LADIES' COLUMN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7667, 28 March 1903, Page 3

LADIES' COLUMN.

A MOTHER'S DREAM. (The 'Queen.) Once upon a time tbefe was an ambitious young mother, who had been reading, and thinking, and repining, as- some others have done. Her children were in the nursery and her husband was absent. She sat by the fire and lamented her useless life, and longed, like Alexander, for worlds to conquer. At last, worn out and wearied, she tell asleep, and she had a dream — a wonderful dream ! She found Serself in a large plain, crowded with people. They were cf many nations, as far as she could judge, and belonged: to different epochs of time. They were of all ages and of various ranks. Some were gorgeously attiredi while others were evidently poor and hard; working. There were princes and peasants, authors and artisans, merry children at play, learned scholars poring over their books. She wandered on, deeply interested with what she saw t finding something curiously familiar in all around her, although many spoke a language of which she was ignorant, and wore a garb that was strange in her eyes. Pausing, with a sudden start, she stood watching a mother surrounded by her little ones. Surely they were 'her own ! But no, her fancy deceived her. Those were Randolph's thoughtful eyes, -yet the boy was quite unknown to her ; there were Margaret's flaxen curk, and that was Dora's silvery laugh ; but the children were strange— strange, yet familiar. As their mother reproved them, with a hasty word and an impatient gesture, the Dreamer, recognising the action, felt that she was beholding another self ! Dazed and bewildered, she turned! to a fresh group, and here she recognised the features of her husband and her brothers. Look where she would, the fitting likeness puzzled her. Old and young, rich and poor, noisy schoolboys and dainty dames, each and all had something in common, something that appealed to the astonished watcher with irresistible fascination. Ever and. anon, among these unknown companions, she caught glimpses of forms and faces familiar to her eyes, while again and again rang out the accustomed tones of dearly loved voices. As she gazed with wondering eyes upon the people around her, her heart yearned to them with ineffable tenderness, arid she seemed to 'hear an angel whisper: " Here, 0 mother, is your kingdom ! Your very own. These are your children and your children's children, nurtured by your iove.and moulded by your teaching. What sovereign sways his subjects with a rule so potent? Your life has been their lesson. They have grown to your likeness,they have been imbued with your spirit. The seed which you have planted, whether for good or for evil, has 'borne- fruit, tenfold and a hundredfold. Little as the mother may think of it at the time, her example and her conduct reflect themselves -unconsciously upon the children growing up at her side. In their lives that teaching will be again set forth, to be transmitted onwards to further generations. The colour of the eyes, the form of the features, or the height of the stature recur continually in the history of. families ; but infinitely more potent in the spiritual life is the pervading influence oi a mother's love — an influence which, rightly exercised, may rule with beneficent sway an unborn race who will never know her name! "Foolish woman! . To crave for power when a kingdom greater than any of which ambition ever dreamed' lies at your feet, grows up round your knees, and catches its inspiration from your heart!" The Mother awoke. Her eyes were full of tender tears and her hear* thrilled with new emotion. Never again in word or thought would she .repine at the insignificance of her lot, or which now, at jlast, she fully realised the true importance. Happy would ft be for many mothers, and for many children also, if there were more sucb dreams ! __________