Sharp County record., 1890-04-03
FILIAL PIETY.
The Duty and Respect Due from
Children to Parents.
Sermon by Rev. T. Dewitt TalmaGe on
the Subject of Filial Plety-The
Cares and Anxieties of Pa
rental Life,

SHDDdUu, MS utAG DClHE'
A foolish son is the heayiness of his moth'
er.-Prov. Y, l.
He said: All parents want their
children to turn out well. However
poorly father and mother may have uohe
themselves, they want their sons and
daughters to do splendidly. Up to forty
years of age parents may have ambitions
for themselves; after that their cher
ambitions are for their children. some
of the old-time names indicate this.
The name of Abner means his father
lamp" The name Abigail means her
fathers Joy" And what parental de-
lirht was Solomon to David, and Samuel
to Hannah, and Joseph to Jacob! And
the best earthly staff that father has
to lean on is good son, and the strong
est arm mother has to help her down
the steep of years is that of grate1ui
| child. But it is not a rare thing to ma
people unfilial, and often the parents
are themselves to blame. Aged per-
sons sometimes become querulouS ana
snappy, and the children have their
hands full with the old folks Before
entering my profession | was for three
months what is called a colporteur. One
dav in the country districts | stopped
at the house of good, intelligent,
genial farmer. The hospitality OF such
a country house is especially pleasing
to me. for | was born in the country
! This farmer and his wife were hard
working people, but tried to make their
| nome agreeable and attractive. Inc
farmers father, about sixty-fve years OF
age, and his grandfather, about ninety
were vet alive and with him. Indeed
there were four generations in the
house, for the farmer had little children
playing about the room. We gathered
at the dining table. After the blessing
was asked the farmer put some OF the
meat upon his plate and courteously
passed it to me, when his father OF SIX
tv-fve years of age cried out to his son,
who was at least thirty: "Why do you
not pass the meat as you al ways do, and
! let US ia Ike it off the plate ourselves?
You are trying to show off because we
have company" Meanwhile his grand
father of ninety sat with his hat ON the
table, his face unclean and his apparel
untidv. Still the farmer kept his pa
tience and equipoise, and l never think
ofohim without admiration. He must
have had more grace than l ever had,
Because people are old they have no
right to be either ungentlemanlY OR IN IN
agreeable that they have nearly broken
up some homes The young married
man with whom the aged one lives
! stands it because he has been used to it
all his life, but the young wife, coming
in from another household, can hardly
endure it, and sometimes almost cries
her eyes out. And when little children
gather in the house. they are afraid of
/ the venerable patriarch, who has for
gotten that he ever was child himself,
and can not understand why children
should ever want to play "hide and
SEEK" or roll hoop, or fly kite, and he
becomes impatient at the sound from
| the nursery, and shouts with an eX-
penditure of voice that keeps him
coughing fifteen minutes afterward:
"Boys! stop that racket" as though
any boy that ever amounted to any
thing in the world did not begin life by
making racket
Indeed, there are children who owe
nothing to their parents, for those par
ents have been prohigates My lament
ed friend, good and Christian and love-
ly Henry Wilson, Vice-PreSident of the
United States, in early life changed his
name. Henry Wilson was not his orig
inal name He dropped his fathers
name because that father was drunk |
ard and a disgrace, and the son did not |
feel called upon to carry such carcass |
all his life, While children must al
ways be dutiful, l sympathize with all
young people who have disagreeable or
unprincipled old folks around the
house. Some of u.s. drawing out of our
memories, know that it is possible, |
after sixty, or seventy or eighty or
ninety years of age, for the old to be
kind and genial; and the grandest |
adornment of a home is an aged father |
and aged mother, if the process of years
has mellowed them. Besides that, If
your old parents are hard to get along |
with now, you must remember there
was time when they had hard work to
get along with you. When you were
about five or seven or ten or twelve
years of age what a time they
had with you! If they had kept writ
ten account of your early pranks and
misdoings it would make whole vol
ume. That time when you gave your
little sister clip; that time when you
explored the depth of jar of sweet
things for which you had no permission;
that havoc you one day made with your
iack-knife; that plucking from the or
chard of unripe fruit; that day when,
instead of being at school, as your par
ents supposed, you went a-fshing; and
many time did you imperil your young
life in places where you had no busi-
ness to climb or swim or venture.
To get you through your first fifteen
years with your life and your good NOR
ais was fearful draft upon parental
fidelity and endurance. Indeed, it may
be that much of this present physical
and mental weakness in your parents