Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-02-02

5o6eph, Notwithstanding the palacet anu
your children viii be your children, not
withstanding the radiant splend-
ors of an everlasting noon.
What thrilling occasion was the visit OF
fhis old shepherd to his son, the Prime min
ister. As the aged countrymsn sits in the
palace and looks round at the mirrors and
the fountains and the carved pillars he
wishes that Rachel, his wife, could have
lived TO come with him and visited their son
in his great home. "0h, he says, If Ra-
chael could only have seen all thisl Well,
that is good time whep the old folks come
to see you. Your little children stand
round with eyes wide open and wonder how
people can be so very old. Perhaps the
old people stay only few weeks, for some
times they feel little restless, especially
Wien night comes on, for they sleep better
in their own beds But while they are
with you you feel somehow that there is q
btnediction iu every room of the house
They are quite feeble and you make it as
easy for them as you can and realize that
lhey will not visit you very often, and, per
hsps, never again. You 60 to their room
after they have retired to see that their
6ghts are properly put out, for they under
stand candle and lamp better than they do
modern apparatus.
For Illumination.
You ask them in the morning with positive
interest how they rested. Joseph thought
no more of aged Jacob when on the histor-
ical visit than you thought ofthe old people
who visit you. Before they left your house
should not wonder if they hslfspoiled
your children with kindness, for grandfath-
er and grandmother are more lenient and
indulgent with their grandchildren than they
were with You, and what wonders of revela-
ton unron from the deep bombazine side
rocket of the one and from the sleeve of the
other. Blessed is that home which the Chris
tan old folks come to visit. Whatever it may
be for architecture, before they leave it is a
palace. Though they come Fifty times the
two most memorable visits are the first
and the last. Those two pictures will hang
in the hall of your memory as long as mem
ory lasts, and you will often think where
they sat and how they looked, and at what
figure of the carpet and at what doorsill
they gave you the final goodbye. Be not
ashamed to introduce your father when he
comes to town though his manners be those
of shepherd or your mother though her
hat bespeak no costly millinery. Joseph in
troduced his father in homespun to Pha-
raoh, the king. Good advice the wife Of
Theodosius, the emperor, gave him: Re
member, 0 husband, what lately you were
and what now you are!
by this Time
you notice what kindly provision Joseph
made for his fathers comfort. He did not
say: 81 cannot be bothered with having
the old man around here. How awkward
he would look, climbing these marble stairs
and walking these mosaics. He would be
putting bis hands on the fresco. People
would ask: Where did that greenhorn
come from2 His manners at table would
shock all the Egyptian court. Beside that,
he might get sick on my hands and he
might be querulous to me and treat me as a
mere boy when am next a Pharoah in
power OF course he must not suffer, and
if they have famine in his country l will
send few provisions down. But don
talk to me about fetching man from
Paden.Aram into the polite society Of this
great capital. What a nuisance 1t is to
have so many poor relations" But not so
said Joseph. he goes out to meet his
shepherd father with perfect abandon OF
affection and brings him to the palace and
introduces him to Pharoah and makes pro
vision for the rest Of his fathers days and
nothing was too good for the old man
living and after his death Joseph, with
magnificent military escort, took his father
remains to the family cemetery in Macpelah
and laid him tenderly down beside Rachel,
Joseph's Mother.
Would to God that all sons treated their
parents as well as Joseph treated his. Ii
parents have large fortune and are wise
| enough to keep their fortune in their own
name, the heirs are respectful IN their be-
| havior. But if the parents are IN famine,
as Jacob was when Joseph sent for him,
how they crowd the old man. How morti'
fed they are because he will eat with his
knife instead of his fork. How they are
| disgusttd with his antidiluvIan habits. How
they are provoked because he cannot hear
distinctly what they say, How long they
will let him wear the old coat or hat before
they get him new one. How chagrined
they are at his independence of English
| grammar. How he hangs on. Seventy,
and not gone yet Seveny-fve, and not
gone vet. Eighty, and not gone yet. Will
he never go2 They don't see any need OF a
doctor in his last illness, and 60 up'to the
drug store and buy him dose OF something
that makes him worse. And theyIecono
mize on coffin, beating the undertaken
down to the last point of charges and giving
a note for that reduced amount, which they
never pay. have oliciated at the obse
ouies of aged people where the family were
so inoIdinately resigned that have beer
tempted TO take my text from Proverbs
The eve that mocketh at its father AND
refnseth to obey its mother the ravens o
the valley shall pick it out and the younE
Eagles Shall Eat It."
| congratulate those of you who have thu
honor Of providing for aged parents. Th'
blessing of the Lord God Of Jacob and 10
seph will lie upon you forever. rejoice t.
know that, though my father lived in plain
house the most Of his days, he died IN
mansion provided by the filial piety OF one
of his sons who had achieved a fortune
with servants to wait on him and carriages
and horses to carry him whittier he would
90 arbors in which to sit during the lont
summer evenings and dream over the past
musical instruments to cheer him, and IL
any room Of that mansion he was welcome
and Wien life was over, with all the honor
that his neighbors could express, ne wa
carried out to the village Macpelah to res
beside his Rachel, who for more than hit
years had been his companion. After yo,'
have earned fortune share it With the oil
people. They probably ineulcated the prlr
cciples through which you achieved you
success. Pay them back a Christian pei
ceptsge in kindly consideration, Let JC
seph share with his father Jacob the pastur
fields Of Goshen and the glories of
Egyptian Court.
And here / sound the praises OF tha
sisterhood who have remained unmarried
L. -, IN aOad DNrplts