The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-01-30

childhood we could not understand why
there were so many wrinkles on the old
| faces We did not understand what are
commonly called crows feet on the tenn
| pies were only the marks of the black
ravens of trouble. Did you ever hear the
! old people by the evening stand talking
over early hardships, early misfortunes,
disappolntments, burials, the empty flour
barrel when there were so many hungry
| ones to feed, the sickness almost unto
death where the next dose of morphine
| decided between CHASTITY bereavement
| and an unbroken home circle? Oh. it
was trouble that whitened the hair, it was
| trouble that shook the cup in the hand,
1T was trouble that washed the luster from
the eyes with the rain of tears and made
spectacles necessary Do YOU not remem-
Der your old mother, seated at the win
dow looking out on a rainy day, her elbow
on the window sill, her hand 10 her fore
head, and as she was looking out you
knew she was not seeing the falling
shower, but she was looking into the dis
tant past, until after while the apron
came to her ewes, for the memory was too
much for her?
Oft the big. unbidden tear,
Stealing down the furrOwed cheek,
Told in eloquenee sincere
Tales of woe that could not speak.
But this scene Of weeping Ger
Past this scene OF toll and pain,
They shall feel distress more,
Never, never weep again.
One OF the most vivid memories I have
of my mother is that she looked so tired.
Sometimes. in the country home, she
would sit at the MONDAY meal and she
would say: "Well, / don't know what is
the matter with me; L have no appetite
can't eat" She was so tired. She never
got much rest until she lay down in the
cemetery near Somerville. One of the
most vivid memories of my father is that
he looked so tired coming in from the
harvest-held, sitting down on the doorsill
and fainting dead away, my mother re-
suscitating him, and then he saying:
NOW, don't be worried; it is nothing; l
am only a little tired, that's all; little
tired. The sun was hot to-day. All,
many of them travelled very troubled
way. The Bible asks the question:
"WhO are these under the altar% and
the answer comes back, These are they
who came out of great tribulation and had
their robes washed and made white in the
blood of the lamb" Pathway of tears
they trod, and what wonder il our path
should be path of tears-tears over the
dead, tears over persecution, tears over
misfortune, tears over broken friendship.
What is a tear? Scientists have tried to
analyze it and they say a tear has so much
of this, so much of that and so much OF
the other element. | will tell you what
tear Is. 1t is agony in solution. / remark
also, taking the suggestion from the text,
if we want to join our friends on the hills
of heaven, we have TO fight for it. These
men of David never needed a sharper
sword, never needed a stouter breast
plate, than at the moment when they
went in against the Amalekites to get
their families-the families that had been
taken captive. And between us and Join
ing our friends and our families on the
hills of heaven there NAV be Sedans, there
may be Gettysburgs, there may be
Austerlitzes, there may be Water
lOOs. War with the world, war with
the flesh and war with the devil. That is
the way with Paul. We are no better than
Paul-not half as good. III read my Bible
right, then this life is a conflict. | do not
know any one who does mot have con
fiict. But is it not worth strife, joining
the cOmpanionship of our loved ones on
the hills of heaven? Look at them. There
they are those who sat at YOUR tables, the
chairs now vacant. There they are, those
whom YOU rocked in the cradle, or hushed
in your arms to sleep. There they are,
those with whose destiny your life was
bound up. But their powers are radiant,
more radiant than you ever saw them
before, and their lips are waiting for the
kiss OF heavenly reunion. and their cheek
is roseate with the health of eternal sum-
mer, and their hands are reckoning you
up the steep, and their feet bound with the
mirth OF heaven. All the pallor has gone
out OF the cheek, and they shall never
4
again, and they shall never get old again,
and they shall never weep again. And
they are watching YOU in the fight. They
know how much depends on the success
of this battle. Oh, charge up the steep.
Make brave fight. Every inch further
on brings you one inch nearer the heav-
emily home.