, with its rare_ clusters of affections, undoubtedly extends beyond her own children, yet it is not to be expected that a strange child could or ought to sup- plant entirely her own, or occupy as holy a place in her affections. But every woman of genuine feeling, and endowed with the best instincts of her nature, and at all worthy to be either wife or mother, will freely and with tenderness give all that the child's good requires, or that it is possible for her to supply. Chapter XIV. Paternal Sptpthg in Animals. The same feelings and elements of uni- versal maternal sympathy extending to the young of other species, but to a less exalted degree, are noticeable in the lives and habits of animals, as the following examples will sufficiently prove. I was at the house of a friend in this city some years ago, when a colored ser- vant from the country brought to the lady, who was known to have a great love for birds, four young lettuce or yel- low birds just out of their nest, and be- fore they were feathered or able to feed themselves, telling her that they were 124 Maternal Sympathy young canary birds. This error was easily discovered, however; but it was impossible to return them to their own nests and the care of their parents. How to feed them so as to preserve their lives, was a serious question. It was suggested that she should put them into a cage along with a female canary bird that was hang- ing up in the room, without a brood of its own. The hint was acted upon im- mediately." The canary bird evinced the greatest delight, and manifested the most active sympathy and tenderness for the young strangers by instantly commenc- ing to feed them with devoted care, con- tinuing her motherly attentions until they had attained their full growth and were able to feed themselves. I was frequent- ly at this house, and observed that the birds continued to live together in the in Animals. 125 same cage for a whole year, all the while enjoying the most harmonious relations. The yellow birds had grown so tame that the lady frequently in my presence open- ed the cage, permitting them to fly about the room. They would alight and pick crums off the floor, free from fear, and re- turn to their cage at pleasure. They were handsomely clothed in the bright plumage natural to them; were healthy and happy, daily singing the song of the garden and the hedge in their shrill wild notes. But failing to mate, either among themselves or with the ca- nary, they were set at liberty to seek their own kindred and live in accordance with their own laws. This case illus- trates perfectly, as far^as it goes, the fos- tering care and maternal sympathy in the bird for the young of another species. 126 Maternal Sympathy I have serious doubts whether a strict adherence to good taste warrants me in an essay of this kind to take examples from the animal World to prove or illus- trate maternal instinct or love in the hu- man race. • The two following instances of active maternal sympathy in the dog for the young, of other species may shock some sensitive reader, and be open to this objection. But a moment's reflection will convince any person that maternal in- stinct is an essential quality in all living- things, differing in degree more than in quality between animals and man. These cases of maternal sympathy, amounting almost to acts of charity, are so novel, and yet so well attested, and so ex- exactly in point, that I am induced to give them a place, hoping that' they will offend none, but may interest all. in Animals. 127 Dr. King, of the U. S. Army, gave me a singularly interesting account of the tender manner in which a dog performed the duty of a mother to young pigs, and of which he was a witness. During the early settlement of Florida, domestic animals were so scarce in that wild region as to be almost unknown. Emigrants thither and U. S. officers in charge of military posts were anxious to introduce and encourage their increase. An officer in command of one of the posts upon the coast had taken with him at considerable cost and personal exertion a sow and some other domestic animals. Shortly afterward, however, he was or- dered to the command of another post, some sixty miles distant, and required to , proceed at once. There was no water communication between the points; yet 128 Maternal Sympathy he determined to remove his stock by driving them by slow and short marches to his new home. This was rendered more difficult, however, by the fact that his sow but a few days before had brought forth a litter of fine pigs. He prized them too highly to think of leaving them behind. Three of the pigs were, how- ever, so feeble as to be manifestly unable to even commence the journey. These were given to the other officers-remaining at the post, who were induced to accept them because of their rarity, though hardly hoping to preserve iheir lives, as there was no cow or goat left at the sta- tion to give milk. How and what to feed them, was a serious question not yet de- cided. The pigs were finally given into the charge of the officers' servants and the mess cook, to be cared for as well as in Animals. 