They will be your weal or your
woe,--your lasting glory or your lasting shame!
And, ye parents, be faithful to those little ones that are growing up "like
olive plants around your table," so that in the day of judgment, you may
say with joy, in the full assurance of reward, "Here are we, Lord, and the
children whom thou hast given us!" And your reward shall be, "Well done,
thou good and faithful servant! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!"
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FAMILY BIBLE.
"What household thoughts around thee, as their shrine,
Cling reverently!--Of anxious looks beguiled,
My mother's eyes upon thy page divine,
Each day were bent; her accents, gravely mild,
Breathed out thy love; whilst I, a dreamy child,
Wandered on breeze-like fancies oft away,
... Yet would the solemn Word,
At times, with kindlings of young wonder heard
Fall on my wakened spirit, there to be
A seed not lost; for which in darker years,
O, book of heaven! I pour with grateful tears,
Heart-blessings on the holy dead, and thee!"
The family bible! What sweet and hallowed memories cling like tendrils
around that book of books! How familiar its sacred pages! How often in the
sunny days of childhood, we were fed from its manna by the maternal hand!
It was our guide to the opening path of life, and a lamp to the feeble,
faltering steps of youth.
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