Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-05-29

'OA
know that you have but little more time
to give to domestic welfare? Do you not
see, father, that your children are soon to
go out into the world and all the influence
for good you are to lave over them you
your conjugal relations, and, alas, if you
nave to stand over the grave of one who
persisted from your neglect! l saw q
hayward husband standing at the DEATH
bed Of his Christian wife, and I saw her
point to e ring on her finger and heard
her say to her husband: "Do you see
that ring?" He replied: "%es, 1 see it,"
WE'LL" said she, ed you remember
who put it THEREOF eyes," said
he, "I put it there" and oil
the past seemed to rush upon him.
BY the memory of that day when in
the presence of men and the angels you
promised to be faithful in joy and sorrow,
ana in sickness and in health; by the
memory of those pleasant hours when you
sat together in your new home, talking of
a bright future by the cradle, and the joy.
full hour when one life was spared and
another given; by hat sick-bed, when the
little one lifted up the hands and called for
help, and you knew he must die, and he
put one arm round a of your necks and
brought you very near together in that
dying kiss; by the grave in Greenwood,
that o never think of without q rush of
tears; by the Family Bible, where in its
stories of Heavenly love is the brief but
expressive record of births and deaths; by
MES of the future; by a Judgment day,
whor hvYoho nIo r~A rs-n, ~--1~{r ~-I
children, in immortal groups will stand to
be caught up in shining array, or to shrink
down into darkness; by all that, l beg you
to give to home your best affections. I
look in your eyes to-day, and 1 ask you the
question chat Gehazi asked of the Shuna-
mite: sis it we'll with thee? Is it we'll
with thy husband? Is it well with thy
child!" Goo grant that it may be ever.
lastingly well!
Let me to say to all young men, your
style of amusement will decide your eter-
nal destiny. One night 1 saw a young
man at the street corner, evidently doubt
ing as to which direction he a better
take. He had his lat lifted high enough
so you could see he had an int fore
head; stout chest. He had a robust devel-
opment. Splendid young man; cultured
young man; honored young man. Wig
did he stop there while so many were 60
ing up and down? The fact is that every
man has a good and a bad angel contenA.
ing for the mastery Of his spirit; and there
was the good and bad angel struggling
with that young mans soul at the corner
of the street. "Come with me-" said the
good angel. ~ will take you home. 1 will
spread my wing over your pathway. I
will lovingly escort you all through life.
l will bless every cup you drink out of,
every couch you rest on, every doorway
you enter. l will consecrate your tears
when you weep, your sweat when you toll,
and at the last l will hand over your grave
into the hand of the bright angel
Of a Christian resurrection. In
answer to your fathers petition and
your mothers prayer l have been sent of
the Lord out of Heaven to be your guardian
spirit. Come with mel" said the good
angel, in a voice of unearthly symphony.
1t was music like that which drops from q
lutte of Heaven whena seraph breathes on
it. "No, no." said the bad angel. "Come
with me. Ihave something better to offer.
The wines l pour are from chalices of be-
witching carousal; the dance I lead is over
floor te%ssellated with u~nrestrained indul-
gencies; there is no God to frown on the
temples of sin where 1 worship. The skies
a g Italian; the paths 1 tread are through
meadows daisied and primrosed. Come
with mew The young man hesitated at a
time when hesitation was ruin, and the bad
angel snote the good angel until it de-
parted, spreading wings through the STAR
light upward and away until a door flashed
open in the sky, and forever the wings
vanished. That was the turning-point in
that young mans history, for, the good
angel flown, he hesitated no longer, but
started on a pathway which is beautiful
at the opening, but blasted at the last.
The bad angel, leading the way, opened
gate after gate, and at each gate the
road became rougher and the sky more
lurid, and, what was peculiar, as the gate
slammed shut it came to with a jar that
indicated that it would never open. Passed
each portal, there was a grinding Of locks
and a showing of bolts; and the scenery
on either side the road changed from gar
dens to deserts, and the June air became
a cutting December blast, and the bright
wings of the bad angel turned to sack
cloth, and the eyes of light became hollow
Win hopeless grief, anu tHe fountains,
that at the start had tossed wine, poured
forth bubbling tears m foaming blood,
and On the right side of the road there
was a serpent, and the man said to the
bad angel: "What is that serpent?"
And the answer was: "That is the SER
pent Of singing remorse." On the left
side of the road there was a lion, and the
man said to the bad angel: "What is that
lion?" And the answer was: "That is
the lion Of all-devouring despair" A vul-
ture flew through the sky, and the man
asked the bad angel: "What is that
vulture?" And the answer was: "That
is the vulture waiting for the carcasses
of the slain" And then the man began
to try to pull off of him the folds of some
thing that had wound him round and
round, and he said to the bad angel:
"What is it that twists me in this awful
convolution?" And the answer was:
"That is the worm that never diesw And
then the man said to the bad angel: "What
does all tn 8 mean? I trusted in what you
said at the corner Of the street that night.
r L.-kz = I .-l -,l,-- orz 1904. A. -