The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-06-20
A MODERN SERMON.
Showing How Much May be Made
of q Simple Text by an
Ingenious Preacher.
Brethren, the words of nv text are

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.
l propose, this evening. to anaiyze
their meaning, and to attempt to APP
ply it, lofty as it may be, to our every
day life.
"Old Mother Hubbard she went to the cupboard,
To get her p"or dog u bone "
Mother Hubbard. you see, was old /;
there beirg no mention Of others, We
may presume she was alone a widow
"a friendless. old, solitary widow.
Yet, did she despair? Did she sit
down and weep, or read a novel, or
wiring htr 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 other artifice /; she sOely and
merely went to the cupboard.
We have seen that she was old and
lonely. and we now further see that
she was poor. Fer, mark, the words
are "the cupboard
Not lone 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
stair, but just the cupboard. The one
little humble cupboard the poor wild
ow possessed. And why did she go
to the cupboard? Was it to bring
forth golden goble:s, or glittering
precious stones, or costly apparel, or
feasts, Or any other attributes of
wealth? 1t was 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 wistfully at the solitary cup
board, 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 WIS bare
And - the poor dog had none
"When she got there J" You see,
dear brethren, what perseverance is.
You see the beauty of persistence
in doing right. She got there.
There are no turning and twisting,
no 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 re-
warded?
1.-The cupboard was bare!' 1t was
bare! There were to be found neither
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 solita
ry cupbord in the whole of that cot
tage, and that one the sole hope Of
the widow and the glorious loadstar Of
the poor dog, was bare! Had there
been a leg of mutton, loin of lamb
a fillet of veal, even an ice from SIGH
er's the case would have been differ
ent, the incident would have beer
otherwise.
Many of you will probably say, with
all the pride of worldly sophistry,
1.-The widow, no doubt, went out anG
bought the dog a biscuit"
All, MOI Far removed from these
earthly ideas, these mundane desires
poor Mother Hubbard, the widow
whom many thoughtless wording
would despise, in that she only owned
one cupboard. perceived-or l nigh
even say saw-at once the relentles
logic of the situation, and yielded t.
it with all the heroism of that natur,
which had enabled her without de
Walton to reach the barren cupboard
She did not attempt, like the stiff
necked scofers of this generation, t.
war against the inevitable she iii,
not try, like the so-called men o.
science, to explain what she did no
understand.
She did nothing. "The poor do
bad none!" And then, at this poin
our information ceases.
But do we know sufficient? Ar
We not cognizant of enough?
Who would dare to pierce the vel
that shrouds the ulteriOr fate of oil
Mother Hubbard, the poor dog, tn
cupboard, or the bone that was no
there?
Must We imagine her still standin
at the open cupboard door-depict t
ourselves the dog still dropping hi
disappointed tail upon the floor-th
sought-for bone still remaining some
where else