Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-02-27
GRANDMOTHER LOIS.
DR.. TAlMAGES EIGHTH SERMON
TO THE WOMEN OF AMERICA.

This L. . Hard World for wo1ssn. sn.
Also for Men-A Mothers influence q
Immense and Lasting Importance ..
Unborn Gensratioos.
BRooKLTS, Feb a6-Ths Rev. 7. De Wit
TalmaSe, u. D., preached in the Brooklyn
Tabernacle to-day the eighth Of his series ol
''Sermons 10 the Women Of America, with
Important Hints 70 Men" His subject was
The Grandmother and Her Grandchildren
A vast congregation was present. The open
Inc hymn begins:
Give & 0 the wind thy fears,
Hoe and be undismayed;
GOD hears thy sighs and counts thy tearx
Cod shall lift up thy bead
DR.. Talmages text was from II Timothy,
|, 6: The unfeigned Faith that is in thea,
which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois.
The eloquent preacher said:
II this love lctter which Paul. the old min
ister, is writing to Timothy, the young min
ister the family record is brought out. Paul
practically says: Timothy, what good
grandmother you had You ought to ba bet
ter than most folks, because not only WINS
your mother good, but your grandmother.
Two preceding generationsof piety ought to
give you mighty push in the right direc-
ton" The fact was that Timothy needed
encouragement He was in poor health, hAv-
ing d week stomach, and was dyspeptic, and
Paul prescribed for him a tonic, "a little
wine for thy stomachs saker-not much
wine, but a little, and only as Q medi-
cine. And if the wine then had been es
much adulterated with logwuod and strych-
nine as our modern wines, he would not have
prescribed any.
But Timothy, not strong physically, Is en-
Outraged spiritually by tho recital Of grand
motherly excellence, Paul limiting 10 him as
hint this day to You, that God sometimes
gathers up, as in q reservoir away back OF
the active generations Of today, godly in
fluencs, and then in response to prayer lets
down the power upon children and grand
children and great-srandchildren- The world
Is woefully in want Of table Of statistics in
regard TO what is the prctr lctedness and i'm
nenSity of influence of one good woman in
the church and world We have accounts Of
how much evil has been wrought by Mar
geret, the mother Of criminals, who lived
near hundred years ago, and of how many
hundreds of criminals her descendants fur
piShed for the peniteutiary and the gallows;
and how many hundreds Of thousands Of dol
lars they cost this country in their arraign-
ment and prison support, as well as in the
property they burglarized or destroyed But
will not some one come out with brain COM
prehensive enough, and heart warm enough,
and pen keen enough TO give us the facts in
regard to some good woman of q hundred
years ago and let US know how many Chris
tian men and women and reformers and use
full people have been found among her de-
scendants, and how many asylunls and col
ieses and churches they built. and how many
millions Of dollars they contributed for hu-
manitarian and Christian purposesl
The good women whose tombStones were
planted in the Eighteenth century arc more
alive for good In the Nineteenth century than
they were before, as the good women Of this
Nineteenth century will be more alive for
good in the Twentieth century than now.
Mark you have no idea that the grand
mothers were any better than their grand
daughters You cannot get very old people
TO tax much about how things were when
they were boys and girls They have a roti-
cence and a non-committalism which makes
me think they feel themselves TO be the Gus
tniians of the reputation Of their early COM
rades. While our dear old folks are rehears-
ing the follies of the present, If you put them
on the witness stand and cross examine them
as to how things were seventy years ago the
silence becomes OPPRESSIVE
A celebrated Frenchman by the name Of
volney visited this country in lT9a, and be
says Of wonan's diet in those times: "If O
premium was offered for a regimen most de-
structive to health, none could be devised
more eflcacious for these ends than that In
use among thess people" That eciipses our
lobster salad at midnight Everybody talks
about the disSpatiols Of modern society and
how womanly health goes down under il,
but it was worse a hundred years ago, for
tho chaplain of French regiment In our TO
yolut o-.ary war wrote in l7S2, II his book Of |
American women. saying: They are tall |
and well proportioned, their features are |
generally regular, their comple1ions are |
genarnlly fair and without color. At % |
years of age the women have no longer the |
FRESHNESS of youth At so or 20 they arc de- |
crepit." In 1872 a foreign consul wrote q
book entitled "A Sketch Of the United States |
1t the Commencement Of the Present Cen |
tury," and he says Of the women Of those |
times: AT the age Of 80 all their charms |
bave disappeared One glance at the por- |
traits of the women hundred years ago and |
their style of dress makes Us wonder bow |
inc think that the express rail train Is no |
more On improvement on the old canal boat, |
or the telegraph no moro an improvement on |
the old time saddle bags, than the women Of
our day are an improvement on the women |
Of the last century.
But still. notwithstanding that those times
were so much worse than ours there was a
glorious race OF godly women, seventy and
4 k~ofl
from sin and lifted it toward virtue, and
without their exalted aud sanctiied influ-
ence before this the last good influence would
have perished from the earth Indeed, all
over this land there are seated todsy-not 80
much in churches, for many of them are too
feeble TO come-a great many nSed grand
mothers They sometimes feel that the world
has gone past them, and they have an idea
they are of little account. Their bead some
times gets aching from the racket Of the
down stairs or In the next
room They steady themselves by the banis-
ters as they go up and down. When they
get cold 1t hangs on to them longer than 1t
used to- They cannot bear to have the grand
children punished, even when they deserve
IL, and have 50 relaxed their ideas of family
discipline that they would spoil all the
Youngsters OF the household by too great
Ieniency These old folks are the resort when
great troubles come, and there Is a calming
and soothing power in the touch Of an aged
hand that is almost supernatural They feel
they are almost through with the journey Of
life and read the old book more than they
used to, hardly knowing which most they en-
10Y, the Old Testament or the New, and often
stop and dwell tearfully over the family
record half way between. We hail them to-
day whether in the house Of God or at the
homestead. Blessed is that household that
has in 1t a Grandmother Lois Where she Is
angels are lowering round and God is in the
room May her last days be like those lovely
days that we call Indian summer
never knew the JOY of having q grand
mother: that is the disadvantage Of being
he youngest child Of the family. The elder