Show A SUNDAY MORNINGS LESSON oil dear sunday morning is the busiest and most wearisome morning of the whole week I 1 rise earlier than usual but with five children to prepare for sunday school and dinner to lay out and myself to prepare for church I 1 declare its too much such was the desponding exclamation of mrs may as she closed her book while three 1 fittie ittle lttie ones entered the room in riotous childish haste calling on mamma to get them ready for sunday school oh well wife I 1 worry said mr may who with faultless shirt bosom and collar whito white stockings and slippers was very comfortably reclining in the easy chair reading his re religious liggions i newspaper 1 I would nt worry why cant the children dress themselves 4 1 IV its s very easy for you to say so was the quick and we are sorry to say I 1 rather short reply just as I 1 much as men know of womans comans work I 1 you have 0 on oil earth to do on sunday morning but dress yourself ready for church and wait and read till the bells ring dress themselves a pretty looking set the they thoy y would be if they dressed themselves come here charlie and let me brush your hair mr may returned to his paper very calmly 41 emily is not usually so fretful was I 1 I 1 is s mental conclusion perhaps she does docs not feel very well at all events I 1 can do nothing and had better keep quiet but the little gnes tones were bounding round at a great rate making that noise and confusion that all children will make especially if they are in a hurry mamma where are my shoes 1111 mamma amma frock please brush my hair mamma seemed to re sound on all sides in the ears of the hurried mother p as she ahe vainly attempted tb meet all their wants at the same moment she really did not fe elvery well and somehow she had struck an unhappy and morbid train of thought on this particular morning she knew know that she was disposed to be fretful and unreasonable but she lacked strength to check and ana and control herself perhaps she he forgot to appeal for strength to that source from whence it ever flows freely the little ones were not half ready when another presented herself at the door looking quite surprised at the hurry 4 ella why are you not preparing for S sundry isch school 11 demanded the mother 19 dont you know it is almost time 1 I was reading my sunday school book and forgot what time it was that is like you you are always for forgetting borgetti getti ng and loitering I 1 believe you never be lie ready for school if I 1 did not watch you put your book away and dress yourself the happy face of the child was clouded in an instant she had been reading a beautiful beautiful story and was in a happy and gentle mood but the words and tone of the mother dispelled iland she slowly and unwillingly laid it aside mrs Mr may noticed this and while in her heart she felt that she was at fault and while she knew that she ought to check and control trocher her temper by a strange inconsistency that we all experience at the very moment that this convict conviction ioa loa was forcing itself upon her it seemed deemed only to aggravate and increase her vexation mamma famma may I 1 havo have this handkerchief cried C harlie charlie turning round from a drawer into litto which he fie had been diving let me see sec you have my very best handkerchief and you have rumpled it au all up who told you to go to my drawer did I 1 eversee oversee ever see bee such chil ehll children drene drenT 13 and mrs mr may thrust the handkerchief back and locked the drawer oh mamma I 1 cant wear this dress Y you ou know knowl I 1 tore it last week wee kand and you for forgot gotto to mend it it was ella elia who was speaking I 1 mrs Mayer may jerked ked the dress around very ungracious ungraciously y 1 I never saw such a child to ta tear clothes as you are I 1 ought to make you stay at home Why you mend it yourself or bring it to me yesterday you know mamma pleaded ella that I 1 did want to mend lou you rou said I 1 could not and yesterday you had company well weil welly I 1 suppose you will have to wear your blue de laine but I 1 expect nothing else than that it will be torn to pieces before you get home the impatient and fretful s spirit irl iri had infected all the children ant and by this time charlie and nannie dannie were quarreling about a tumbler of water each declaring that water was indispensable moment spilling the water over nannies bannies Nan nies clean white dress mrs may gave them each a light tap on the ear etwas it was nothing r in itself but they thought it was dreadful so unusual was it and ana both cried and screamed as though they had received the se verest severest punishment hush this instant or I 1 will punish you severely mrs mra may setting nannie hard bard down on a chair 1 I have nave ellou enough llev lles trouble to work all without having ing such a clamor do boullear youl you hean hear lear mr may had bad taken occasion to slip out of the room he did not like noise and confusion especially on a sunday mo morning this mrs may noted and it did not serve to soothe her little trouble he has haa about it I 1 wonder what the children would look like if he had charge of them I 1 suppose they might look like little hottentots