River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-06-19
A MODERN SERMON.

on a Tert not Selected from ute scriptmr, g.
The following, says an English paper, ex-
hibits the method upon which the average
parson constructs his delsctable discourse
g Brethren, the words of my text are :
"'0ld Mother Hubbard, she went to the cup
board,
To get her poor dog bone;
But when she got there the cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.
These beautiful words, dear friends,
carry with theit solemn lesson. pro-
pose this evening to analyze their meaning,
and to attempt to apply it, lofty as il may
be, to our everyday life.
6 old Mother Hubbard, she went to the cup
board.
To get her poor dog bone
"Mother Hubbard, you see, was old;
there being no mention of others, we may
friendless, old solitary widow. Yet did she
despair? Did she sit down and weep, or read
a novel, or wiring her hands? No, she went
TO the cupboard. And hete 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 zone 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
| ~ apparel, or feasts or any other attributes
of wealth? II teds 10 get her poor dog a
| boaet Not only was the widow poor, but
her dog, the sole prop of her age, was poor,
toe. We can Imagine the scene. The poor
| dog crouchiug in the corner, looking wistful
| ly at the solitary cupboard, and the widow
going to that cupboard-in hope and expec
tation. maybe--to open it, although we are
not distinctly told that it was not half open
or aiar-to open it for that poor dog
But when she got there the cupboard wa'
bare,
And so the poor dog had nome.
| "'When she got therer You see, deal
brethren, what perseverance is. You see
me beauty of persistence in doing right
She got there There were no turnings and
| twistings, no slippings or slidings, no lean
With glorious simplicity we are told she go
there.
sAnd how was her noble effort rewarded
"Trhe cupboard was bare. 1t was bare
There were to be found neither apples, no
oranges, nor eheesecakes, nor penny buns
nor gingerbread, nor crackers, nor nuts, no
lucifer matches. The cupboard was bare
There was but one, only one, solitary cup
board in the whole of that cottage, and tina
one, the sole hope of the widow, and thu
glorious losdstar of the poor dog. was bare
Had there been leg of mutton, loin o
lamb, fillet of veal, even an ice from Gun
ter's the case would have been different, thu
incident would have been otherwise. But
was bare, my brethren, bare as bald head
bare as an infant born without caul.
MANY of you will probably say, with al
the pride of worldly sophistry-'The widow
no doubt, went out and bought dog biscuit.
Ali, no! Far removed from these earthl.
ideas. these mundane desires, poor Mothe
} Hubbard, the widow, whom many thought
less worldlings would despise, in that sh
! only owned one cupboard, perceived-or
might even say saw-at once the reientles
! logic of the situation, and yielded to it witt
all the heroism OF that nature which had en-
abled her without deviation to reach tn
} the stiff. uecked acoffers of this generation
to war against the inevitable; she did no
; try, like the so-calied men of science, to ex
plain what she did not understand. She di
} nothing THE poor dog had nonep AM
: then, at this point, our information ceases
But do we not know sufficient? Are we nc
! coqnizant of enough?
, "Who will dare to pierce the veil tina
shrouds the Interior fate of old Mother Hub
bard, her poor dog, the cupboard, or tn
bone that was not there? Must we imag1n
, her still standing at the open cupboard-do
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 s.
permitted to 10 attempt to read the future
Suffice it for MS to CLEAN from this beautiful
story its many lessons suffice it for as t
apply them, to study them as FAR as In u
lies, and, bearing in naind the natural fralit
of our nature, to avoid being widows; to shul
the patronynlio of Hubbard; 10 have. if GU
means afford it, more than one cupboard II
the house, and to keep stores In then
} all. And, o, dear friends, keeping IN recol
, lection what we have learned this day, let u
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
voting or prancing, to our cupboard, empt
though it be. let us, like her, accept the IN
eyitable with calm steadfastness, and shoul'
we. like ner, ever be left a hungry dog ant
an en- pity cupboard may future chronicler
be able TO write also of us, in the beautiful
words Of our text
And so the poor dog had none