Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-01-22

D
out among the mountains back of our home
on some long tramp. we stopped and made
exclamation with fu,l lungs just to hesr
what Ezekiel calls The sounding again OF
the mountains"
The Echo has frightened many child AMI
many man. 1t is no tame thing after you
/ have spoken to hear the same words repeated
by the invisible. All the silences are filed
with voices ready to answer. Yet 1t would
not be so startling il they said sOmetailS
else. but why DO those lips Of the air say Just
what you say? Do they mean TO mocI or
mean To please? Who are You AMI where
are you, thou woAdrous Echo? Sometimes
/ its response is n reiteratioD. The shot OF a
gun the clapping OF the hanis, the beatin :
of a drum. the voice OF violin are some
times repeated many times by the Eclo.
/ Near CObeniz that which is slil In t
seventeen Echoes. In l716, a writer says
that near Milan, Italy, there were seventy
/ such reflections OF sound t. one snap Of p,
/ p;sto. Pay bugle nsar a lake Of Kiliay-
ney and the tune is played back to you as
| distinctly as when you played if. There Is
/ q well two hundred and ten feet deep az
/ arlsbrooke castle, in the l'lo Of Wight
/ Drop a pin into that well AMI the sound OF
/ its fall comes to the top Of tn. we'll cistnc,-
/ y. a blast OF an alpine horn comes bac6
/ from the rocks OF Jungfrau in surge after
surge of refecte sound. until il seems rs II
/ every Teak had lifteI and b!own an Alpine
horn.
+ But have you noticel-aud this is tie rea-
son for the present Ois course that this Echo
in the natural woIll has its analogy in the
moral and religious world Fave you rot.ca
The tremen Gus iac5 that what W. say and
Go comes back IN reco,led giadBess or ci;-
astal; About this resonance | preach this
sermon.
First Parental teaching AMI examg.o
have their Echo in the character o, dtsceAi l.
ants Exceptions: Oh yes. So in the
natural world there may be 10 Echo, OF 4
Gistorte Echo. by reason OF Re II Jar prO1-
imiuCs but the general rule Is that the CAR.
Gcter Of the children is the Echo OF the CHAR
ocier OF the parents. The general ru.e is
that CCoi parehts have gO0i children and
bad par MS have ta1 Children. II tia oil
man IS a crank, his son is apt 10 be a c;aDE
aud the crandcnid a c-an6. Toe tendency
is SO mighty IN That direction taat it VIII get
worse and worse unless some hero or heroine
in tb&: line shall rise AMI say: Here. By
u. -eip Of Gcd, viii stand this no longer.
Against his hereditary tendency 10 On s-r-
ness protest. AMI lie or she VIII set az an
altar AID a magniic Is life a will reverse
things, and there will BE- 10 more crants
among that kindred.
IN another family line father AMI mot Ter
ale conseclEted people. What tie; 90 -
light. W hat thy teach isrisat Ihe boys
may Tor me time bs vii and the daus4-
ter worldly. but wlic., Years pass on. per
haps ten wears, twenty years aud you -
back TO toe cAurcl where the father an
mother used 10 be consistent members
You have heard nothing about tle family
FOR twenty years and az the door of ths
church ylu zee the sexton an YOU ask him,
~ here is oil Mr. Webster "Oh, he has
been dea may years, "Nhefe is Nrs.
Webster lob, she died fifteen years ago.
Il suppose their son joe went TO the GOgs*
"Uh. 10. says Tie sexton, "hs is up there in
tie elders sal lie is one o. our bes- and
mos. important members. You ought ID
hear him pray and sing. lie IS not DOE any
lonctr. he IS E,sCr Webster" well where
is the caughtcr Maryz ! suppose she IS the
same thcuylt.ess butterfly She used TO
be "Ol, no. SAYS the sexton,
'she is the president of cur missionary
society and ths direc.r,ss in the
orphan asylum, an when she goes down
tie street all the IA ganluiiins take mol of her
dress and CRY, 'Aunte, wnen are you gong
to bring Us some more books an shoes ami
thin2s@ ANA when. in times OF revival,
there S some hard case back in a churcl
rev that no one else can touch, she goes where
BE- is and in one minute She has him
s-crying. and the first thing We know she IS
fetching The hariensi man uq 10 the front
to be prayed for, and says, Here Is ga OrOiner
who wants TO find the way into the kln5iOm
Of Coo And if notOly seems ready -
pray. she knees dom in the aisle beside him
and says, % L0ri" with apatlOs AMI
power an triumph that seem instantly to
emanc.pate tle hardened sinner. o.. no!
