Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1898 — ABOUT KISSING MOTHER. [ARTICLE]

ABOUT KISSING MOTHER.

It was Eli Perkins who put the following reproof of a careless daughter into a father’s mouth: “I wan’t to speak to you of your mother. It may be that you noticed a care worn look on her face. Of course, it has not been brought there by any act of yours, still it is your duty to chase it away. I want you to get up in the morning and get breakfast. When your mother comes and begins to express her surprise, go right up to her and kiss her on the mouth. You can’t imagine how it will brighten her dear old face. “Besides you owe her a kiss or two. Away back when you were a little girl, she kissed you when no one else was tempted by your fever tainted breath and swollen face; you were not as attractive then as you are now. Through tears of childish sunshine and shadows she was always ready to cure, by the magic < a mother’s kiss, the little, dirty, enubby hands whenever they were injured in those first skirmishes with the ro. gh old world. And then th n"idni_rht kisses with which she routed so many bad dreams, as she Li ted above your restless pillow, have all been on interest these long years. “Of course she is not so pretty and kissable as you are, but if you had done your share of the work during the past ten years the contrast would not be so marked. Her face has more wrinkles than yours, and yet if your’e sick that face would appear far more beautiful than an angel’s as it hovered over you, watching every opportunity to minister to your oom-

fort, and every one of those wrinkles would seem to be bright wavelets of sunshine chasing each other over her dear face. “She will leave you one of these days. These burdens, if not lifted from her shoulders, will break her down. These rough, hard hands, which have done so many necessary things for you. will be crossed upon her lifeless breast. Those neglected lips, which gave you your first baby kiss, will be forever closed, and those sad, tired eyes will have opened in eternity, and then you will appreciate your mother, but it will be too late.”