Hotten tots for all the difference it would make maye to him similar expressions of impatience similar tones and looks looka were continued throughout the hurried toilets of the children so that by the time they were dressed every little face was cloried clouded all were in a imd baj h buinow ainor and more than one little face was wet with tears and when finally the last bonnettas bonnet bonn etwas was tied and the the last jast cloak or shawl bhail fastened mr may entered with the inquiry why in such a hurry aberry its too early by halt half an hour oil oh mamma I 1 shall have time to look for my sunday school book lam sure I 1 laid it downin down in this room when I 1 came in said ella what was it that made ir Mrs is may in instead stead of granting the request A y shortly I 1 no I 1 I 1 sald said y you xou au should not hunt forik foru any more you must learn to li avel place for your books bl but mamma I 1 cant abnot h u until util I 1 return that one and I 1 want to read this afternoon ay not another word go out to the sitting room every one of you and wait until it Is time me too to t go o 11 and the mother op opened ened enod th the e doot door and waited till the room was vacated dd and then closing it it she isho was vas far from happy she heard pile fhe children phildren quarrelling quitt over something in A the sitting room and she mentally exclaimed ed 1 I 1 am the cause of this 11 t I 1 am the one who should te ve reprimanded prim and hedi CanI can I 1 expect my children to io control their tempers and be amiable and good when I 1 araso am so easily overcome then arose an evil apologist 0 rl s t 1 I was so tired tined I 1 wanted a little rest so much I 1 11 wanted to get a few pi minutes jaco to riad read reada n peace to meditate in quiet hulet nay answered the better monitor is it not of more importance that those little souls who are given to your keeping and charge be led gently and tenderly that they have a good example set before them than that you should meditate and after all what osithe is the ultimate end of reading 0 and meditation if f it be not to prepare vou rou to fulfill faithfully lly ily all thes these 0 git fit little t e du duties 1 I les ies I 1 as well as the greater ones of life ilfe mrs may was convinced but she was not yet ready to acknowledge her error or make reparation she heard the children start of for the sunday school they usually wished he her goodbye good bye but no such kind wishes were mad made ethis this morning c she watched them as they went ti up the street and thought how she had haT all the joyful little hearts and aroused evil passions therein thong thought gh t how I 1 ill iii I 1 I 1 s tilted suited w was as their thel k frame of mind to receive religious instruction miserable and weal weak mother that I 1 am she exclaimed 1 I deserve that my little children Il illren be taken from me A few moments had passed when she heard the front doar open and the clatte clatter of little feet her heart gave a sudden bound handshe and she sprang to the door to meet there the most forlorn and frightened set of little faces ella stood in front holdin holding tr u up to view her dress torn half across tte tie the front and soiled with mud the explanation was easy she had fallen and the dress was almost ruined why ella how in the world and ano then she checked checked herself I 1 indeed mamma I 1 cou ilant help it said poor ella tears lears standing in he her r eyes the streets streets ts are so slippery and I 1 was leading charlie and nannie well well take off your dress and iut put on tais this one I 1 think you will still be e early enough that dress is so thin I 1 dont wonder itis it is torn did you hurt yourself lr oh no dear mamma butr but I 1 was sorry about my dress thank you mamma how different were the childs words and arid tones from a few moments before there now its all right again heres your shawl and here I 1 till lave have ave found your sunday school book now you are all ready a awin again ain win what a transformation mrs birs may could hardly refrain from tears how happy and glad looked all the little ones as they smilingly contended for the last kiss goodbye good bye marn mamma mall I 1 goodbye good bye echoed back in I 1 loving oving happy tones from the little group that now were dancing up the street in such contrast 19 to that of a few jno ino moments ments monts before OH oli the sweet forgiveness and innocence of childhood they dreamed not that they were the offended instead of the oi renders offenders mrs may turned frow from the window and began to ire tre prepare pare tog toy church it is not alone from books and sermons that lessons are to be learned thought she and the tears stood in her eyes dl may mayi god grant that I 1 may long re member the lesson I 1 have learned this morning morning he that ruleth his spirit is better lean iwan than he that a city I 1 have seen teen how my words and actions extend to and influence my children may slay ilay liay I 1 not only teach them henceforward by precept merely batby example to be ten tender derand and kindly one to another and never never may I 1 chafe and fret their young spirits by ily my iny own harshness and fret fit inezs ness |