The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-04-06


minded. So you might have guessed
FROM their children. Good men always
have good mothers. There may once In
ten OF twenty years be an exception TO
that rule, but il is only an exception.
BENJAMIN Vests mother kissed him after
she had seen his first wonderful sketch
with the pencil. Benjamin West after
ward said: "That Kiss made me a
painter" A young man received fur
lOugh to return from the army to his
fathers house. AfteTward he took the
fmlOugh back to the officer, saying: Il
would like to postpone my visit for two
weeks" At the end Of the two weeks he
came and got the furlOugh. He was
asked why he waited. "Well," he re-
piled, "when | left home l told my
mother | would be Christian III the
army, and | was resolved not TO go home
until | could answer her first question"
Oh, the almost OmnipOtent power Of the
mOtherl But if both the father and
mother be right, then the children are
almost sure to be right. The young
people may make wide curve from the
straight path, but they are almost sure
to come back to the right road. 1t may
not be until the death of one of the par
ents. How often it is that we hear some
one say: 'Oh, he was a wild young man,
but since his fathers death he has been
differentp The fact is, that the fathers
coffin or the mothers coffin is often the
altar of repentance for the child.
Oh! that was stupendOus day, the day
of fathers burial. 1t was not the Off
ciating Clergyman who made the chief
impression nor the sympathizing mourn
eTs; it was the father asleep in the cas-
ket. The hands that had tOiled for that
household so long folded; the brain
cooled off, after twenty or forty years of
anxiety about how to put that family in
the right position; the lips closed, after
so many years of good advice. There
are more tears falling in mothers grave
than in fathers grave; but over the
fathers tomb | think there is kind of
awe. 1t is ut that marble pillar many a
young man has been TeVOlutiOniZed.
Oh! young man with cheek flushed with
how long is it since you
have been out to your fathers grave?
Will you not go this week? Perhaps the
storms of the last winter may have bent
the headstOne until it leans far over.
You had better go out and see whether
the lettering has been defaced. You had
better go out and see whether the gate
of the lot is closed. You had better go
and see if you cannot find a sermon in
the growing grass. 0, young man, go
out this week and see your fathers
grave. Religion did so much for our
Christian ancestry, are we not ready
this morning to be willing to receive it
into our own households? If we do re-
ceiye it, let it come through the front
door, not through the back door. In
other words, do not let us smuggle it in.
There are great many families that
want to be religious, but they do not
want any body outside to know it. They
would be mortified to death if you caught
them at family prayers. They would
not sing in the worship for fear their
would hear them. They DO
not have prayers when they have COM
pany.
They do not know much about the no.
bility Of the Western trappCr. A tray
eler going along was OyeTtaken by
night and a storm and he entered a
cabin. There were firearms hung up
around the cabin. He was alarmed. |
lie had a large amount of money with
him, but he did not dare to venture out
into the night in the storm. He did
not like the looks Of the household. Af- |
ter awhile the father, the Western
-rappeT, came in, gun on shoulder, and |
when the traveller looked at him he was |
still more affrighted. After while the |
amily were whispering together in |
me corner of the room, and the traveller |
las come; | wish was out in the storm
md in the night rather than here"
But the sWarthy man came up to him
md said: ''Sir, we are a rough people;
we get our living by hunting, and we
are very tired when the night comes;
out before going to bed we always have |
a habit of reading little out of the
Bible and having prayers, and | think |
we Will have our usual custom Tonight; |
and if you don't believe III that kind of |
thing. if you will just step outside the |
door for little while, / will be much
obliged to you" Oh, there are many |
Christian parents in Brooklyn who |
have not half the courage of that West |
ern trapper. They do not want their |
religion projecting too cOnspicuOusly. |
They would like to have it near by so as |
10 call on it in case of a funeral; but as |
to having it dominant in the household |
from the lst Of January, O'Clock, a. M, |
to the 31st of December, 10 o'clock, p. M, |
they don't want it. They would rather |
lie and have their families perish with |
them than to cry out in the bold words |
Of the soldier in my text, CAS- for me |
and my house, we will serve the Lord"
There was in my ancestral line an |
incident so strangely impressive that it |
seems more like romance than reality. |
1t has sometimes been so inaccurately |
put forth that l now give you the true |
incident. My grandfather and grand
mother, living at SOmerville, n. j,
vent to BaskingTidge to witness a re-
rival under the ministry of the Rev.
Dr.. Finley. They came home so inn
pressed with what they had seen that |
hey resolved on the salvation of their
children. The young people of the
lOuse were to go off for an evening
)arty, and my grandmother said: "Now,
when you are all ready for the party,
,ome to my room, for 1 have something
very important to tell you" All ready
iOr departure, they came to her room,
md she said to them: "NOw, want |
you to remember while you are away |
this evening that am all the time in |
this room praying for your salvation,
and L shall not cease praying until you |
get back" The young people went to |
,he party, but amid the lOUdest hilari-
lies of the night they could not forget |
hat their mother was praying for |
hem. The evening passed and the |
night passed. The next day my grand |
parents heard an Outcry in an adjoin- |
ng room, and they went in and found |
heir daughter imploring the salvation |
If the Gospel. The daughter told them
hat her brothers were at the barn and |
1T the wagon house under powerful |
conviction for sin They went to the |