West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1889-05-16
OTHER DAYS.
THE USES OF LOOKING BACK.
DE-. Talmagc stirs Up Pleasan: Mem,
cries OF the Past,

TEXT: Thou shalt remember all The
,cdy ,cIich The Lord TN God led thee. "
deuteronomy viii, 2.
Before entering on my subject wish
TO say that some newspaper correspondents.
referring TO recent sermon in which well
coined foreign notionalities 10 this country,
have said that i advocated as a desirable
thing the intermarriage OF the white and
black races. never said so, never thought
30, and any ono who so misrepresents that
both.
But 10 open this mornings subject I hive
to say God in the text advises the people 10
look back upon their past history. II will do
US oil good 10 rehearso the scenes between this
May morning and our cradle, whether IL was
rocked IN country or in town. A few DAYS
ngo, with my sister and brother, visited the
place OF my boyhood. IL was one of tho
most emotional and absorbing DAYS OF my
NE. There stands the old house, and MS
l went through the rooms / said ~ could
md my way here with my eyes shut
although have not been here in forty years.
mere was the sitting room where n largo
tomhy group every evening gathered, the most
o, them now in better world. There was the
Oh barn where we hunted for Easter eggs. and
the place where the horses stood Thero ia
where the orchard was, only three or fonr
trees now left ~ nil tho grove tnap once poro
appleS, and such apples too There is the
brook down which we rode TO the wator-
ing OF tho horses bareback, and with n
rope halter. We also visited tho cemetery
whcro many of our kindred arc waiting for.
tho resurrection, the old people sido by side,
after journey together of sixty years only
about three years between the time of their
going. There also sleep the dear old neigh
bors who used to tic their horses under the
shed of the country meeting house and
SIT SIT at the end OF tho pow, singing
Antioch" oh, they were a glorious
race of men and women who did their work
well, raised splendid lot Of boys and girls.
and are now as TO their bodies in silent neigh.
liant neighborhood before tho throne Of God.
j feel that my journey and visit last week
did me good and IL would do you all good. IL
not in person then in thought, to revisit tho
scenes OF boyhood or girlhood. Thou shalt
remember all the way which the Lord thy God
led thee.n
Youth is apt too much to spend all its timo
In looking forward. Old ago is apt too
much to spend oil its time in looking back
ward People in mid-life and on tho apcx
look both ways. 1t would be well for us. I
think, however, TO spend moro time In
reminiscence. BY the constitution of our
nature VIC spend most of the time looking
Forward and the vast majority of this audi
ence live not so much in the present as in the
future find that you mean TO make
q reputation, you mean to establish YOUR
self, and the advantages that you expect to
achieve absorb great deal of your time. But
a sc AO itlf i III docs not make
discontented with the present or disqualify
you for existing duties
lt Is a useful thing sometimes to look back
and to see the dangers we have escaped, and
70 see the sorrows we have suffered, and tho
trials and w0nderings Of our earthly pilgrin1-
age and to sum up our enioyments. Imean
this morning, so far as God may help me to
Sur up your memory Of the past, so that I'm
the review you may be encouraged, and
humbled, and urged to pray
There IL n chnr1al in, TftOr1,,co ILL. s------
by Guido. 1t was covered up with two
inches OF stncco until our American and Fu-
TUpean artists went there, and after long toll
removed the covering and retraced tho
Iresco. And am aware that the memory
OF the past with many Of you, is all covered
up with ten thousand deliberations, and /
propose this morning, so far rs the Lord
may help me, TO take away the covering, that
the old picture may shine out again
want to bind in one sheaf all your past
advantages, and want to bind in another
sheaf oil your past adversities It q precious
harvest, and must be cautious how I swing
tho scythe.
Among the greatest advantages of vour
past life was an early homo and its surround
ings' The bad men of the day,
for the most part dip their heated
passions out of the boiling spring of
an unhappy home. We are not surprised to
ma that Byron's heart was n concentration
OF sin, when we hear his mother was aban-
doned, and that she made sport Of his in
trinity, and often called him 'sthe lame
brat" he who has vicious parents has To
night every inch Of his way if he would MAIN
tain his integrity, and at last reach the home
of the good in heaven
Perhaps your early homo was in the CITY.
1t may have been in the days when Canal
street, New York, was far up town and the
site of this present church was nm oxc,,rsio,,
into the country. That old house in the civ
may have been demolished or changed into
stores, and it seemed like sacriiege TO
you, Tor there was more meaning i'm
LnaS pain house, in that small house,
fhan there Is in granite mansion or n tllr.
retcd cathedral Looking back this mornina,
you see 1t as though it were yesterday-the
sitting room, where the loved ones sat bv tho
PLAN iampiight the mother at the evening
stand, the brothers and sisters, perhaps long
ago gathered into the skies. then plottinS
ynischief on tho floor or under the table YOUR
Iatner with firm voice commanding n silence
that lasted half minute
Oh, those were good days IL you h0
your loot hurt your mother always had n
foothing salve to heal it. If you were
wronged In tho street, your father was
Iuways ready 70 protect you. The year was
tne round OF frOlic and miTth. Your greatest
trouble was like an April shower. moro snn-
bhine than shower. dhe heart had NOT bes,,
transacted by troubles, nol had sickness
tToken IL, and no lamb had q warmer sheen
Iold than the home In which your childhood
- bu WNib drought ND In the
country. You stand now to-day i'm memory
tlnder the old tree. You dubbed It for
irmt that was not quite ripe because You
,ouldnt wait any longer. You hear tho
ITOok rumbling along over the pebbles.
Y on step again into the furrov where vo1rr
Fatner in his shirt sleeves shouted to tbel inv
txen You brighten the swallows from
she raftcrs Of the barn, and take lust
me egg and silence your conscience
~ saying they WON'T miss n. Won
Iake q drink again out Of tho very buoret
tnat the old wei fetched up. You 20 for tho
COWS at night, and find them waoein0 fbeir.
heaos through the bars. Oftimes fn tho dusfv
Hno busy streets you wish you were homo
tgaln On that cool grass or in the roc car
Iebed hah Of the farmhouse, through T,hich
slere was tho breath Of now rnovgn hny or filo
blossom OF buckwioat. ''''
you may have In your windows now beou.
ttiul piants and flowers brought from across
Ioc scas, but not one Of them stirs In vour
Jnl 30 much charm and memory az the Old
Iyy and tho yellow urnnowor Tint stood seu-
kinel along tho garden wall and tho forget
ple-nOts playing hide-and-scek mid tho I6nQ
grass. Tho father who used % como in eiir.
nrnt from tHo fields ma pt down on fbs
toofsiil nnd wipe tho mveat from HE brow
ny have conc 90 his everlasting zoe
= ne mothor who used 20 sit az H.
CDOf Httlo bcnt over, cop and epectocle1
81 hcr face mci.0wing WITH The vicedtu6cs
=. many yoars moy have put down hor gray