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LEAVE ME WITH THE LORD.
When the toil and tumult of life shall
be over,
And future and past blend in equal
award,
Oh! fashion my bed in the sweet
smelling clover,
There lay me and leave me alone
with the Lord.
Alone with the Lord when my doubt
and endeavor
Have vanished away like a wish or
a word,
Alone with the Lord, let me tarry for
ever,
With none to malign me —alone
with the Lord.
Alone with the Lord, yea, alone with
my Maker,
Shut out from the strife and the
babble below,
In silence and sweetness —an eager
partaker
Os peace, whch He only knows how
to bestow.
Forgive if you can all my errors com
mitted,
Rejoice in the thought of a spirit
restored,
But whether I’m censured or pardoned
and pitied,
Oh! hasten and leave me alone with
the Lord. ,
Alone with the Lord, when the mys
tical curtain
Os Death is drawn back and with
awe I behold,
(I, a wavering spirit, half dazed and
uncertain)
The wonders and signs which the
propnets foretold.
Small matter to me if the world shall
lament me;
The smart will be brief if I perish
abhorred,
One boon will suffice me, one joy will
content me,
To rest from my labors, alone with
the Lord.
—Arthur Goodenough.
Brattleboro, Vermont.
CHAT.
Very much in the limelight has been
Georgia’s capital city during the past
week. What with feasting and speech
making in honor of our incoming
ruler, crowded streets, brass bands,
flags, carriages and motor cars, barbe
cues, flowers, persimmon beer, baked
yams and last, but not least, possums
were immensely in evidence to prove
our. patriotism. Everybody had a
good time it appears, but the pos
sums. The woods were scoured for
these alleged delicatable marsupials,
and in some counties it was declared
that seed was not left. The possum
is now more than ever -in vogue, hav
ing replaced the Teddy Bear as a sym
bol of the chief executive, and soon
his race will be extinct. Rapidly our
woods are being depopulated of the
wild creatures that gave them interest
and charm. The possum, the coon
and the old-time darkey, with his
cropped-eared dog and his banjo; they
are seen now but' in vanishing
glimpses. They have nearly passed
out of sight down the vista of time,
along wth the Colonel of the old
regime with his fine courtesy of man-
THE HOUSEHOLD
A Department of Expression For Those Who Teel and Think.
ner and his punctilious ideas of honor
and noblesse oblige.
But the new era, which has dawned
and is so fast overshadowing the past
is immense in its achievements and
its glorious promise. The wave of
reform sweeping over " all civilized
lands, is so grand and full of power
as to justify the belief of some that
the millennium is at hand. Who
would have dared to hope for such a
victory over the liquor fiend as has
taken place! It will continue until
the curse of drink will be one of the
dark memories of the by-gone.
Other great changes are being effec
ted, far more swiftly than of old, as
though some powerful superhuman
agency were hurrying the world of
men on to some great climax or uni
versal revolution. Those who stand
on the heights of science and of in
spiration, announce that we are on the
eve of great discoveries. New forces,
physical and spiritual, are being plac
ed within our reach. Things which
to us are commonplaces would have
seemed impossibilities to our fore
fathers. We are moving on in a suc
cession of splendid dreams and their
fulfillment.
That the change is for the better
is proven by the broad and increasing
spread of charity and tolerance. Evil
exists, but Good springs ever ready to
master it. Suffering exists, but sym
pathy and generous kindness
are eager to alleviate it. As one little
instance, see how many kind hearts in
the midst of Christmas festivities re
membered Tom Lockhart —on. his
weary bed in his country cottage in
Missouri. Such a white snow* storm of
letters as poured upon him. must have
cheered the poor fellow, who has lain
like a stone effigy for twenty-three
years. I wonder if some of our other
shut-ins were half so generously re
membered? Little Maggie Beverage of
Arkansas for instance. That little
church which the Household built for
her has never been ceiled, nor a
stove put into it, so that during most
of the winter, the bell she so delighted
in is silent. She sent me a story not
long ago—quite a long and ambitious
story for a little girl to write who has
never seen a school house or had any
teacher but her old grandmother. If
she had the right kind of books to
study and just a little he’p she would
make a writer of ability.
I am glad to welcome today some of
our dear friends and favorites of the
original Household: Lady May, Vernie
Barrington, Mollie Willis and Annice
Lybarger, as well as the new-comers,
Jack Wirick and Eleanor Vance. Jack
Wirick wishes to know why the novel
ists do not give us pictures of the mar
ried life of the heroes and heroines,
whom they conduct across the stormy
waters of Courtship into the harbor of
Wedlock. Are they really “happy
ever afterwards,” is what he wishes to
know. Fineta, can you or our truant
Julia Coman Tait, tell this young
bachelor of some novels that will give
him true pictures of married life? He
is a farmer, living in a pretty cottage,
which he built with his own hands.
Some of Frederica Bremer’s stories
are delightful pictures of domestic life
in her own land —Sweden—but the
wedded experiences given by most
modern novels are not a bit edifying.
I should hate for Jack to read “The
House of Mirth,” or any of Upton
Sinclair’s pictures of married life.
The Golden Age for January 28, 1909.
THE OLD HOUSE DREAM.
Dim in the moonlight rays,
Its ancient trees among,
The old house dreams of the days
When it held a merry throng.
