Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-06-02

through the Red sea. the cloud iAGt was
light to the lsraelstes and darkness - the
} Egyptians. 1t WAS from cloud, tire
; mendous cloud, that God made reply. II
! was 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 a cloud
hear it, Il answered thee IN the secret
place of thunder"
This subject helps me TO explain some
Rings you have not understood about men
md women, and there are multitudes OF
them, and the multitude is multiplying by
the minute Many Of them have not a
superb bundance of education. II you had
their brain in postnortem examination,
and you could weigh it, IL 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
thisg To find the revelation Of this secret
you must 20 back thirty or forty, or per
haps sixty years 10 the homestead where
this man was brought up. IL 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
I rattle with the steam, and the shadow of
the industrious woman by the pickering
| flame on the hearth is moved mp 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 tie
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 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 il puts upon
them an impression that ten thousand
years will only make more vivid and tire
mendous. As long rs the Old folks live |
their prayer j. for their children and their |
childrcn's children Day Ia and day out,
month in and month out. year in and year |
ont, decade in AMI decade out the sons and |
daughters OF that family are remembered |
in earnest prayer, and they know it, and |
they feel il, and they cannot get away /
from it
Two funerals after awhile-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 ths old folks
But where are the children The daugh-
ters are in homes where they are incarna-
tions Of good sense, industry and piety
The sons, perhaps one "A farmer, another a
merchant, another 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 powers
From the schools, and the seminaries, and
the collegesy Oh. no, though these may
have helped. From their superior mental
No, do not think they had
unusual mental ealiber. From accidental
No they had nothing Of
what is called astounding good luck
INFLUENCE or EARLY ASSOCIATIONS
think we will take train aud ride to
the depot nearest To the homestead from
which those men and women started The
train halts. Let us stop "A few minutes at
the village graveyard and see the tomb
stones of the parents. Yes, the one was
seyenty-four years of age and the other
seventy-two, and the epitaph says that
"aftera useful life they died a Christian
DEATH How appropriately the Scripture
passage cut on the mothers tombstone
she hath done what she could.n 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 rut
i is hard to get the wheels our again with
out 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 !
irbor under which those boys and girls ,
many years ago used to play But it is ,
quite out of order now, for the property is
N other hands. Yonder is the orchard
where they used to thrash the trees for I
lpples. sometimes before they were quite !
'ipe There is the NOV where they hunted i
or eggs before Easter. There is the door |
ill upon which they used To sit. There is {
he room in which they had family prayers I
md where they all knelt-the father there, \
he mother there, and the boys and girls E
here.
We have got to the fountain of pious and
gracious influences at last That is the
,lace that decided those seven earthly and
destinies, Behold Behold That
5 the secret place of thunder. Boys are
eldom more than their fathers will let
hem be- Girls are seldom more than their
Mothers will let them be- But there come I
lines when il seems that parents cannot
ontrol their children. There come times
n boys life when he thinks he knows !
more than his father does, and remember !.
low that knew more at fifteen years of I
Ige than | have ever known since.
There come times in a girls life when !,
he thinks her mother is notional and does :
lot understand what is proper and best. -
md the sweet child says, oh, pshawr' !,
,1.l,. 81. IL.