129 they could. They were by them put in a box and placed in an out-house, where a pointer slut had a nest with her pup- pies. Soon after it was discovered that the pigs had left their own nest, and gone over to the pointer, fraternizing perfectly with her and the puppies, nursing at her teats, and sleeping undisturbed in their nest. They became great pets with the servants, thrived, and grew to be large and fat, to the great surprise and delight of the officers, who had not given them the least attention. It must have been, as my informant says, a curious and an amusing sight to witness how very so- ciable grew this family of pigs and pups, sleeping, feeding and playing together To watch them rolling and frolicing upon the green sod before the barracks, or fol- lowing the slut, squealing and begging for 12 130 Maternal Sympathy. food, was the daily diversion of officers and men. Often would this affectionate foster-mother, with very different in- stincts, but with true maternal sympathy, stop and let the pigs feed, though her puppies were not present, with marked kindness of manner. Another very remarkable instance of maternal sympathy, exhibited by the'dog for the young of another species, was re- lated to me by a professional brother of this city. It occurred upon his father's farm, and was witnessed by himself when a boy. His father, in looking over the farm, and among his stock, discovered a weakly lamb that had just been yeaned, its mother dying soon after. Lest it should perish in the cold, he took it up in his arms and brought k to the house, with the view of having it raised by in Animals. 131 hand. Children are universally fond of looking at and making pets of the young of almost every species of the animal creation. The lamb, therefore, found the warmest possible welcome from them and the servants. My informant had a choice spaniel slut that was nursing her puppies at the time, and having unbounded con- fidence in his favorite, he at once con- ceived the idea of having the lamb nurse her along with the puppies. The father laughed at the generous, but, as he thought, impracticable, idea of his boy. Enthusiasm prompted to an immediate trial, and the experiment succeeded per- fectly— the lamb growing lively and healthy, the spaniel becoming very fond of it, as were the puppies, and neither ever doing it the -least injury. Its foster- mother would permit it to nurse her, 132 Maternal Sympathy whether her puppies were present or not, in any time, position or place. They oc- cupied a little house together, and were at all times entirely harmonious in their disposition toward each other—sleeping, eating, and playing in the most friendly manner. The lamb grew to be a power- ful large sheep, but remained so devoted- ly attaohed to its foster-mother as to be almost inseparable from her; following her every place she went—no gate or fence being sufficient to stop 'its oourse. This singular attachment was entirely reciprocated. Time did not efface the in- stinctive maternal sympathy and tender- ness felt by the spaniel for the lamb; nor did the matured strength and indepen« dence of the grown sheep lessen its aft'ec* tionate regard for its generous, self-sacri- ficing foster-mother. All efforts to wean in Animals. 133 the sheep from its acquired habits and affection for the dog, and to induce it to live in the fields with its own kind, sig- nally failed, until, at length, when the novelty was over, it had to be sold to get rid of the annoyance it produced about the house. 12* Chapter XV. Paternal JnjJuente. Although maternal instinct is univer- sal, belonging to all animal life, and is al- most as tenacious as the love of life itself, yet the customs of nations and the habits of a people often induce them to pass laws and adopt usages strongly opposed to humanity, natural sympathy, and pa- rental love. Solon, the most celebrated of the sages of Greece, gave the sacred sanction of law to the exposure of infant children, infirm from their birth. Among the Spartans, a heroic and warlike peo- ple, this unnatural species of murder was conducted by a state committee. Vain 136 Maternal Influence. alike were the pleading smiles of inno- cence, and the cries of helpless infancy, and the prayers and protestations of out- raged maternal instinct. Barbarous cus- toms and the martial habits of these na- tions had suppressed human sympathy and parental affection, and the babe was abandoned to the mercy of wolves and bears ; unless in the instances where a mother's love was stronger than her dread of the vengeance of the laws, and her in- genuity was sufficient to secrete and pro. tect her child. The hearts of Christian mothers bleed at the bare recital. History teaches us that human nature, ever prone to extremes, repeats itself, so that we are not exempt from the misfor- tunes which have attended Eastern na- tions, once cultured, great, prosperous and populous. What is possible to one people is possible to all. Maternal Influence. 137 Mothers! You are the great fountains of society, whence flows the stream of human life—itself a compound of good and bad propensities. Hence the neces- sity of mothers so guarding and directing the time and amusements of their chil- dren while young that they will not be habituated by mimio example, or tempted through idle thoughtlessness or their teachings to lead cruel, lawless, or dis-' reputable lives and bring disgrace or dis- aster upon their parents and friends, or the land of their bi rth. The lessons given to the young with their developing senti- ments, and expanding intellects, by a mother's example and council, sink deep and ineffaceably into their hearts. She ought not to fail to give both timely, the purest and the best, and in the most impressive and captivating manner. She 138 Maternal Influence. knows that her children must soon set out upon life's stormy ocean without her calm presence and mature virtues to cheer and direct them—whose kiss has ever been a healing balm'for every bruise, and her forgiveness a lethean draft for every wrong and sorrow. You ought to impart to them real and positive virtues as safe- guards through life, making them strong in the principles of moral rectitude, and exact justice in their intercourse with men. Leaving you, they should be pure and virtuous, self-poised, self-reliant, and noble examples of moral training—full of love and.charity for every one of God's creatures. Therefore, put into your chil- dren's hands miniature toys, suggestive of science and the civilizing arts, thus giv- ing their minds a peaceful and elevated direction, instead of bedecking the'm with Maternal Influence. 