you must not call her thoash'less butter
lily IN CIR presence. You see we would no5
stand if ~ The fact is that tde son an
daughter Of that family did no. promise
much at the start, bu5 they ara now an
Echo. a glorious f Tho, pro.on gel Ecac OF
parental teaching and example
/ a Vermont mother, as her boy was about
/ 10 start for a life Oh the sea, said: ~ l.
ward. have never SEN the ocean, but IN
derstand the great temptation IS strong
/ drink. Promise me you Will never touch
/ it," Many wears after that, telling OF TINS
/ in a meeting, Edward said Il gave that
promise to mother. and have been aroun
/ the wo,d. and at Calcutta, the ports o.
the Mediterranean, San Francisco, Cape
of Gcol Hope AMI north and south poles,
/ AMI never saw a glass OF liquor in al those
wears thaulny mothers form did not appear
/ before ne. and | DO not know how liquor
/ tastes never have tasted it and all be-
/ cause of the promise made to my mother
This was the suit eli tlat conversation at
! tie gate Of the Vermont farmhouse. Inc
stat,larv OK IhOrWaldsen was sent IRON
Italv 10 Germany, and the straw in which
/ the statues hal been pacIeI was thrown
Uron the ground The next spring beant.-
/ lul Italian flowers Sprang up where TINS
straw had been cast, for in it had been soma
OF the seeds of Italian flower, and, whether
/ conscious o. il or not, W. are all the tim
/ planting for ourselves AMI planting FOL
Others roses or thurns. You thought i
only straw, yet among it were anemonss.
But here is a siipshoi home The parents
are go less pair. They let their clilire'
! do 81 they plels'. No exlmDle fl to foli1v
! No lessons Of mor1lity or religion Sunla'
no better than any other day. Tns Bible II,
better tlan any other booS. rhe house is
sort OF iun where tle older AMI younger
| people OF the household stop 70" awhile. TG.
theory acted on, though perhap, not al
nCuncel. is: "rhe children will have u dc
/ as did and take their chtDcss Life is q
lottery anyhow, and some draw prizes ans
/ some draw blanks, and we will trus5 q
/ luck
Skip twenty years AMI come back to The
neighborhood wnere that family used to live
/ You meet on the street or on the roa az
old inhabitant OF that neighborhoo1. an
/ you say. "Can you tell me anything about
| the PetersOlS who used to live 3rey yes,
says the old iuhabitaut; 81 remember then
very wsll. The father AMI mother have
/ been dead for years. "Wcl, how about
the children What has become Of themY
| The old inhahitant replies: "rhey turned
| ont badly. You knoT the Old man wa;
about half an intidel AMI the boys were al
inf1es. The Oldest son married, bu1 got
into drinking habits, and in a few years his
wife was not able TO live with him any long
er, and his children were taken by relatives,
and he died Of delirium tremens on Black
wells Island His other son forged the name
Of his employer and fed 10 Canada.
"OAe OF tue daughters OF the oil folks
married an inebriete with the idea OF reform
ing him, and you know how that always
ends--in the ruin Of both the experimental
and the one experimental with. The o.hsr
daughter disappeared mYstsriously aud has
not been heard Of There was a young
woman picked out OF the East River and put
in the moTgle, and some thought it was her,
but clnnot say" as it possible? You cry
out. yes it IS possible. The family is a
complete wrecS.' Ny hearers, that is j1s5
what might have been expected. All this is
only the Echo, the dismal Echo, the awful
Echo, the dreadful Echo OF parental obliquity
and unfsithfulness. The oldsolks he1ps ~
a mountain OF wrong influences an this is
onsv what my text calls "rhe sounding OF