Dreams of the faces dear,
Which made its halls so gay—
Faces that bore no trace of care
As they laughed the hours away.
It holds an echo of song
Ghostly and faint and low.
It sees a fair, shadowy throng
Through the rooms go to and fro.
But never a step is heard
Os those of bygone years;
No sound save the song of a bird
Sad with the sadness of tears.
Annice Lybarger.
Kingston, Tenn.
Wtb Our Correspondents
A SHUT-IN’S MESSAGE.
A bright and happy New Year to
you, dear friends! I hope all of you
enjoyed the holidays. Christmas was
a sweet day to me, because I saw
that my fr’ends had not forgotten their
tiny shut-in sister. Letters came from
various quarters containing helpful
words and money for my book, “Lit
tle Sunbeam.” I received eight orders
for the book. I am very grateful to
these good friends. I pray God’s bless
ing on them. I am still confined to
bed, but am better than I was last
summer, and earnestly hope that I
may be able to use my wheel chair
again when the spring opens and the
b’rds are singing in the green trees. I
live eight miles from town where my
good doctor resides. I frequently
need to consult him as to change of
medicines and new symptoms.of my
disease; and I have no telephone. If
any sympathetic friends care to do me
a very great kindness, they may help
me to have a telephone put in the
house, which is home to me, by buying
my little book or sending a few cents.
A dime would not be missed by them,
but would help me to obtain the much
needed relief. Mr. Upshaw, who wrote
the beautiful introduction to my book,
knows all about me and my circum
stances. I wish I could hear him
lecture. He has done and is still do
ing noble work for the cause of tem
perance, a cause which all who care
for the welfare of their race should
aid. All the crimes and misery that,
liquor has caused! I know one man
who recently was sentenced to fifteen
years imprisonment for a crime due en
tirely to one bottle of whiskey. His
home is ruined and his wife broken
hearted. Dear friends, I pray that the
smile of our" Father may rest on you
and yours all this New Year.
Mollie E. Willis.
Barnesville, Ga.
*
SHE DID NOT USE THE SWITCH.-
Someone of the Household —was it
not Mattie Howard, so tender of heart
and conscientious—said that if
had her life to live over she would'
never punish a child. , But, dear sis
ter, it is necessary to a child’s disci
pline and future well-beng that it
should be punished when guilty of
-wrong doing. I have brought up eight,
children, all of whom are fairly good
as grown ups.. I used the switch in
punishing not over half a dozen times,
but I never failed to punish for a
deliberate o^fejis ( ?-. When two of the
older children quarreled I separated
them, shut them up in different
rooms and gave them tasks to do, such
as writing one of the Psalms. I would
not let them play together for the rest
of the day. If a child was disobedi
ent, I withheld his little allowance of
pocket money, or deprived him of
some privilege or pleasure which he
enjoyed. When a child was cross, I
took him before a mirror and marked
and with a black crayon pencil drew
the creases on the frowning forehead
and the puckers about the pouting
mouth, promising to remove them
when he smiled. I particularly guard
ed against showing partiality and
against having one child give up to
another for the sake of keeping the
peace. This creates a bitter sense of
injustice that will spoil the sweet na
ture of the child who is made to deter
to a brother or sister for fear of rous
ing their temper. I had punishments
for carelessness, for lack of courtesy
or of neatness. Always I kept my
own temper under control when deal
ing with my children and don’t
think I ever told them an untruth, or
made a promise I did not. keep.
Mrs. Eleanor Vance.
Montgomery, Ala.
*
TOM’S ANNIVERSARY LETTER
PARTY.
Dear Friends of The Golden Age:
Will it interest you to hear
how kindly, how generously his per
sonally unknown friends remembered
an ossified man on the twenty-third
ann’versary of his bed-ridden life? I
had reason to hope I should be re
membered but did not dare to expect
such a shower of kind letters. They
began conrng in from five to fifty a
day one week before Chrstmas. And
on Wednesday a hundred and four ar
rived at my bedside. Thursday
brought a hundred and sixteen and
Christmas day a hundred and forty;
Saturday a hundred and sixteen again.
After that they fell away to the usual
number. There were also many lovely
cards. I enjoyed them all, more than
I can tell and earnestly I wished that
I could be able to answer them all.
Many of the letters contained orders
for my books. These T promptly fill
ed; others had small gifts of money nr
stamps. These were all acknowledg
ed with a letter of thanks, either prin
ted or written. I was suffering with
rheumatism in my thumb and fingers
and could not write personally, but
had it done for me at my dictation,
when possible; otherwise I would send
a printed letter which I had prepared
beforehand, knowing my friends would
not forget me on Christmas. The let
ters with just a stamp enclosed, were
answered in the same way. There
were some who sent handkerchiefs,
hooks, etc. These were all acknowl
<ed in like manner and I sincerely
trust that all received their letters
rand books promptly. If not it was
through no fault of mine I assure you.
IDuring Christmas week I read of three
-mail cars being destroyed and some
.<of my mail was doubtless lost in this
way. So don’t think me a fraud,
friends, if you failed to receive your
books, as I did the best I could. My
Christmas was made a happy one by
your thoughtful kindness. I enjoyed
•all th** letters and cards immensely,
■and my profound and heartfelt
|te? all and especially to the
