The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1892-06-03

and darkness 70 the Egyptians, 1t was
from cloud, a tremendous cloud, that
God made reply, 1t was cloud that
was the secret place Of thunder, So
you cannot get away FROM the consola-
ton of my text by talking that way.
Let all the PEOPLE under cloud hear it.
al answered thee in the secret place Of
thunder"
INFLUENCE or THE OLD HOME,
This subject helps me to explain some
things you have not understood about
men and women, and there are multi
tudes of them, and the multitude is null
tiplying by the minute Many of them
have not superabundanco of educa-
ton, If you had their brain in a post
mortem examination, and you could
weigh it. it would not weigh any heav-
Ter than the average, They have not
anything especially impressive in per-
sonal appearance, They are not very
fluent of tongue. They pretend to moth
ing unusual in mental faculty or social
influence, but you feel their power; you
are elevated in their presence; you are a
better man or better woman, having
confronted them. You know that in in
tellectual endowment you are their SUI
perior, while in the matter of moral and
religious influence they are vastly your
superior. Why is thisy
To find the revelation of this secret
you must go back thirty or forty or
perhaps sixty years to the homestead
where this man was brought up. 1t is a
winter morning, and the tallow candle
is lighted, and tile fires are kindled,
sometimes the shavings hardly enough
to start the wood. The mother is pre-
pairing the breakfast, the blue edged
! dishes are on the table, and the lid of
the kettle on the hearth begins to rattle
with the steam, and the shadow of the
Industrious woman by the Pickering
flame on the hearth is moved up and
down the wall. The father is at the
barn feeding the stock-the oats thrown
into the horses bin and the cattle
craunching the corn. The children, ear
lier than they would like and after be-
ing 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 tablecloth
and chapter is read and a prayer made,
which includes all the interests for this
world and the next. The children pay
not much attention to the prayer, for it
is about the same thing day after day,
but it puts upon them an impression
that ten thousand years will only make
more vivid and tremendous. AS long as
the old folks live their prayer is for their
children and their children's children.
Day in and day out, month in and month
out, year in and year out, decade in and
decade out the sons and daughters of
that family are remembered in earnest
prayer, and they know it, and they feel
it, 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 between fathers going and moth
Gr's going-two funerals put out of sight
the old folks. But where are the chill
dren? The daughters are in homes
where they are incarnations of good
sense, industry and piety. The sons,
perhaps one a farmer, another a mer-
chant. another a mechanic, another a
physician, another a minister Of the
Gospel, useful, consistent, admired, hon
ored, What power for good those
seven sons and daughters! Where did
they get the power? From the schools,
and the seminaries, and the colleges?
Oh, no, though these may have helped.
From their superior mental endowment?
No. do not think they had unusual
mental caliber. From accidental cir
cumstances? No, they had nothing of
what is callea astounding good luck.
THE FOUNTAIN OF PIoUs INFLUENCE.
I think we will take train and ride
to the depot nearest to the homestead
from which those men and women start
ed. The train halts. Let us stop few
minutes at the village graveyard and see
the tombstones of the parents. Yes, the
one was seyenty-four years of age ana
the other was seventy-two, aud @.e cpl
taph says that latter a useful life they
died Christian death" How appro-
priately the Scripture passage cut ON the
mothers tombstone, "She hath done
what she could And how beautiful
the passage cut on the fathers tomb
stone. blessed are the dead who die in
the Lord, for they rest from their labors
and their works do follow them"
IN over the country road we ride
t.e road little rough, for the spring
Weather is not quite settled, and once
down in rut it is hard to get the wheels
out again without breaking the shafts
But at last we come to the lane il
front Of the farmhouse. Let me get out
of the wagon and open the gate while
you drive through. Here is the arbol
under which those boys and girls many
years ago used to play. But it is quite
out of order now, for the property is il
other hands. Yonder is the orchard
where they used to thrash the trees fol
apples, sometimes before they were
quite ripe. There is the NOW whel,
they hunted for eggs before Easter
There is the doorsill upon which they
used to sit. There is the room in which
they had family prayers and where the!
all knelt-the father there, the mothe
there and the boys and'girls there.
We have got to the fountain of piou
and gracious influences at last. That i
the place that decided those seven earth
ly and immortal destinies. Behold
Behold! That is the secret place O
thunder. Boys are seldom more thai
their fathers will let them be. Girl
are seldom more than their mothers vii
let them be. But there come time
when it seems that parents cannot con
troll their children. There come time
in boys life when he thinks he know
more than his father does, and remenl
Der now that l knew more at fiftee1
years of age than l have ever know
since.
There come times in girls life whe1
she thinks her mother is notional an,
does not understand what is proper ar
best, and the sweet child says, "Oll
pshawr' and she longs for the time who
she will not have to be dictated to, an
she goes out of the door or goes to be
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