Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1893-08-18
FIRESIDH MUSING."
GS' Talmage Conjures Up q Rem
iniscent Past.
VagarieS Of Life Histories,


Here is David, the psalmist. with the fore
finger OF his right hand against his temple
the door shut against the world, engaged il
contemplation. And it would be we'll for ii
10 take the same posture often, closing tn
door against the world while we sit down il
sweet solitude 10 contemplate.
In small island of the coast once passed
Sabbath in delightful solitude, for I haC
resolved that [ would have one day Of entir,
quiet before [ entered upon autumnal work
thought to have spent the day in laying Oh
plans for Christian WORK, but instead OF tha
1t became a day Of tender "reminiscences.
reviewed my pastorate. shook hands viii
an old departed friend, whon.I shall gree
again when tho curtains OF lie are lifted
The days Of my boyhood came back, and
was 10 years OF age, and was 8, ard I wa;
5. There was but one house on the 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
10000 memories, and the groves were album
with voices that had long ago ceased.
Youth is apt too much to spend all lis time
In looking forward. Old age is apt too much
to spend all its time in looking backward.
People in midlife and on the apex look both
ways. 1t would be we'll for us, / think, how
ever, to spend more time in Renaissance.
DJ INC Ol our uHluTb We SDenu
most OF the time looking forward. And the
vast majority OF people live not so much in
the present as in the future. find that you
mean to make a reputation. You mean to
establish yourself, and the advantages that
you expect to achieve absorb a great deal
Of your time. But see no harm in this ii
1t does not make you discontended With the
present or disqualify you fer existing duties.
1t is 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 wanderings of our earthly pill
grimage, and to sum up our enjoyments.
mean to-day, SO lar as God may help me, to
stir up your memory Of the past, so that in
the review you may be encouraged and hum
bled and urged to pray.
There is a chapel in florence with 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 retracad the
fresco. And | am aware that the memory OF
the past. with many OF you, is all covered up
with 10 900 deliberations, and propose this
morning, so far as the Lord may help me, to
take away the covering, that the old picture
may shine out again.
Iwant to bind in one sheaf all your past
advantages, and l want 10 bind in another
sheaf all your past Universities. 1t is n prec-
ious harvest, and I must be cautious how
swing the scythe.
Among the greatest advantages OF your
past life was an early home and its surround
ings. The bad men of the day, for the most
part, dip their heated passions out of the
boiling spring OF an unhappy home. We
ere not surprised that Byron's heart was
concentration OF sin when we hear that his
mother was abandoned and that she made
sport Of his infrmity and often called him
"the lame bra.. He who has vicious parents
has to 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.
1t may have been in the days when Canal
street, New York, was far up town. That old
house in the city may have been demolished
or changed into stores, and it seemed like
sacrilege to you, for there was more meaning
in that plain house, in that small house, than
there is in a granite mansion or q turreted
cathedral. Looking back this morning, you
see it as though it were yesterday-the sit
ting room, where the loved ones slt by the
plain lamplight, the mother at the evening
stand, the brothers and sisters, perhaps long
ago gathered into the skies, then plotting
mischief on the floor or underline table your
father with a firm voice commanding silence,
that lasted half minute.
Oh, those were good days. If you had
your foot hurt, your mother always had
soothing salye 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. Your greatest
trouble was an April shower. more sunshine
than shower. The heart had not been ran
sacked By troubles, nor had sickness broken
it, and no lamb had a warmer sheepfold
than the home in which your childhood
nestled.
; Perhaps you were brought up in the coun-
try. You stand now to-day in memory under
the old tree. You dubbed it for fruit that
was not quite ripe because you could not
wait any longer. You hear the brook rumb.
ling along over the pebbles. You step again
into the iurrow where your father in his
shirt sleeves shouted to tho lazy oxen. You
brighten the swallows from the rafters of the
barn and take just one egg and silence your
conscience by saying they will not miss it.
You take drink again out OF the very bucket
that the old we'll fetched up. You 90 for the
COWS Mt night and find them wagging their
heads through the bars. Outlines in the
dusty and busy streets you wish You were
home again on that cool grass or in the hall
OF the farmhouse. through which there was
the breath of new mown hay or the blossom
of Iuckwheat.
You may have in you->~in lows now beautl-
full plants and flowers brought from across
the seas, but not one Of them stirs in your
soul so much charm and memory as the Old
Ivy and the yellow sun1ower that stood
sentinel along the garden walk and the for
getmenots playing hide and seek mid the
long grass. The father, who used to come
In sunburned from the fields and sit down on
the doorsill and wipe the sweat from his
brow, may have gone to his everlasting rest. |
The mother who used to sit at the door |
little bent over, cap and spectacles on, her
lace mellowing with the vicissitudes of many |
years, may have put down her gray head on |
he pillow in the valley, but forget that homo |
rou never will.
Have YOU thanked God for it? Have you |
all these blessed reminiscencesf |
Oh, thank God for Christian father. Thank |
Sod for a Christian mother Thank God fox |
IN early Christian altar at which you were
aught to kneel. Thank God for an early
Christian home.
bring to mind another passage IN the his
DRY of your life. The day came when You
yet up your own houshold. The days passed
llong in quiet blessedness. Your twain sat a,
he table morning and night and talked ovei
-our plans for the future. The most signid-
ant affair in your life became the subject oil
mutual consultation and advisement. You
we're so happy you felt you never could be
my happier.
One day dark cloud lowered over yoW
lwelling. and it got darker and darker. Bul
,ut OF that cloud the shining messenger oil
Tod descended to incarnate an immor~
pirt. Two little feet started on an eternal
Quincy, and you were to lead them. A gen
0 fash in heavens ccronet, and you r.
,olish it. Eternal ages of light and dark
less watching the starting oui o. newly
re9ted being.
You reioiced and you tremoled at the re-
possibility tdat in your possession an i'm.