Rest thee there in thy little bed, thou
happy emblem of the loved and pure in heaven!
"Visions sure of joy
Are gladdening his rest; and ah, who knows
But waiting angels do converse in sleep
With babes like this!"
imparting to his infant soul unutterable things, whispering soft of bliss
immortal given, and pouring into his new-born senses the dreams of opening
heaven.
What charms and momentous interests surround the cradle of infancy! When
the first wailing of dependence reaches the listening ear, what new-born
sympathies spring up in the parent's bosom! What a thrill of rapture the
first soft smile of her babe sends to the mother's heart! It is this, the
parents' likeness unsullied by their faults and cares; it is this, their
living love in personal being,--their love breathing and smiling before
them, lisping their names; it is this,--their new-born hope and care,--that
gives to infancy such a charm, such a never-dying interest, and causes the
parent to cling to it with such fond tenacity. "Can a mother forget her
sucking child?" Never, while she claims a mother's heart! The couch of her
babe is the depository of all those fond hopes and joys and cares and
memories to which a mother's heart is sacred.
The infant is the most interesting member of the Christian home. It is the
first budding of home-life, disclosing every day some new beauty, "the
father's lustre and the mother's bloom," to gladden the hearts of the
family.
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