The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-02-03

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 aot
promise much at the start, but they
are now an echo, a 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: ~ 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 converse
ton 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 slip-shod home. The
parents are a goddess pair. They let
their children do as they please. No
example fit to follow. No lessons of
morality 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
younger people of the household stop
for awhile. The theory acted on,though
perhaps not announced, is: "The chill
dren will have to do as did, and take
their chances. Life is a 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 borhood where that family
used to live You meet On the street
or on the road an old inha bitant of that
neighborhood, ard you say: "Can you
tell me any thing about the Petersons
who used to live here?' "Yes," says
the old inhabitant, II 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
Blackwell's island. His other son
forged the name of his employer and
fled 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 9
young woman picked out of the East
river and put in the morgue, and
some thought it was her, but can nc,
say"
is it possible?' you cry out. "Yes,
it 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 influ
ences, and this is only what my text
calls 1.-THE sounding of the mountains. y
Indeed, our entire behavior in this
world will have resound. While op
portunities fly in straight line and
just touch us once, and are gone never
to return, the wrongs we practice upor
others fly in circle, and they come
back to the place from which they
started. DR.. Guillotine thought il
smart to introduce the instrument Of
death named after him, but did not like
it SO we'll when his own head wa.
chopped off with the guillotine.
So, also, the Judgement Day will b.
an echo of all our other days The un
iverse needs such day, for there are sc
many things in the world that need t.
be fixed up and explained. If God hat
not appointed such a day all the nation,
would cry out. "Oh, God, give us &
Judgement Day" But, we are apt t.
think Of and speak about it as day away
off in the future, having no special con
nection with this day or any other day
The fact is that we are now making NJ
its voices, its trumpets will only sounc
back again to us what we now say ant
do. That is the meaning of all tina
Scripture which says that Christ will
on that day address the SOUL saying
81 was naked and We clothed me, wa
sick and in prison and we visited me-"
All the footsteps in that prison CORR
dor as the Christian reformer walks t.
the wicket of the incarcerated, yea, al
the whispers of coincidence in the ca
of that poor soul dying in that garnet
yea, all the kindnesses are being caugh
up and rolled on until they dash agains
the Judgment Throne and then the,
will be struck back into the ears O
these sons and daughters of mercy
Tnndar than 4ha e Ma