The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-06-18

parents wishes, and marry young man out
there who owns eleven steers, hundred
sheep, and an eighty-acre lot.',-Free Press
A MODERN SERMON.
--->---5ss, 593sf~
On a Tert not Selected from the Scriptures.
The following, says an English paper, OK
hibits the method upon which the average
parson constructs his delectable discourse
Brethren, the words Of my text are:
"'Old Mother Hubbard, she went to the cup.
board, t.
To get her poor dog bone; sa5s
But when she got there the cupboard was bare,
And SO the poor dog had Rone.' 8s
"These beautiful words, dear friends,
carry with them solemn lesson. I pro-
pose this evening to anslyze their meaning,
and to attempt to apply it, lofty as it may
be, to our every day life.
'Old Mother Hubbard, she went to the cup
To get her poor dog bone
"Mother Hubbard, you see, was old;
there being no mention of others, We may
presume that she was alone; widow-a
friendless, old solitary widow. Yet did she
despair? Did she sit down and weep, or read
novel, or wiring her hands? No she went
to the cupboard. And here observe that she
went to the cupboard. She did not hop, or
skip, or run. or jump, or use any peripatet-
ic artifice; she solely and merely went to the
cupboard. ~.
We have seen that she was old and lonely;
and we now further see that she was poor.
For, mark, the words are the cupboard
Not 'one of the cupboards,' or the right
hand cupboard or the left-hand cupboard
or the one above, or the one below, or the
one under the floor, but just the cupboard.
Fhe one humble little cupboard the poor
woman possessed. And why did she 60 to
the cupboard? Was it to bring forth golden
goblets, or differing precious stones, or cost
ly apparel, or feasts, or any other attributes
of wealth? 1t aoas to get her poor dog a
bone! Not only was the widow poor, but
her dog, the sole prop of her age, was poor,
too. We can imagine the scene. The poor
dog crouching in the corner, looking wistful-
ly at the solitary cupboard, and the widow
going to that cupboard-in hope and expec-
not distinctly told that it was not half open,
or ajar-to open it for that poor dog.
"'But when she got there the cupboard was
bare, 1T %
And SO the poor dog had none.'
"'When she got there? You see, dear
brethren, what perseverance is. You see
the beauty of persistence in doing right.
She got there. There were no turnings and
twistings, no slippings or slidings, no lean
ing to the right or faltering to the left.
With glorious simplicity we are told she got
there. ~
"And how was her noble effort rewarded?
"'The cupboard was bare. It was bare.
There were to be found neither apples, nor
oranges, nor cheesecakes, nor penny buns,
nor gingerbread, nor crackers, nor nuts, nor
lucifer matches. The cupboard was bare!
There was but one, only one, solitary cup
board in the whole of that cottage, and that
one, the sole hope of the widow, and the
glorious loadstar of the poor dog. was bare!
Had there been leg of mutton, q loin of
lanb, a fllet of veal, even an ice from Gun
ter's, the case would have been different, the
incident would have been otherwise. But it
was bare, my brethren, bare as bald head;
bare as an infant born without a caul.
"Many of you will probably say, with all
the pride of worldly sophistry-'The widow
no doubt, went out and bought a dog biscuit.
All, no! Far removed from these earthly
! ideas, these mundane desires, poor Mother
Hubbard, the widow, whom many thought
less worldlings would despise, in that she
only owned one cupboard, perceived-or
| might even say saw-at once the relentless
| logic of the situation, and yielded to it with
| all the heroism of that nature which had en-:
| abled her without deviation to reach the
barren cupboard. She did not attempt, like
| the stiff-neeked scofers of this generation
to war against the inevitable; she did not
%,11 kEo, H.
plain what she did not understand. She die
nothing. The poor dog had nonep And
| then, at this point, our information ceases
cognizant of enough7
"Who will dare to pierce the veil thai
shrouds the Interior fate of old Mother Hub
bard, her poor dog, the cupboard, or The
bone that was not there2 Must We imagine
her still standing at the open cupboard door:
depict to ourselves the dog still dropping hi.
disappointed tail upon the floor? the sought
| for bone still remaining somewhere else
All, no, my dear brethren; we are not &
permitted to to attempt to read the future
Suffice it for as to CLEAN from this beautiful
story its many lessons; suffice it for US Il
apply them, to study them as far as in III
lies, and, bearing in mind the natural frailt,
of our nature, to avoid being widows; to shul
the patronymic of Hubbard; to have, if on
means afford it, more than one cupboard il
the house, and to keep stores in then
ell. And, O, dear friends, keeping in recol
lection what we have learned this day, let III
avoid keeping dogs that are fond of bones
But, brethren, if We do-if Fate has ordain
ed any of these things, let US then go, a.
Mother Hubbard did, straight, without cur
veting or prancing, to our cupboard, empty
though it be; let us, like her, accept the in
evitable with calm steadfastness, and should
We, like her, ever be left hungry dog ano
an empty cupboard, may future chroniclerl
be able to write also of us, in the beautiful
| words of our text:
! "sAnd 80 the poor dog had none'"
| ALL IN HIS EYE. .