The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-11-25

X
the best hand. But never mind; they
are only playing for drinks Shuttle awayi
Shuttle away! The landlord stands in his
shirt sleeves with hands on his hips, watching
the game and waiting for another call to I'LL
up the glasses It is the hot breath of eternal
woe that fushes that young mans cheek. In
the jets OF gaslight see the shooting out Of
the fiery tongue of the worm that never
dies. The clock strikes twelve; it is the toll
ing of the bell of eternity at the burial Of
soul Two hours pass on, and they are all
sound asleep in their chairs Landlord says:
~Come, now, wake up; it's time to shut up"
Push them out into the air. They are going
home. Let the wife crouch In the corner,
and the children hide under the bed. They
are going homei What Is the history OF that
young man? He began his dissipation at the
Fifth Avenue hotel, and completed the dam
nation in the worst grog shop in Navy
street.
But sin even does not stop here. It comes
to the door of the drawing room. There are
men of leprous hearts that go into the very
best classes of society. They are so fasci-
nating-they have such bewitching way of
Offering their arm. Yet the poison Of asps is
under the tongue and their heart is hell AT
first their sinful devices are hidden, but after
a while they begin to put forth their talons
of death. Now they begin to show really
what they are. Suddenly. although you
could not have expected it, they were SO
charming in their manner, so fascinating in
their address, suddenly cloud, blacker than
was ever woven Of midnight or hurricane,
drops upon some domestic circle. There
is agony in the parental bosom that none but
the Lord God Almighty can measure ag-
ony that wishes that the children of the
household had been swallowed by the grave,
vvbor, II would ha only a loss Of GOdv instead
of a loss of soul. What is the matter with
that household They have not had the front
windows open in six months or year. The
mothers hair suddenly turned white; father,
hollow checked and bent over prematurely,
goes down the street. There has been no
death In that fami1y-no loss of property.
Has madness seized upon them2 No! no! A
villain. kid gloved, patent leathered, with
gold chain and graceful manner, took that
cup of domestic bliss, elevated it high in the
air until the sunlight struck it, and all the
rainbows danced about the brim, and then
dashed it down in the desolation and woe,
until all the harpies of darkness clapped their.
hands with glee, and all the voices of hell ut
tered loud hal hal Oh, there are scores
and hundreds of homes that have been blast
ed, and if the awful statistics could be fully
set before you, your blood would freeze into
a solid cake of ice at the heart. Do you
wonder that fathers and mothers are anxious
about their children, and that they ask them
selves the question day and night: What is
to become Of thema what will be their des-
tinya
l shall devote the rest of my remarks to al
deviation of parental anxiety. Let me say
to you, as parents, that great deal of that
anxiety will be lifted if you will begin early
with your children Tom Paine said: "The
first five years of my life became an in
ideln A vessel goes out to sea; it has been
five days out A storm comes on it; it
springs a leak; the helm will not work;
everything IS out Of order. What is the
matter2 The ship is not seaworthy. and
never was 1t is poor time to find 1t out
now. Under the fury of the storm the vessel
goes down, with $50 passengers, to a watery
grave The time to make the ship seaworthy
was In the dry dock before it started. Alas
for us, If wait until our children get out
into the world before we try to bring upon
them the influence Of Christ's reigionl !
tell you, the dry dock of the Christian home
is the place where we are to fit them for use
fulness and for heaven. In this world, under
the storm Of vice and temptation, it will be
too late. In the domestic circle you de-
eide whether your child shall be truthful or
false-whethef 1t shall be generous or penuri-
GUS You can tell by the way a child divides
an apple just what its future history will be.
You ought to oversee the process. II the
child take nine tenths of the apple, giving the
other tenth to his sister, II he should live to
be one hundred he will be grasping and want
the biggest piece of everything I stood in q
house in one Of the Long Island villages, and
I saw beautiful tree, and I said to the
owner: THAT is a very fine tree, but what q
curious crook there is in itr' ayes" said he
u planted that tree, and when 1T was yeal
old went to New York and worked as
mechanic for a year two, and when I came
back found that they had allowed some
thing to stand against the tree; 50 Ii has al
ways had that crook" And so I thought II
was with the influence upon children II YOU
allow anything to stand in the way OF mora.
influence against a child on this side or thai
side, to tbs LATEST day Of its life on earth ani
through all eternity it will show the pressure
No wonder Lord Byron was bad. Do yot
know his mother said to him, when abe saw
him one day imping across the floor with hi
unsound foot: "Get out Of my way, yo,
lame bratl" What chance for boy nk,
that2
Two Young men come to the door Of sin
They consult whether they viii go in. IN,
one young man goes in and the other retreats
Oh, you say, the last bad better resolution
No, that was not It The first young mai
had no early good influence; the last had bee1
piously trained, and when he stood at tn
door Of sin discussing the matter he looket
around as If to see some one, and he felt al
invisible hand on his shoulder saying: "Don'
go in, Don't go In! Whose hand was it,
mothers hand, fifteen years ago gone t
dust A gentleman was telling me Of tn
fact that some years ago there were tw
young men who stopped at the door of tn
Park theatre in New York The question
was whether they should go in. That nigh
there was to be a very immoral play enacte'
in the Park theatre. One man went in; tn
other stayed out. The young man who wen
| in went on from sin to sin and through
a crowd Of iniquities, and died in tn
| hospital of delirium tremens The othe
| young man, who reiterated, chose Christ
went into the Gospel, and is now one of tn
most eminent ministers of Christ in thiscoun
try And tho man who reSreated paye az hi