Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-14
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A MODERN SERMON,

Brethren, the words OF my text are
4" Old Mother Hubbard, she went to the cupboard,
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 them a solemn lesson.
propose this evening to analyze theil
meaning, and to attempt to apply it, lofty
as it may be, to our everyday life.
" Old Mother Hubbard, she went to the cupboard,
To- get her poor dog bone"
Mother Hubbard, you see, was old:
there being no mention of others, we may
presume she was alone a widow friend.
less, 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. u
And here observe that she trent to the cup
board. She did not hop, or skip, or jump,
or use any other peripatetic artifce; 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 "He
cupboard"
Not Zone of the cupboards," or the
"right-hand cupboard, or the cleft. hand
cupboard" or the one above OF the one
below, or the one under the stair, but Just
the cupboard. The one little humble cup.
board the poor woman possessed. And
why did she 60 to the cupboard: Was i.
to bring forth golden goblets, or glittering
precious stones, or costly apparel, or feasts,
or any other attributes of wealth! 1t was
to get her poor dog 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 wist.
fully at the solitary cupboard, and the
widow going to that cupboard-in hope, in
expectation, may be-to open it, although
we are 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,
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 do.
ing right. She got there.
There are no turnings and twistings, nc
slippings and slidings, no leaning to the
right or faltering to the left.
With glorious simplicity we are told she
got there.
And how was her noble effort rewarded
1.-The cupboard was bare y" II was
bare There were to be found neither or.
anges, nor cheesecakes, nor penny buns,
nor gingerbread, nor crackers, nor nuts,
nor lucifer matches.
The cupboard was bare
There was but one, oaly one solitary cup.
board in the whole of that cottage, and that
one the sole hope of the widow and the glo.
rious loadstar of the poor dog, was bare
lamb, fillet of veal, even an ice from Gun.
ter's, the case would have been different,
the incident would have been otherwise.
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 workings 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 enabled her without deviation to reach
the barren cupboard.
She did not attempt, like the stiff-necked
scoifers of this generation, to war against
the inevitable she did not try, like the
80 called men of science, to explain what
she did not understand.
She did nothing. 1.-THE poor dog had
none p And then, at this point our in.
formation ceases.
But do we not know sufficient Are we
not copnizant of enonohS
Who would dare to pierce the veil that
shrouds the Interior fate OF Old Mother
Hubbard, the poor dog, the cupboard, OR
the bone that was not there.
Must we imagine her still standing at the
open cupboard door-depict to ourselves
the dog still dropping his disappointed tail
upon the hoor-the sought-for bone still
remaining somewhere else.
All no, my dear brethren, we are not SC
permitted to attempt to read the future
Suffice it for US to CLEAN from this beauti
full story its many lessons suffice it for u'
to apply them, to study them as far as il
US lies.