The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-03-31

OF God. Besides that, family prayers
will be secular advantage. A father
went into the war to serve his country.
His children stayed and cultivated the
farm. His wife prayed. One of the
sohs said afterward: Father is fight
ing, and we are digging, and mother is
praying" ''Ahr' said some one, "pray-
ing, and digging. and fighting will
bring us out of our national troubles.
We may pray in the morning: "Give
US this day our daily bread" and sit
down in idleness and starve to death;
but prayer and hard work will give a
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 pray
ers. and there are Philip Doddridge's
prayers, and there are the Episcopal
church prayers, and there are scores OF
books with supplications just suited to
the domestic circle.
"Ohr' says some man, 81 don't feel
competent to lead my household in
prayer" 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 bet
ter the wants of the household. She
can read the Scriptures with a more
tender enunciation. She knows more
of God. / will put it plainly, and say
she prays better. OIL these mothers
decide almost everything. Nero's
mother was 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 patriotic. Samuel Bud
gets mother was thorough Christian.
ST. Bernards mother was noble
minded. So you might have guessed
from their children. Good men al
ways have good mothers. There may,
once in ten or twenty years, been an
exception to the rule, but it is only an
exception. Benjamin Vests mother
kissed him after she had seen his first
wonderful sketch with the pencil. Ben
jamin West afterward said: 'That kiss
made me a painter"
A young man received furlough to
return from the army to his fathers
house. Afterward he took the furlough
back to the officer, saying: 81 would
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 re-
piled. when left home / told my
mother would be a Christian in the
army, and / was resolved not to go
home until l could answer her first
question" Oh the almost omnipotent
power of the mother. But if both the
father and mother be right, then the
children are 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 is it that
we hear some one say: ooh! he was
wild young man, but since his fathers
death he has been different!'' The fact is
that the fathers coffin, or the mothers
coffin, is often the altar of repentance
for the child. Oh! that was a stupend
Gus day, the day of fathers burial. 1t
was not the officiating clergyman who
made the chief impression, nor the
sympathizing mourners; it was the
father asleep in the casket. The hands
that had toiled for that household so
long, folded The brain cooled off
after twenty or forty years of anxiety
about how to put that family in right
position. The lips closed after so many
years of good advice. There are more
tears falling in mothers grave than in
fathers grave; but over the fathers
tomb think there is kind of awe 1t
is at that marble pillar many a young
man has been re volu tionized.
o, young man with cheek flushed
with dissipation how long is it since
you have been out to your fathers
grave? Perhaps the storm of the last
few days may have bent the headstone
until it leans far over. You had better
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 can find a sermon in the spring
ing grass. o, young man! go out this
week and see your fathers grave Re-
| ligion did so much for our Christian
ancestry, are we not ready this morn
| ing to be willing to receive it into our
own household? If we do receive it,
let it come through the front door, not
| through the back door. In other
words, do not let us smuggle it in.
There are a 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 prayers.
| They would not sing in the worship
for fear their 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 cabin. He was alarmed He
had large amount of money with him,
but he did not dare to venture out in to
the night in the storm. He did not like
the looks of the household After
awhile the father, the western trapper,
came in, gun on shoulder, and when
the traveller looked at him he was still
more affrighted. After awhile the FAM
lily were whispering together in one
corner, and the traveller thought to
himself: ''Ohl now my time has come;
/ wish was out in the storm and in
the night rather than here But the
swarthy man came up to him and said:
Sir, we are rough people; we get our
living by hunting. and we are very tired
when the night comes; but before we
| GO to bed we always have habit of
reading little out of the Bible and
| having prayers, and / think we will