BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 189

sea to sea, on the mountain sides and in the valleys, ten
thousand graves are made beautiful with flowers, and are
watered with affection’s tears.

But we must not forget how the mothers in multitudes
are watching, tearfully, prayerfully, constantly, the . living as
well as the dead. God only knows what numberless vigils
are kept for the living by anxious mothers. Often, half way
through the night, mothers lie sleepless and sad, thinking of
the boys away from home. Many a mother’s heart is beat-
ing and breaking at the same time, as she thinks of her
absent boys. ‘ Where is my boy to-night?” is a question
that forces itself unbidden to the blanched lips of many a
mournful mother; and many and earnest are the prayers that
rise that God will guide the footsteps of her absent ones into
the paths of piety and peace. There is no waking hour in
a mother’s life when the interest and happiness of her sons
and daughters do not constitute her chief anxiety, her dear-
est care.

Boys, there is no love like a mother’s. Cherish it, honor
it, for it will be the joy of your youth, the strength of your
manhood, and the most sacred memory of growing years.

There is no love like God’s love, unless it be a mother’s.
Some men looking backward through the march of years,
remembering their mothers, are ready to confess that if God
will but love them as their mothers did, they have nothing
to fear.

And when the. dark days come to you, as come they
will sooner or later, for sorrow comes to all; when the sad
time of silence comes, when the voice of your mother speaks
to you no more; when the world grows dull for want of
her presence, and dark for want of her smile, may the ever-
lasting arms encompass you with such tenderness, that you