Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-03-27
ISLAND POND, VERMONT. MARCH 27. 1891

| 10 my surprise, lying IN full every day dree1
on the topof the clothes. put out my hand.
He grasped it excitedly and said, ''Sit down,
Mr.. Talmage, right here" sat down. He
said: Last night 1 saw my mother. who has
been dead twenty years, and she sat Just
where you sit now. Ii was no dream. was
wide awake. There was no delusion in the
matter. saw her just as plainly as sec
you. Wife, l wish you would take thoss
strings Off Of me. There are strings spun
all around my body. wish you would
take them of OF me" | saw IL was de-
| lirium.
"Oh," replied his wife, "my dear. there 10
nothing there, there is nothing there" He
went on, and said: Just where you sit, Mr.
! Talmage, my mother sat. She said: Henry,
| | do wish you would do better got out OF
bed, put my arms around her, and said,
| Mother, want 10 do better. l have been
trying TO do better. Won't you help me to
do better' You used 10 help me- No mis-
take about il. No delusion. saw her the
cap. and the apron, and the spectacles, Just
as she used TO look twenty years age; but
do wish you would take these things away.
They annoy me so. | can hardly talk.
Won't ron take them awayy' / kuelt down
and prayed, conscious Of the fact that he did
not realize what I was aging. | gotup. /
said. "Gooi-by; hope your will be better
soon" He said, ''Good-by, good-by."
That night his soul went 70 the God who
gave II. Arrangements were made for the
obsequies. Some said, Don't bring him in
the church, he was too dissolntc.n 'Oh,n |
said, "oring him. He was good friend
OF mine while he was alive, and shall stand
by him now that he is dead. Bring him ~
the church
As sat IN tho pulpit and saw his body
coming up through the aisle fe,t rs il l
could weep tears of blood. told the people
that day: This man had his virtues. and q
good many Of them. He had his faults, and
good many of them but il there is any man
IN this audience who is without sin let him
cast the first stone at this coffin lid" On one
side the pulpit sa: that little child, rosy,
sweet faced, as beautiful as any little child
that sat at your table this morning,
| warrant you. She looked up wist.
fully, not knowing the full sOrruwS
OF an orphan child. Oh, her coun-
tcnance haunts me today like some sweet
faco looking upon Us through horrid dream.
On the other sido OF the pulpit were the men
UGo had destroyed him. There they sat,
hard yisagc1. some Of them pals from ex-
hausting disease, some OF them flushed until
it seemed az II the fires Of iniquity famed
through the clecks ani cracked the lips.
They were the men who had done the work.
They were the men who had bound him hand
and foot. They had k,udlei the fires. They
had poured tue wormwooI md gall into that
orphans cup. Did they weep No. Did
they sigh repcnHngly2 No Did they say:
"Whata pity that such brave man should
be slain" No, no! not one b0ated hand was
lifted TO wipe a tear from bloatei cheek.
They sat and looked at the coffin like yul-
lures gazing at the carcass Of lamb who's,
heart they had ripped outl cried in their
cars as plainly as / could: "rheTe is God
ami Judgment day. Did they tremble?
Oh, no, no. They " mt back from the housa
Of Col, and that night, though their victim
lay IN OaKWJOd Cemetery, | WAS told that
they bias pAcmgd, AMI they drank, and they
gamblel, and there was npy ons less
customey in all the houses Of niquity. This
destroyed man was a Samson in physical
strength. but Dclilah shearel hun, and tho
Phiistines OF evil companionship dug his
eyes out and threw him into the prison OF
evil habits, But in the hour Of his death he
rose up and took hold Of tho two pillared
curses OF God against drunkenness and un-
Cleannes;, and threw himself forward until
down upon him and EIs companions there
came the thundUrs of all eternal catastrophe.
Again, any amusement that gives you a
distaste Tor domestic life is bad. How many
bright domestic circles have been broken up
by sinful amuSeir antS' Tho father went of,
tho mother went of, tho cail,. went off.
There are TODAY the fragments before me OF
blasted households. Oh. II you have wan
dered away, | woull like 10 charm You back
By the sound Of that one word, home DO
you not know that you have but little more
time to give to domestic weltarei Do you
not see, father, that your children are soon
to go out into the world, and all the influence
for good YOU are to have over them YOU must
have now? Death will break in on your con-
jugal relations, and. alas! il you have to
stand over the grave OF one who persisted
from your neSle
| saw a wayward husband standing at the
deathbed Of his Christian wife, and | saw her
point t1 ring on her finger ana heard her
say TO her husband, do YOU see tnat ring"
lie replied, Yes. | see it," We'll" said
she, do you remember who put ID there"
YES, said he, III put it there" and all the
past seemed to rush upon him. By the mem.
DRY OF that day vhen, III the presence OF men
and angels, you promised 20 be faithful in
JOY ana sorrow, and in sickness and in health;
by the memory OF those pleasant hours when
you sat together in your new home talking
of a bright future; by the cradle and the
Joyful hour when our life was spared and
another given: by that sick bed, when the
little one lifted up the voice and called for
help and YOU knew he must die, he put one
arm around each Of your necks and brought
YOU very near together in that diving kiss by
think Of without rush OF tears; by the
family Bible, where, amidst stones of
heavenly love, IS the brief but expressive
record OF births and deaths; by the negects
OF the past aud by the agonies OF the future;
by Judgment day, when husbands and
wives, parents aud children, in immortal
groups, will stand to be caught up In shining
array or to shrink down into darkness; by
all that beg you to give to home your best
affections.
All, my friends, there is an hour coming
when our past lie will probably pass before
us i'll review, IL will be our last hour II
from our death pillow we have to look back
aud see a life spent in sinful amusement
there will be dart that will strike through
our soul sharper than the dagger with which
Virginius slew his child. This iniquities and
riotlng through which we have passed will
come upon us weird and skeleton as Meg
Merriles. Death, the old Shyiock, will de
mand and take the remaining pound OF
flesh, and the remaining drop OF blood, aud
upon our last opportunity for repentance,
and our last chance for heaven the curtain
will forever drop.