The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-03-25

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father went into the war to serve his
country. His children stayed and Gull
tivated the farm. His wife prayed. One
of the sons said afterward, "Father is
fighting, and we are digging, and moth
er is praying" "Ah," said some one,
praying and digging and fighting will
bring us out Of our national troubles"
We may pray in the morning, "Give
as this day our daily bread" and sit
down in idleness and starve to death;
but prayer and hard work will give q
livelihood to any family. Family reli-
gion pays for both worlds. Let us have
an altar in each one of our households.
You may not be able to formulate a
prayer Then there are Philip Henry's
prayers, and there are McDuff's prayers,
and there are Philip Doddridge's prayers,
and there are the Episcopal church pray
ers, and there are scores Of books with
supplications just suited to the domestic
circle.
| MOTHERS OF THE GOOD AND THE EVIL.
"Oh," says some man, 81 don't feel
competent to lead my household in pray
er." Well, do not know that it is your
duty to lead. think perhaps it is
sometimes better for the mother of the
household to lead. She knows better the
wants of the household. She can read
| the Scriptures with more tender enun-
citation. She knows more Of God. Twill
put it plainly and say she prays better.
| Oh, these mothers decide almost every
thing! Nero's mother was a murderess.
Lord Byron's mother was naughty and
impious. You might have guessed that
from their children.
Walter Scott's mother was fond Of
poetry Washington's mother was patri-
otto. Samuel Budget mother was thor
ough Christian. st. Demands mother
was noble minded. So you might have
guessed from their children. Good men
always have good mothers. There may
once in 10 or 20 years be an exception to
herule, but it is only an exception. Ben
jamin Vests mother kissed him after
she had seen his first wonderful sketch
with the pencil. Benjamin West after
ward said, ''That kiss mademe painter"
A young man received a furlough to
return from the army to his fathers
house. Afterward he took the furlough
back to the officer, saying, sIwould like
to postpone my visit for two weeks" At
the end Of the two weeks he came and
got the furlough. He was asked why he
waited. .'Well," he replied, "when I
left home told my mother / would bea
Christian in the army, and was resolved
not to go home until could answer her
first question" Oh, the almost omnipo-
tent power Of the mother! But if both
the father and the mother be right, then
the children are almost sure to be right.
The young people may make a wide
curve from the straight path, but they
are almost sure to come back to the right
road. 1t may not be until the death Of
one Of the parents.
How often it is that we hear some one
say, "0h, he was wild young man, but
since his fathers death he has been diff
ferentr' The fact is that the fathers
coffin or the mothers coffin is often the
altar of repentance for the child. Oh,
that was stupendous day, the day of
fathers burial. It was not the oficiat-
ing clergyman who made the chief i'm
preston, nor the sympathizing mourn
ers. It was the father asleep in the cas-
ket.
The hands that had toiled for that
household 80 long. folded. The brain
cooled off after 20 or 40 years Of anxiety
about how to put that family in right
position. The lips closed after so many
years of good advice. There are moro
tears falling in mothers grave than in
fathers grave, but over the fathers
tomb think there is a kind of awe. It
is at that marble pillar many young
man has been revolutionized.
ANCESTRAL RELIGION.
! Oh, young man with cheek flushed
with dissipation how long is 1t since you
have been out to your fathers grave?
Will you not go this week? Perhaps the
storms Of the last few days may have
bent the headstone until it leans far
over. You had hotter go out and see
whether the lettering has been defaced.
You had better go out and see whether
the gate Of the lot is closed. You had
better go and see If you cannot find
sermon in hespringing grass. Oh, young
man, go out this week and see your IA
theirs grave!
Religion did SO much for our Christian
ancestry, are we not ready this morning
to be willing to receive it into our own
households? If we do receive it, let it
come through the front door, not through
the back door. In other words, do not
let us smuggla it in. There are great
many families who want to be religious,
but they do not want anybody outside to
know it. They would be mortified to
death if you caught them at family pray
ers They would not sing in the wor-
ship for fear the neighbors would hear
them. They do not have prayers when
they have company.
They do not know much about the
nobility of the western trapper. A trav-
eler going along was overtaken by night
and storm, and he entered cabin.
There were firearms hung up around the
rabin. He was alarmed. He had
large amount of money with him, but he
| did not dare to venture on into the night