The Hazel Green herald., 1892-02-26

'"b "uuihhS Iake nOlu OF her dress
and cry, Auntie, when are YOU going Co
bring us some more books and shoes
and things" And when, in times of
revival, there is some hard case back
In church pew that no one else can
touch, she goes where he is, and in one
minute she has him crying. and the
frst thing that we know she is fetching
the hardened man up to the front to be
prayed for and says, Here is q brother
VINO wants TO find the way into the
Kingdom of God. And il nobody seems
ready to pray, she Sneels down in the
aisle beside him and says: oh! Lordr
with a pathos and a power and a
triumphthat seems instantly to enamel.
pate the hardened sinner. OH no, you
must not call her thoughtleSs butter
fly in our presence You see we would
not stand it," The fact is that the son
and daughter of that family did not
promise much at the start, but they
are now an echo glorious echo, pro.
longed echo, of parental teaching and
a Vermont mother, as her boy was
about to start for life on the sea, said
Edward, / have never seen the ocean,
but | understand the great temptation
is strong drink. Promise me you will
never touch it." Many years after that,
telling of this in a meeting, Edward
said: II gave that promise to mother,
and have been around the world and
at Calcutta, the ports of the Mediter.
ranean, San Francisco, Cape of Good
Hope and North and South Poles. and
never saw glass of liquor in all those
years that my mothers form did not
appear before me, and l do not know
how liquor tastes. have never tasted
it, and all because of the promise
made to my mother"
This was the result of that conversa-
tion at the gate of the Vermont farm
house. The statuary of Thorwaldsen
was sent from Italy to Germany, and
the straw, in which the statues had
been packed, was thrown upon the
ground. The next spring beautiful
Italian flowers sprang up where the
straw had been cast, for in it had been
some of the seeds of Italian flowers,
and, whether conscious of it or not, we
are all the time planting for ourselves
and planting for others roses or thorns.
You thought it only straw, yet among
it were anemones.
But, here is "a slip-shod home. The
parents are goddess pair They let
their children do as they please. No
example fit to follow No lessons of
or religion. Sunday no bet
ter than any other day. The Bible no
better than any other book. The house
Is sort of inn, where the older and
people of the household stop
for awhile. The theory acted on, though
not announced, is: The chill
iren will have to do as did, and take
their chances. Life is lottery any
how, and some draw prizes and some
draw blanks, and we will trust to luck. ="
Skip twenty years and come back to
the neigh 1t orhood where that family
used to live You meet on the street
Or on the road an old inhabitant of that
and you say: Can you
tell me any thing about the Petersons
who used to live herc?' Yes" says
the old inhabitant, Il remember them
very we'll The father and mother have
been dead for years" well, how
about the children? What has become
of them?'
The old inhabitant replies: ''They
turned out badly. You know the old
man was about half an infidel and the
boys were all infidels The oldest son
married, but got into drinking habits,
and in few years his wife was not
able to live with him any longer and
his children were taken by relatives,
and he died of delirium tremens on
Rlackwells island. His other son
forged the name of his employer and
fed to Canada. One of the daughters
of the old folks married an inebriate
with the idea of reforming him, and
you know how that always ends-in
the ruin of both the experimenter and
the one experimental with. The other
daughter disappeared mysteriously, and
has not been heard of. There was a
young woman picked out OF the East
river and put in the morgue, and
some thought it was her, but | can not
say"
"Is it possibleP" you cry out Yes
IL is possible. The family is complete
wreck" My hearers, that is just what
might have been expected. All this is
only the echo, the dismal echo, the aw'
full echo, the dreadful echo of parental
obliquity and unfaithfulness. The old
folks heaped up a mountain OF infiu'
ences, and this is only what my text
calls ''The sounding OF the mountains -"
Indeed, cur entire behavior in this
world will have resound. While op,,
portunities fly in a straight line and
inst touch us once, and are gone never
TO return, the wrongs we practice upon
Others fly in circle and they come come
back TO the place from which they