The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-04-02

pend upon the right behavior Of their
children, and / can do 1t no more ef-
fectually than by demonstrating the
truth of my text "A foolish son is the
heaviness of his mother"
Perhaps some young man sstray may be
brought back by thought Of how they
feel about him 1t home. A French
soldier lay wounded and dying in the
hospital at Geneva, Switzerland. His
father, ct home, 70 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: 10, father, am 30 glad you
have come to see me de- mo-" said
the father; "you are not going to die;
your mother is waiting for YOU, and am
going to take you home; I 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 Unjust die"
Then his father took from bis knapsack
. loaf of rye bread, such as the plain
people of his country ste, and said
"Here is . loaf Of bread your mother
made, and l am sure. you can eat this;
she sent it to you."' Then Che soldier
frightened up, and he took the bread
and ate it, and said: 1T is so good, the
bread from home, the bread that my
mother madev' No wonder that in q
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 fire-side have not given you up,
l 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
home!
Carrying out the idea Of my text,
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 tt
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. LOCI
: out how you stab the family name! l
is especially dear to your mother. Sht
was not born under that name. She wa
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, he
life and her immortal destiny; and sh'
took his name, took it while the orange
blossoms were filling the air with fra
GRANGE, took 1t with joined hands, tool
. it while the heavens witnessed. Sh'
/ chose it out of all the family names
since the world stood, chose it for bet
! ter or worse, through sickness ant
| through health, by cradles and b,
, graves. Yes, she put of her oil
family name to take the famil,
, name you now wear, and she ha
, done her part to make 1t an hon
orable name. How heavy 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 it in tn
! dnst would be criminal Your father
: name may not be distinguished name
{ but hope 1t stands for something good
! 1t may not be famous, like that .of He
. mer, the father of epic poetry, or Izaal
: Walton, the father of angling, or Es
: chylus, the father Of tragedy, or Ethel
void, the father Of monks, or Herodotui
, the father Of history, or Thomas Aquir
r as, the father Of moral philosophy, O
3 Abraham, the father Of the faithful, bu
: your father has name in small circl
, as precious to him as theirs in large
3 circle. Look how you tarnish it!
r Further, the recklessness and dissips
: ton Of a young man are cause of pa
Q rental distress at time when q paren
D is less able to bear it. The vicissitude
n Of life have left their impression upo
8 those parents. The eye is not as clea
/! as once, nor the hearing as acute, nc
( the nerves as steady, nor the step a
t strong, and with the tide of incomin
Q years comes the weight Of unfllial b.
!; havior. u -s 49,. ,s -
b You take your parents at a great dil
u advantage, for they can not stand q
Q much as they once could. They have nc
{ the elasticity or feeling with whic
9 once they could throw off trouble. Ths
t shoulder, now somewhat bent, can ne
Il bear as heavy burden as once it coult
d At the time when the machinery is &c
s ting worn out you put apon it the mo.
r terrific strain. At sixty and sevent
h years the vitality is not SO strong as
d thirty or forty. Surely they are d,
t scending the down grace of life swift
}. enough without YOU increasing the mt
q mentum. They will be gone 500