Milford chronicle., 1893-03-24

a Young man received a furlough to re
turn from the army to his fathers house.
Afterward be took the furlough back to
the officer, saying, II would like to post
pone my visit fer two weeks" At the end
of the two weeks he came and got the fur
Tough. He was asked why he waited.
well" he replied, when I left home !
told my mother / would be a Christian in
the army, and / was resolved not to go
home until / could answer her first ques-
ton" Oh, the almost omnipotent power
Of the motherl But if both the father and
the mother be right, then the children are
almost sure to be right.
The Young people may make 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,
"Oh, 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 repent
ance for the child. Oh, that was a stupen-
dous day, the day Of fathers burial. It was
not the officiating clergyman who made the
chief impression, nor the sympathizing
mouIners; it was the father asleep in the
casket.
The hands that had toiled for that house
/ hold so long, folded. The brain cooled of
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 more tears falling in mothers
grave than in fathers grave, but over the
! fathers tomb | think there is kind of
awe. It is at that marble pillar many a
young man has been reYolutionized.
MEDITATION AT THE CRAVE
Oh. young maa with cheek flushed with
dissipation how long is it since you have
+ been out to your fathers grave2 VIII you
not 20 this weekY Perhaps the storms OF
! the last few days may have bent the head
stone until it leans far over You had bet
4 ter 90 out and see whether the lettering has
/ been defaced. You had better 60 out and
see whether the gate of the lot is closed.
You had better go and see if you cannot
! find IA sermon in the springing grass. Oh.
Young man, 20 out this week and see your
/ fathers 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 II we do receive 1t, let 1t
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,
Thev would be mortified to death If you
caught them at family prayers They would
not sing in the worship for fear their neigh
bors would hear them. They do not have
prayers when they have company!
They donot know much about the nobil-
ity of the western trapper y traTeler go
ing along was overtaken by night and
storm. and he entered cabin. There were
firearms hung up around the cabin He
was alarmed He had a large amount OF
money with him, bat lie did not dare to
venture out into the night in the storm.
He did net like the looks of the household.
After awhile the father-the western trap
per-came in, gun on shoulder, and when
the traveller looked Mt him he was still more
affrighted.
After awhile the family were whispering
together in one corner of the room, and tie
traveller thought to himself, "Oh! now my
time hes 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 a rough people; we get
our living by hunting, and we are very
tired when the night comes, but before Co
ing to bed we always have a habit of read
ing little out of the Bible and having
PRAYERS, and / think we will have our usual
custom tonight, ard if you don't believe in
that kind of thing if you will just step out
side the door for a little while ! will be
much obliged to you"
Oh, there are many Christian parents who
have not half the courage Of that western
trapper They do not want their religion
projecting too conspicaOusly. They would
like to have it near by so as to call on 1t in
case of a funeral, but rs TO having it DOM
inant in the household from the lst CT Jan
uary, o'clock q. m, to the 9lst Of Deem
Der, 10 o'clock p. m, they DO not want 1t.
They would rather die and have their fam
lies perish with them than to cry out in
the bold words Of the soldier in my text,
"As for me and my house, we will serve the
Lord"
INCIDENT IN THE TALMAGE FAMILY.
There was in my ancestral line an lncl-
dent so strangely impressive that it seems
more like romance than reality. 1t has
sometimes been so inaccuratcly put forth
that now give yea the true incident. My
grandfather and grandmother, living at
Somerville, n. j., went to l3asking Ridge to
witness revival under the ministry OF the
Rev DR. Finley. They came home SO i'm
DTE&s1U WIFI " AAtL lAlNl A+tAeA seNAA AAstt NANH
resolved on the salvation Of their children.
The Young people of the house were to
go of for an evening party, and my grand
mother said
"Nov, when you nre all ready for the
party, come to my room, for have some
thing very important to tell you" All
ready for departure, they came TO Eer room,
and she said to them, Nov, ! want you to
remember, while you are away this even
ing, that am all the time in this room
praying for your salvation, and | shall not
cease praying until you get back. The
young people went to the party, but amid
the loudest hilarities Of the night they
could not forget that their mother WIS
praying for them. The evening passed,
and the night passed.
The next day my grandparents heard an
Outcry in an adjoining room, and they went
IN and found their daughter imploTipg the
salvation of tie gospel. The daughter told
them that her brothers were at the barn
and at the wagon house under powerful
conviction of sin. They went to the barn.
They found my uncle Jehiah, who after
ward became minister OF the gospel, cry
ing to God fer mercy. They went to the
wagon house. They found their son David,
WHO afterward became my father, implor-
ing Gods pardon and mercy. Before a
great while the whole family were saved,
and David went and told the story to
young woman to whom he was afiianced,
who as result of the story, became a
Christian, and from her own lips-my
mother's-I have received the incident.
The story Of that converted household
ran through all the neighborhocd, from
family to family, until the whole region
was whelmed with religious awakening,
and at the next communion in the village
church at SOmerville over 200 souls stood
up to profess the faith of the gospel. lily
mother, carrying the memory Of this scene
from carly wpinanhood into further life, in
after years was resolved upon the salvation
Of her children, and for many years every
week she met three other Christian moth
ers to pray for the salvation Ct their fami-
lies. think that all the members Of those
families we're sayed-myself, the youngest
and the last.
GRAEDMoTHER's PRAYER
M. q 8 aa