BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 55

sight, do we wonder that she should fall prone upon the life-
less boy, and, kissing his cold lips, moan and moan, begging
her Abel to speak to her just once again! The thought of
all this is terrible, but not a thousandth part as terrible as
the reality.

So, boys, we have this picture to look upon and think
about. The world’s first mother, broken-hearted and bereaved,
all through the waywardness and envy of her first-born son.

God only knows what a comfort a boy may be to his
mother. <A brave, true- hearted, noble boy, may make his
mother’s life a very heaven on earth, no matter -how lowly
the home and all its surroundings. ‘There are thousands of
boys in America to-day who are just such blessings in the
home—living comforts to their mothers. The world may
not know them, but God does, and He has graven their
names on the palms of the everlasting hands. And there
are, alas! too many boys of the spirit of Cain who make
their mothers’ lives long-drawn agonies of anxiety and grief.

How sad the lot of this first mother of the race! It
was bad enough to be driven out of Eden; bad enough to
see that great angel with awful wings draw his glittering
sword and point the way to the desert; and the early home
in the desert was sad and lonely. But all the humiliation
and shame of those days seemed to be forgotten when God
gaye her these boys. And as they grew in strength and
beauty it seemed to her great mother-heart as if the loss of
Paradise was more than half redeemed by these new-born
treasures of her desert home.

What a sad home that was on the outskirts of Eden
when the night closed on the awful tragedy! Adam, too
dumbfounded to speak a word; Eve too broken-hearted even
for sighs! Death had entered the world indeed; death in