139 gaudy uniforms, guns and swords, which are ever the insignia of war and sugges- tive only of force and the destruction of human life. Rather encourage in them, by the innumerable means in every thoughtful mother's power, the develop- ment of, and love for philanthropic and useful studies and pursuits in life. The fountain must also be kept pure in precept and practice, and unsullied by vice or unmatronly ambition, to preserve virtue and harmony in the world. You are the sources of population, the strength and stability of states, the support of governments, and the great conservators of organized society. How much, how very much, depends upon you in your maternal relation to secure to your chil- dren healthy constitutions, virtuous prin- ciples, and correct habits, and to insure 140 Maternal Influence. peace and good will among men! Oh, keep your hearts ever sensitive, green and blooming with true maternal instinct; your honors spotless as the snows upon your everlasting hills; and your daugh- ters will grow up to be beautiful and vir- tuous, and your sons brave and gener- ous—loving, rather than hating nations and sections, and living in peace and har- mony with their race and kindred. Ne- glect not to attach your children, when young, to you personally, with the high- est earthly respect; and, as they grow older and wiser, their love will increase almost to a devotion, while you will be exalted, and they ennobled by that love. Chapter XVI. She peasant ft&ifle. The qualities which constitute the mother the admiration of her children the world over are as varied in degrees of perfection as they are numerous. I here present a hastily written sketch which displays the finer qualities of hu- manity as beheld in the humble peasant wife, who is blessed with a numerous family of healthy and affectionate sons and daughters growing up around her, and assisting her in her work day by day, in the house, in the garden, and per- chance in the field in harvest time. By industry and the proper economy of time, 13 142 The Peasant Wife. she is enabled to attend to her domestic duties and all the wants of her numerous children, listening to their childish sto- ries, caressing and sympathizing with them in their troubles, encouraging the growth of their expanding love for her- self and their father, and instructing their minds in the principles of virtue and prob- ity. Sensitive by nature, and decorous in all her conduct, her influence produces virtuous sentiments, refined tastes, and the observance of the proprieties of life in her children. In the fading gray of summer even- ings, when the work of the day is done and the frugal supper prepared by her own hands has been spread upon the fam- ily table, around which all gather, a bless- ing is asked, and they eat with the relish which rural occupations and good health The Peasant Wife. 143 give to a mother's dishes. Her work of removing the cloth is soon concluded, as slumbrous night is gradually spreading her sable mantle over the earth, and all nature is hushing into silence and repose. Observe her then, how she seats herself without hurry or parade in the same old chair that belonged to, and was once filled in the evenings by her own mother, and around which two generations of chil- dren have kneeled, making it sacred by their hopes and prayers, so that now every one respects it-as " mother's chair." It always occupies the same position on the edge of the broad stone hearth, to the side, but partly in front of the big, old-fashioned fireplace in the kitchen, where, in winter, whole sticks of cord- wood can be piled upon a blazing fire, to warm, and light, and cheer the family cir- 144 The Peasant Wife. cle as it gathers around for evening work and chat, or to partake of the good cheer of cider, nuts, and fruits which their industry and forethought have provided. In it she sits to whirl her busy wheel, to spin flax and wool for warp and woof of homespun, and yarn for winter mits and stockings; and in it she makes and mends the family clothing. The room this evening is lighted by an old-fashioned iron lamp, that burns all kinds of oil. It has a twisted strip of cotton cloth for a wick, and a curved handle, to which is attached a small wire chain. To the end of the latter is fas- tened a sharp bodkin that serves to pick up the wick, or to stick in the cracks of the jam or wall as a hook for the support of the lamp. It is now hanging in its usual place over the jam and close to The Peasant Wife. 145 " father's seat," where he always goes to read the weekly paper, or to rest }n the evening. It throws its flickering light and varying shadows through the room, and upon the venerated head of the do- mestic queen, who reigns supreme in the hearts of the whole household. There she sits, erect; with her calm, loving- countenance, wrinkled by time and cross- ed by cares, but still soft and flexible with kindly emotions and genial sympa- thies ; dressed in her homespun frock, with her Scotch-barred handkerchief smoothly spread over her shoulders, and crossed and pinned upon her breast; upon her head, which just begins to show the silver hairs, a faultless white and well done-up cap, with its double border neat- ly crimped. Thus you see the industri- ous wife and loving mother. Her office, 13* 146 The Peasant Wife. her influence, and her virtues make her the truest type of the guardian angel that mortals ever see on earth. Here, later in the evening, kneeling around her with