The Bossier banner., 1893-12-14

IHe MeeIlHS Sonc 4IlcIlUo IAOh
whom we have parted many years, we
inquire: "Did you ever see me be-
fore?" and they say: Yes" and
call US by name, and we
feel a delightful sensation thrilling
through their hand intol our hand,
and running up from elbow to shoul-
der, and then parting, the one current
of delight ascending to the brow and
the other descending to the foot, NOV
ing round and round in concentric cir
cles until every nerve and muscle and
capacity of body and mind and soul is
permeated with delight. A few days
ago, visiting the place of my boyhood,
l met one whom 1 had not seen since
we played together at sixten years of
age, and l had peculiar pleasure in
puzzling him little as to who l was,
and can hardly describe the sensation,
as, after awhile, he stumbled out:
'Let me see. Yes, you are De Witt"
We all like to be remembered.
Now, l have to tell you that this
oblivion of which have spoken has its
defeats, and that there is no more rea-
son why we should not be distinctly
and vividly and gloriously remembered
five hundred million billion trillion
quadri1lion qulntillion years from now,
than that we should be remembered
six weeks. I am going to tell you how
the thing can be done and will be
done.
We may build this "everlasting re-
membrance," as my text styles it, into
! the supernal existence of those to whom
we do kindnesses in this world. You
must remember that this infrm and
treacherous faculty which we now call
memory is in the future state to be
complete and perfect. Everlasting
remembrance" Nothing will slip the
stout grip of that celestial faculty. Did
you help widow pay her rent? Did
you find for that man released from
prison place to get honest work? Did
you pick up a child, fallen on the curb
stone, and, by stick of candy put in
its hand, stop the hurt on its scratched
knee? Did you assure a business
man, swamped by the stringency of
the money market, that times
would after awhile be better? Did
you lead a Magdalen of the street
into midnight mission, where the
Lord said to her: Neither do con-
denim thee Go, and sin no more" Did
you tell man, clear discouraged in his
waywardness, and hopeless and plot
ting suicide, that for him near by was
laver in which he might wash, and a
coronet of eternal blessedness he might
wear? What are epitaphs in grave
yards, what are eulogiums in presence
of those whose breath is in their nos
trils, what are unread biographies in
the alcoves of city library compared
with the imperishable records you
have made in the illumed memo
} ries of those to whom you did
) such kindnesses? Forget them?
They can not forget them. Notwith-
) standing all their might and splen-
) dor, there are many things the glorifed
of Heaven can not do and this is one of
them. They can not forget an earthly
kindness done. They have no cutlass
to part that cable. They have no
| strength to hurl into oblivion that
benefaction. Has Paul forgotten the
inhabitants of Malta, who extended
the island hospitality when he and
others with him had felt, added to a
! shipwreck. the drenching rain and the
sharp cold? Has the victim of the
highwayman on the road to jericho
! forgotten the good Samaritan with a
: medicament of oil and wine and free
ride to the hostelry? Have the En-
/ glish soldiers who went up te
i he L.
: fields forgotten Florence Nightin
, gale? Through all eternity will the
t northern and southern soldiers for
e get the northern and southern women
: who administered to the dying boys il
blue and gray after the awful fights ir
r Tennessee and Pennsylvania and Vir
t ginia and Georgia, which turned every
l house and barn and shed into hospi
S tai and incarnadined the Susquehanns
: and the james and the Chattahooche,
= and the Savannah with brave blood
). The kindnesses you do to others viii
t stand as long in the appreciation o
d others as the gates of Heaven viii
y stand, as the ''House of Many Man
l. sions' will stand, as long as the thron,
l. of God will stand.
s Another defeat of oblivion will b.
e found in the character of those whom
y we rescue, uplift or save. Character
S eternal. Suppose by right infuenc
d we aid in transforming bad man int
J. good man, a disheartened man into
/? courageous man, every stroke of tina
n work done will be immortalized. Their
d may never be so much as one line in
If newspaper regarding it, or no morta
}, tongue may ever whisper it into huma
e ear, but wherever that soul shall &C
'e your work upon it shall go; whereve
e that soul rises, your work on it wi
d rise, and SO long as that soul wi
le last, your work on it will last
Is Do you suppose there will ever com
d such an idiotic lapse in th
Is history of that soul in Heaven that
re shall forget that you invited him t
st Christ, that you, by prayer or Gospt
le word, turned him round from tn
it wrong way to the right way? Nosuc
y insan nifty will ever smite Heavenl
E, citizen. 1t is not half as well on cart
a known that Christopher Wren planne