Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-04-24


pend upon the right behavior of their
children, and / can do it no more eff
fectually than by demonstrating the
truth of my text "a foolish son is the
heaviness of his mother"
Perhaps some young man astray may be
brought back by thought of how they
feel about him at home. A French
soldier lay wounded and dying in the
hospital at Geneva, Switzerland. His
father, at home, 20 years Of age, heard
of his sons suffering, and started and
took the long journey. and found the
hospital, and as he entered the son
cried: 20, father, l am SO glad you
have come to see me die" NO" said
the father; ''you are not going to die;
your mother is waiting for you, and am
going to take you home; | have brought
you money and every thing you need"
''No," said the soldier; ''they give me
here every thing that is nice to eat, but
have no appetite and ] must die"
Then his father took from his knapsack
loaf Of rye bread, such as the plain
people of his country ate, and said;
Here is a loaf of bread your mother
made, and / am sure you can eat this;
she sent it to you" Then the soldier
frightened up, and he took the bread
and ate 1t, and said at is so good, the
bread from home, the bread that my
mother madep' No wonder that in a
few days he had recovered. o young
man, wounded in the battle Of life, and
discouraged, given up by yourself, and
given up by others, the old folks at the
country fre-side have not given you up,
/ bring you bread from home. 1t may
be plain bread, but it is that bread Of
which If man eat he never again shall
hunger. Bread from home Bread from
homel
Carrying out the idea OF my text, l
remark that reckless or dissipated son
makes heavy-hearted parent because
If hurts the family pride 1t is not the
given name, or the name which you re-
ceive at the christening, that is injured
by your prodigality. You can not hurt
your name of John or George or Henry
or Mary or Frances or Rachel, because
there have been thousands OF people,
good and bad, having those names, and
you can not improve or depreciate the
responsibility of those given names.
But it is your last name, your family
name, that is at your mercy. All who
bear that name are bound, before God
and man, not to damage its happy
significance. You are charged, by all
the generations Of the past and all the
generations to come, so do your share
for the protection and the honor and the
integrity OF that name.
You have no right, my dear young
friend. by bad life to blot the old fam
lily Bible containing the story OF the
marriages and births and deaths OF the
years gone by, or to cast blot upon the
family Bibles whose records are yet &c
be opened. There are in our American
city directories names that always sug'
gest commercial dishonesty or libertin'
ism or cruelty or meanness, just because
one man or woman bearing that name
cursed it forever by miscreancy. Look
out how you stab the family name Il
is especially dear to your mother. She
was not born under that name. She was
born under another name, but the year:
passed on and she came to young WON
anhood, and she saw some one will
whom she could trust her happiness, hei
life and her immortal destiny; and she
took his name, took it while the orange
blossoms were filing the air with fra
GRANGE. took it with joined hands, tool
it while the heavens witnessed. She
chose it out OF all the family names
since the world stood, chose it for bet
ter or worse, through sickness anC
through health, by cradles and b.
graves. Yes, she put of her OLE
family name to take the 1amll.
name you now wear, and she hal
done her part to make 1t an hon
orable name. How heavy a trouble
you put on her when, by misdeeds
YOU wrench that name from its higl
significance! To haul it down from you
mothers forehead and trample 1t in tn
dust would be criminal. Your father
name may not be distinguished name
but hope it stands for something good
1t may not be famous, like that OF Ho
mer, the father of epic poetry, or lzaal
Walton, the father of angling, or as
chylus, the father of tragedy, or Ethel
void. the father of monks, or Herodotus
the father of history, or Thomas Aquin
as, the father of moral philosophy, Q
Abraham, the father of the faithful, bu
your father has name in small circl
as precious to him as theirs in large
circle. Look how you tarnish It'll
Further, the recklessness and dissipa
ton of young man are cause OF pa
rental distress at time when paren
is less able to bear it. The vicissitude
of life have left their impression upo
those parents. The eye is not as clea
! as once, nor the hearing as acute, nc
Z the nerves as steady, nor the step
! strong. and with the tide of incomln
, wears comes the weight of unfbal bt
havior.
You take your parents at great dis
advantage, for they can not stand
, much as they once could. They have nc
/ tho elasticity or feeling with whic
! once they could throw off trouble. Tha
/ shoulder, now somewhat bent, can nc
baar nc heavy a burden as once it coult