Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1892-01-23

fetcnlng the hardened man up TO
the front to he prayed for. and
says. Here is Il brother who wants
to find the way into the king
dom of God. And if nobody seems
ready to pray she kneels down in the
aisle beside him and says. % Lord :
with Il pathoS and Il power and a
triumph that seem instantly To eman
cipate the hardened sinner. Oh no.
you must not call her Il thoughtlesS
butterfly i'll 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 I'M Echo, a
glorious Echo a prolonged Echo of
parental teaching and example
/ PLANTING FOg TIME AND ETERNITY.
\ Vermont mother. as her boy was
about to start for IL 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 i'll Il
meeting. Edward said; Il gave that
promise to mother. and have been
around the world and at Calcutta
the ports of the Mediterranean. San
Francisco. Cape of Good Hope and
north and south poles. and never
saw Il glass of liquor i'll all those years
that my mothers form did not ap-
pear before me. and do not know
how liquor tastes ! never have
tasted it and all because of the prom
Use ! made to my mother.
This was the result of that conver
sation at the gate of the Vermont
farmhouse The statuary of Thor
waldsen was sent from Italy to Ger
many. and the straw in which the
statues had been packed was thrown
upon to ground The next spring
beautiful Italian flowers sprang up
where this straw had been cast. for
in il had been some of the seeds of
Italian flowers. and whether con
scious of il or not we are all the time
planting for ourselves ;id planting
for others roses or tho:nS You
thought it only straw. yet among il
Were ancmones
But here is Il slipShod home. The
parents are goddess pair They lei
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 children will have to do as
did and take their chances Life is
a lottery anyhow. and some draw
prizes and some draw blanks and we
will trust to luck.
Skip twenty years and come back
to the neighborhood where that fam.
lily used To live. You meet on the
street or on th2 road an old inhabi
tant of that neighborhood. and you
say. Can you tell me anything about
the PctcrSons who used To live here"
Yes. says the old inhabtant, Il re
member them very well The father
and mother have been dead for
years Well. how about the chill
dreni What has become of them =
The old inhabitant replies: They
turned out badly. You know the
old man was about half an inlidcl and
the boys were all intidels The old
: est son married. but got into drinking
habits. and in II few years his wife
was not able 70 live with him any
longer and his children were taken
/ by relatives. and he died of delirium
tremens on Blackwells island. His
other son forged the name of his en-
ployer and fled To Canada. One of
the daughters of the old folks mar
ricd an inebIlate with the idea of re
forming him. and you know how
that always ends in the ruin of both
/ the eXperimenter and the one ex
peiimentcd with. The other daugh
ter 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 |
cannot 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 awful
Echo. the dreadful Echo of parental
obliquity and unfaithfulness. The
old folks heapcd up a mountain of
wrong influences. and this is only
what my text calls The sounding OF
the mountains
Indeed our entire behavior i'll this
world will have resound. While
opportunities fly i'll straight line
and just touch us once and are gone
never to return. the wrongs we prac
tice upon others fly i'll a circl and
they come back to the place from
which they started. Doctor Guillo
tine thought it smart To introduce
the instrument of death. named after
him; but did not like it SO well when
his own head was chopped off with
the guillutinc
MAKE YOUR RECORD FOR JUDGMENT
DAY.
So. also, the judgment day will he
mn Echo of all our other days The
universe needs such Il day for there
are SO many things in the world that
need to bc lixe~l up and explained If
God had not appointed srh h day all
the nations would cry out, oh. God,
give MS judgment day" But we are
apt to think of it and speak about it
as Il day away off in the future,
having no special connection with
this day or any other day. The fact
is that we are now making up its
voices, its trllmpets will only sound
back again to us what we now say
I 4