clasped hands and rev- erent attention, are her younger children, with their innocent faces inquiringly up- turned, and eyes fondly peering into her own deep orbs of love, as she had done herself when young, and as had her elder children, who learn from a mother's fond, persuasive lips how to pray to the Giver of all good and perfect gifts for grace to enable them to forgive offences against themselves as fully as they would hope to be forgiven their offences against oth- ers ; and beseeching him to bless father and mother, and sisters and brothers, and to grant all his blessing to do acceptably his will upon earth, that they may ob- The Peasant Wife. 147 tain, through faith and good works, life eternal. Thus they all end the day as they begin it, with prayer and trust in God. Happy and contented, without malice and free from envy or any dis- tracting ambitious schemes, they retire early to sleep, which comes promptly over their placid spirits, and in its undis- turbed sweetness gives to the mind and body increased health and vigor for the duties of the coming day. They awaken early, and rise with the crow of the cock and the chirp and song of the earliest birds—birds that sing their orison of thanks to God from tree and shady bower, as rosy morn lifts on high her curtain of night, letting in a flood of light that pales the brightest stars that constantly shine through the casements of the ethereal walls, and 148 The Peasant Wife. through the crystal floors of heaven, as beacon-lights to man on earth. Going out, they find the herds are rising from kind Nature's lap—their 'ever ready bed—to crop the moist and tender herbs that grow on hill and grassy meadow, while the bounteous dew yet bathes and be- spangles with diamond drops, which hang pendant and glittering in the dawning streaks of day, every blade and leaflet of plant and flower that clothe and beautify the earth for man's delight and use. And, as the stillness of the night is being lost in the busy hum of the day, they enjoy, what is too much neglected, the sublime- ly beautiful scene of the awakening world, and breathe full drafts of the elixir of life, which is exhaled by rejuvenating and bounteous Nature, and which is redo- lent with the perfume of verdant fields The Peasant Wife. 149 and fragrant bowers. The ordinary la- bors of the day give but pleasant exer- cise to their ruddy health and vernal strength. The pleasures of their every- day life are greatly enhanced by the kind- ly sympathy and ready willingness that move their hearts to assist each other. A community of feeling, and a laudable pride in the virtues and good name of the family take possession of each member, while the children repose the most unbounded faith in the superior judgment and integrity of their parents. They have been, what all parents should be to their children, truthful and loving. It is not enough that children escape bad habits; their safety depends upon the possession of sound principles. They therefore judiciously fostered in their children the growth of every virtue and that confiding affection which springs from the heart of every child for its pro- tecting parents. 150 The Peasant Wife. I do not" assert that all mothers and families in rural districts are as perfect in character, or enjoy life in as rational a manner as the one I have endeavored to describe. I am well aware that there is among them, as in other classes of society, every shade of virtue and perhaps vice— of duty faithfully performed, or crimi- nally neglected. The poor, the industri- ous, the illiterate, or the moderately edu- cated, are not always examples of virtue; nor are the wealthy, the cultivated and the fashionable necessarily vicious or neglectful of parental duties. But I do assert that children become superior men and women whenever and wherever their lives receive from their parents that care- ful and unremitting supervision that is required to direct their thoughts in enno- bling channels, guard their habits from idleness and vicious influences, and sup- ply their minds with the essential princi- ples that develop greatness of character. The Peasant Wife. 151 Obedient children in every sphere of life fill with joy the parents' hearts. They take the highest rank in every calling in life. They make the best citizens, and in time become exemplary heads of fami- lies, and give permanence and character to society. The elements of filial affection are planted in the child's heart by parental tendernesss, and warmed into life by its smiles. They grow with their growth, and expand with their minds, and ripen with their years, and, if properly directed in youth, never fail to produce the most heroic and manly sentiments, becoming in time the holiest thread of the family bond, developing in parent and child the best qualities of head and heart. Children and their affections are like the roots and tendrils of the vine, that are ever reaching out for support and direc- tion, and which attain to the highest per- fection and beauty under the beneficent 152 The Peasant Wife. smiles and caresses of loving and virtu- ous parents. Theirs is a love that, dur- ing the most patriarchal life, never re- laxes its hold or loses its heavenly charm, but blesses unceasingly the parents' gen- erous hearts, and supports their tottering limbs with reverence and respect, through failing health and declining years. And, even at the grave, in decrepid old age, filial affection, once firmly cemented by nature in the bonds of mutual love, though generations old, is parted from its beloved objects with untold violence, and mourns for many days in the deepest sor- row and affliction. fii',».. rr,y ' vjjrruffi'iV^vi&Z^'^''^ \'s. '■:■ '' ■'■■■' -■■■■ ' '11')' ■■^ m m m >i&ti '%$ &*'