The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-03-22

rents toward the tomb; ii you did
not make their last days bright
and happy; if you allowed your
younger brother to go out into
the world unhallowed by Christian and
sisterly influences; if you allowed the
younger sisters of your family to come
up without feeling that there had been a
Christian example set them on your part,
there will be nothing but bitterness of
lamentation. That bitterness will be in
creased by all the surroundings OF that
home; by every char, by every picture,
by the old-time mantel ornaments, by
every thing you can think of as connected
with that home. All these things will
rouse up agonizing memories. Young
women, have you any thing to do in the
way of making your fathers home hap
py? Now is the time to attend to
it, or leave. it forever undone. Time is
flying very quickly away. suppose you
notice the wrinkles are gathering and
accommodating on those kindly faces
that have so long looked upon you;
there is frost in the locks; the
foo is not as firm in its step as it used to
be; and they will soon be gone. The
heaviest clod that ever falls on parents
coffin-lid is the memory of an ungrateful
daughter. o, make their last days bright
and beautiful. Do not act as though they
were in the way. Ask their counsel, seek
7 their pray ers, and, after long years have
passed and you go out to see the grave
where they sleep, you will find growing
all over the mound something lovlier
than cypress, something sweeter than the
sweet rose, something chaster that the
lily-the bright and beautiful memories
of filial kindness performed ere the dying
hand dropped on you benedicton.
and you closed the lids over the weary
eyes of the worn out pilgrim.
Better that, in the hour of your birth.
you had been struck with orphanage, and
| that you had been handed over into the
| cold arms of the world, rather than that
you should have been brought up under a
fathers care and mothers tenderness
at last to scott at their example and de-
ride their influence; and on the day
when you followed them in long process
sion to the tomb to find that you are fol-
| lowed by a"still larger procession of I'M
| filial deeds done and wrong words ut,
| tered The one process ion viii leave its
burden in the tomb and disband; but
that longer procession of CHASTITY mem.
cries will forever march and forever wall
Oh, it is a good time for a young woman
| when she is in her fathers house. How
careful they are of her welfare. How
watchful those parents of all her inter
{! ests. Seated at the morning repast
father at one end of the table, children on
either side and between, but the years
| will roll on and great changes will be eff
fected, and one will be missed from one
end Of the table, and another will bt
missed from the other end of the table
God pity that young woman's soul who
in that dark hour, has nothing but regret
full recollections.
Is go further, and advise you not to de
pend for enjoyment upon mere persona
attractions. It would be sheer hypocrisy
because we may not have it ourselves, t,
despise or affect to despise, beauty il
others. When God gives it he gives it a.
blessing and as means of useful ness
David and his army were coming dow
from the mountains to destroy Nabal ant
his fiocks and vineyards. The beautiful
Abigail, the wife of Nabal, went out t.
arrest him when he came down from tn
mountains, and she succeeded. Comm,
to the foot of the hill, she knelt. Davit
with his army of sworn men cam
down over the cliffs, and when h.
saw her kneeling at the foot o
the hill he cried '.Halt" to his men
and the caves echoed it,: srHaIt
haltw That one beautiful woman kneel
ing at the foot of the cliff had arrested al
those armed troops. A dewdrop dashe
back Niagara. The Bible sets before u
the portraits of Sarah, and Rebecca, an,
Abishag, Absalom's sister, and Job
daughters, and says: ''They were fair t
look upon" By outdoor exercise, and b.
skillful arrangement of apparel, let won
en- make thems elves attractive. TIL
sloven has only one mission, and that t
excite our loathing and disgust. But alas
for those who depend upon persona
charms for their happiness. Beauty i
such subtle thing. it does not seem to de
pend upon facial proportions, or upo
the sparkle of the eve, or upon the fius
OF the cheek. You sometimes fin
it among irregular features. 1t
the soul shining through the fac
that makes one beautiful. But alas! TO
those who depend upon mere persona
charms. They will come to disappoint
ment and to great fret There are s
many different opinions about what ar
personal charms; and then sickness, an
trouble, and age, do make such ravage:
| 4ho pun 0ob ROu tudJ d WOUluu ever WOT
ships is her own face. The saddest sigh
in all the world is a woman who has bull
every thing on coed looks, when th
charms begin to vanish. o, how they tr
to cover the wrinkles and hide the ra,
ages OF time! When time, with iron-sho
feet, steps on a face, the hoof-marks re
main. and you can not hide them. 1t
. silly to try to hide them. / think th
most repulsive fool in the world is an oil
fool!
Why, my friends, should you be ashame
to be getting old? 1t is sight is prim
|, facie evidence that you have behaved to
erably we'll, or you would not have live
to this time. The grandest thing, thinl
is eternity, and that is made up of count
! less years. When the Bible would 81
forth the attractiveness of Jesus Chris
. it says: "His hair was white as snow.
Bnt when the color goes from the cheel
and the luster from the eye, and the sprin
, from the step, and the gracefulness frol
: the gait, alas! for those who have bui
their time and their eternity upon goo
, looks. But all the passage of years ca
, not take out of ones face benignity. an
. kindness, and compassion, and faitl
! Culture your heart and you culture yor
! face. The brightest glory that eve