The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-01-03
BY REV. ROBERT H. WILLIAMS.

from the most adverse circumstances.
Luther, whose name is ringing through
the Protestant world to-day, came from
an humble home. His father was .
miner, and his mother was employed in
hard, severe labor for the good of her
family. 4.ls.,l en-.
IF Blackstone, the great expounder OF
the law, had followed his fathers humble
occupation, he would have remained in
obscurity. a, ,.i ,4.e,.t.,
William Writ, one Of, Maryland'a
greatest lawyers, had a very humble
home, and was left without parents and
money at very early age. -.
Thurlow Weed began to work when he
was only eight years old. Blowing bell
lows in a blacksmith shop, waiting in 9
tavern, acting as cabin boy, cutting
wood and making the fire in a printing
Office, were some of the employments
that occupied his attention before be had
passed boy yhood. .,.:8sats, :,
: These were men who came up out of
tie most unpromising circumstances, and
took an honorable place among their .fel-
low-men. ..sf7 :, a1. n. -..f,.,,
Then, home influences have done much
for young men. The mother, who fol-
lowed her boy with the inquiry when he
was far away, "How do you. spend
the Sabbath ?" "Do you read your
Bible, Tom?" had it said of that boy, as
Froude says of Carlyle. "The early
impressions gotten at home can be traced
through the whole of his writings"
It is said of Sir Walter Scott that the
stories told by his grandfather and grand
mother made him the writer he became.
President Mott, clad in the clothes
which were the work of the hands of
his mother from the time wool was taken
from the back of the sheep until it cov-
cred the back of her son, was the pro.
duct of home where the best influences
were found.
When DR.. Archibald Alexander heard
from the lips of his father that learning
was to be his estate, it made deep and
lasting impression upon him.
Speaking of his fathers intentio-- 20
send him to college, Daniel Webster
said: "The very idea thrilled my whole
frame. Nv father said that he lived but
for his children, and if would do all 1
could for myself, he would do all he
could for me. 1 remember that was
quite overcome, and my head grew dizzy.
The thing appeared 80 high, and the e1-
pense and sacrifice it was to cost my
father so great, I could only press his
hand and shed tears. Excellent parent
| caunot think of him now without
turning child again"
1t was under the influence of Chris
tian home that DR.. Bushnell declared,
even in boyhood, that he felt that ne was
power in the world.
The man frequently enlarges upon
what pleases him in youth. Sixty years
of Sir Isaac Newton's life were employed
in developing and celebrating what had
passed through his mind before he was
twenty-five. - =, l.-
CalYin's theological views had taken
shape in his mind before he wrote his
"Institutes" at the age of twenty-seyen,
and the rest of his life was employed in
developing and perfecting them.
It has been said of Macaullayi: "What
he was as scholar of Trinity College, he
was substantially as peer Of the realm;
The boy, W. E. Dodge, was Interested
in the work of missions, and more than
fifty years of prayer and princely giving
did not bring weariness in this noble
work. ta,. - 49, !.
The Christian young man may become
many times. more useful than the young
man of the world. Herlan Page the
carpenter, had no money and no! social
position to give him influence. But his
simple, earnest piety is perpetual to this
day in the life and work of Sabbath
school teachers and ministers OF the gos-
pei. :.. !,
The youth, Nettleton, was an earnest
Christian, and became one of the most
useful ministers that ever graduated from
Yale College.
Now because there are these great ca.
pabiliLies in the young, there is great
encouragement to every one who is striv-
ing to train them for usefulness. A tritie
may strengthen the heart for endurance
and earnestness in the most adverse cir
cumstances.
A word may make home influence ef-
fective, may perfect a good work begun
in youth, and increase the influence from
year to year through long life.-fres'
bWerian Journal.