The Red Cloud chief., 1893-08-18
LIFE "REMINISCENCES.
or. Ta'mage Reviews Past Ad-
3 vantages and Adversities.
encouragement Derived from Looking
"a's"ard- Points in Life History
Which II Is Well to Remember
conquered Troubles,

'"aiiiE' NIiDNt us the IODlt. n
panorama OF "reminiscences appropriate
TO the season, the text selected being
isalm MINNIE. while | was musing
the fire burned" He said:
Here Is David, the psalmist. with the
iorc'finger of his right hand against his
temple, the door shut against the world,
engaged in contemplation. And il
would be well for us to take the same
position often. closing the door against
the world, while we sit down in sweet
solitude to contemplate.
In Il small island off the coast | once
passed a Sabbath in delightful soli-
tude' for had resolved that | would
have one day Of entire quiet before |
entered upon autunnal work. !
thought to have spent the day in lay
ing out plans for Christian work: but
instead of that it became u day of
tender Renaissance. I reviewed my
pastorate, | shook hands with an old
departed friend, whom | shall greet
again when the curtains of life are
lifted. The days Of my boyhood
came back, and | was 10 years
Of age, and | was $. and | was ;.
.'''' ""S bil ne nblNt on lie
island, and yet from Sabbath daybreak,
when the bird-chant woke me. until
the evening melted into the bay, from
shore to shore there were ten thous-
and memories, and the grovcs were
alum with voices that had long ago
ceased.
Youth is apt toe much to spend all
its time in looking forward. Old age
IL apt too much to spend all its time in
looking backward. People in mid-lifc
and on the apex look both ways. II
would bc well for us, ] think, however.
to spend more time in reniniscencc
by the constitution of our nature we
spend most of the time looking for
ward. And the vast majority of people
live not 81 much in the present as in
the future. find that YOU mean to
make IA reputation, you mean tn es.
tablish yourself, and the advantages
that you expect to achieve absorb "a
great deal of your time. But ! see no
harm in this, If il doe not make you
disconnected with the present or dis
qualify you for existing duties.
II is a useful thing sometimes to look
back, and to see the dangers we have
escaped, and to see the sorrows we
have suffered. and the trials and wan
behring's of our earthly pilgrimage. and
to sun up our enjoyinents. mean to-
day, so far as God may help me, to stir
up your memory of the past, SO that in
the review you may Toe encouraged and
humbled, and urged to pray.
There is a chapel in Florence with "a
fresco by Guido. 1t was covered up
with two inches Of stucco until our
American and European artists went
there, and after long toll removed the
covering and retraced the fresco. And
am aware that the memory of the
past, with many of YOU, is all covered
up with ten thousand deliberations.
and / propose this morning, SO far as
the Lord will help me, to take away
the covering, that the old picture may
shine out again.
want TO bind in ONE sheaf all your
past advantages and ! want to bind in
another sheaf all your past universities.
II is a precious harvest and | must be
cautious how swing the scythc.
Among the greatest advantages of
you past life was an early home and
its surroundings. The bad men of the
day. for the most part, dip their heated
passions out of the boiling spring of an
unhappy home. We are not surprised
that Byron's heart was a concentration
IF sin, when we hear his mother was
abandoned, and that she made sport Of
his inirnity, and often called him 'thc
lame brat" He who has vicious pa
rents has Ia fight every inch of his way
if he would maintain his integrity, and
at last reach the home of the good in
Heaven.
Perhaps your early home was in the
city. II may have been in the days
when Canal str ,et, New York, was far
uptown. That old house in the city
may have been demolished or changed
into stores, and il ecmed like Il sacri-
lege To - fr there was more mean
ing in that plain house, in that small
house, than there is in Il granite man
sion or a turretea cathedral. Looking
back this morning, you see it as though
il were yesterday-the sitting.room,
. where the loved ones sat by the plain
lanplight, the mother ut the evening
stand, the brothers and sisters, per-
haps long ago gathered into the skies,
then plotting mischief on the floor or
under the table, your father with firm
voice commanding silence, hat lasted
half IA minute.
Oh. those were good days. If you
had your foot hurt, your mother al
ways had II soothing salve TO heal it.
II YOU were wronged in the street, your
father was always ready to protect
you. The year was one round of frolic
and mirth. The greatest trouble was
an April shower, more sunshine than
shower. The heart had not been ran
sacked by troubles q had sickness
broken it, and no lamb had IA warmer
~sheepfold than the home in which your
childhood nestled.
Perhaps You were brought up in the
country. You stand now to-day in
memory under the old tree. You
dubbed it for fruit that vas not quite
ripe because you could not wait any
longer. You hear the brook rumbling
along over the pebbles. You step again
into the furrow where yonr father in
his shit sleeves shouted to the lazy
oxen You brighten the swallows from
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