Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1892-06-02

Egyptians 1t was from "A cloud, a ire
mendous cloud, that God made reply. 1t
was n cloud that was the secret place of
thunder. So you cannot get away from
the consolation of my text by talking that
way. Let all the people under cloud
hear it. 81 answered thee in the secret
place of thunder"
This subject helps me to explain some
things you have not understood about men
and women, and there are multitudes of
them, and the multitude is multiplying by
the minute Many of them have not n
superabundance of education. If you had
their brain in postmortem examination
and you could weigh it, it would not weigh
any heavier than the average. They have
not anything especially impressive in per-
sonal appearance. They are not very fluent
of tongue. They pretend to nothing I'M
usual in mental faculty or social influence,
but you feel their power You are elevated
in their presence; you are better man or
a better woman, having confronted them.
You know that in intellectual endow-
ment you are their superior, while in the
matter of moral and religious influence
they are vastly your superior. Why is
this? To find the revelation of this secret
you must go back thirty or forty, or per-
haps sixty years to the homestead where
this man was brought up 1t is winter
morning and the tallow candle is lighted
and the fires are kindled. sometimes the
shavings hardly enough to start the wood.
The mother is preparing the breakfast, the
blue edged dishes are on the table, and the
lid of the kettle on the hearth begins to
rattle with the steam, and the shadow of
the industrious woman by the Pickering
fame on the hearth is moved up and down
the wall. The father is at the barn feed
ing the stock-the oats thrown into the
horses bin and the cattle craunching the
corn. The children, earlier than they
would like and after being called twice,
are gathered at the table.
The blessing of God is asked on the food
and the meal over the family Bible is put
upon the white table cloth, and a chapter
is read and prayer made, which includes
all the interests for this world and the
next. The children pay not so much at
tention to the prayer, for it is about the
same thing day after day, but it puts upon
them an impression that ten Thousand
years will only make more vivid and ire
mcndous. As long as the old folks live
their prayer is for their children and their
children's children. Day in and day out
month in and month out year in and year
OUT, ueCuuc III anu decade OUT Ine sons an0
daughters of that family are remembered
in earnest prayer, and they know it, and
they feel it, and they cannot get away
from it.
Two funerals after awhle-not more
than two years apart, for it is seldom that
| there is more than that lapse of time be
| tween fathers going and mothers going
| two funerals put out of sight the old folks
| But where are the children? The daugh.
| ters are in homes where they are incarna-
| tions of good sense, industry and pietv
| The sons, perhaps one farmer, another a
| merchant, another a mechanic, another a
| physician, another minister of the Gospel
| useful consistent admired, honored What
| a power for good those seven sons and
| daughters Where did they get the poweri
| From the schools, and the seminaries. and
| the colleges? Oh, no, though these may
| have helped. From their superior mental
endowmentY No do not think they had
| unusual mental calber From accidental
| circumstances? No. they had nothing OF
what is called astounding good luck.
| INFLUENCE OF EARLY ASSOCIATIONS.
think we will take n train and ride tc
the depot nearest to the homestead from
which those men and women started. The
train halts. Let us stop few minutes at
stones of the parents. Yes, the one was
seventy-four years of age and the other
| seventy-two. and the epitaph says tina,
after II useful life they died Christian
| death" How appropriately the Scripture
| passage cut on the mothers tombstone
she hath done what she could" And
how beautiful the passage on the fathers
tombstone, blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord, for they rest from their labors
and their works do follow them"
On over the country road we ride-the
road little rough, for the spring weather
| is not quite settled, and once down in a rui
| 1t is hard to get the wheels out again with
| ont breaking the shafts. But at last we
| come to the lane in front of the farmhouse
| Let me get out of the wagon and open the
| gate while you drive through. Here is the
] arbOr under which those boys and girls
| many years ago used to play. But it is
| quite out of order now, for the property is
| in other hands Yonder is the orchard
where they used to thrash the trees fol-
| apples, sometimes before they were quite
| ripe. There is the NOW where they hunted
for eggs before Easter. There is the door
sill upon which they used to sit. There is
the room in which they had family prayers
and where they all knelt--the father there
| the mother there, and the boys and girls
there.
We have got to the fountain Of pious and
| gracious influences at last. That is the
| place that decided those seven earthly and
| immortal destinies. Behold Behold That
is the secret place of thunder Boys ar,
seldom more than their fathers will let
them be. Girls are seldom more than Their
| mothers will let them be. But there come
! times when it seems that parents cannot
control their children. There come time.
in Il boys life When he thinks he knows
more than his father does, and remembe
now that ! knew more at fifteen years OF
age than have ever known since.
| There come times in a girls life wher
| she thinks her mother is notional and doe.
not understand what is proper and best
and the sweet child says, oh pshawn
and she longs for the time when she will
! not have to be dictated to, and she goe,
| out of the door or goes To bed with poutinl
| lips, and these mothers remember fol
themselves that they knew more at fonr
teen years of age than they have ever
| known since. But father and mother dc
not think you have lost your influence over