e reach an eminence in study or art or character, without blessing
the entire family group. We have all seen that the father and mother feel
that all life's care and labor were at last perfectly rewarded in the
success of their child. But had the child been reckless or indolent, all
this domestic joy--the joy of a large group--would have been blighted
forever.

12. AN HONORED CHILD.--There have been triumphs at old Rome, where victors
marched along with many a chariot, many an elephant, and many spoils of the
East; and in all times money has been lavished in the efforts of States to
tell their pleasure in the name of some general; but more numerous and
wide-spread and beyond expression, by chariot or cannon or drum, have been
those triumphal {20} hours, when some son or daughter has returned to the
parental hearth beautiful in the wreaths of some confessed excellence,
bearing a good name.

13. RICH CRIMINALS.--We looked at the utter wretchedness of the men who
threw away reputation, and would rather be rich criminals in exile than be
loved friends and persons at home.

14. AN EMPTY, OR AN EVIL NAME.--Young and old cannot afford to bear the
burden of an empty or an evil name. A good name is a motive of life. It is
a reason for that great encampment we call an existence. While you are
building the home of to-morrow, build up also that kind of soul that can
sleep sweetly on home's pillow, and can feel that God is not near as an
avenger of wrong, but as the Father not only of the verdure and the
seasons, but of you. Live a pure life and bear a good name, and your reward
will be sure and great.

* * * * *

{21}

The Mother's Influence.

Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you,
Many a Summer the grass has grown green,
Blossomed and faded, our faces between;
Yet with strong yearning and passionate pain,
Long I to-night for your presence again.--_Elizabeth Akers Allen._

A mother is a mother still,
The holiest thing alive.--_Coleridge._

There is none,
In all this cold and hollow world, no fount
Of deep, strong, deathless love, save that within
A mother's heart.--_Mrs. Hemans._

And all my mother came into mine eyes,
And gave me up to tears.--_Shakespeare._

* * * * *

[Illustration: A PRAYERFUL AND DEVOTED MOTHER.]

1. HER INFLUENCE.--It is true to nature, although it be expressed in a
figurati