Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-08-10
OLD TIMES RECALLED
Or. TALMAGE DELIVERS A DISCOURSE
ON "REMINISCENCES.

Spirit of Gratitude to God For Ills Bless
ings.
BROOKLYN, Aug. 6.-Rev. DIR. Talmage
has chosen as the topic for today panora-
Ina of "reminiscences appropriate to the sea-
SON. the text selected being Psalm xxx, g.
while was musing the fire burned"
Here is David, the psalmist with the
foreiinger of his right hand against his
temple, the door shut against the world
engaged in contemplation. And it would
be well for us to take the same posture
often, closing the door against the world,
while we sit down in sweet solitude to con-
template.
In a small island off the coast I once
passed Sabbath in delightful solitude, for
had resolved that | would have one day
Of entire quiet before | entered upon au-
tumnal work. l thought to have spent the
day in laying out plans for Christian work,
but instead Of that it became day of ten
der "Reminiscences. l reviewed my pastor
ate. l shook hands with an old departed
friend, whom l 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 8, and l was B. There was
but one house on the island and yet from
Sabbath daybreak when the bird chant
woke me- until the eveningmelted into the
bay from shore to shore there were ten
thousand memories, and the groves were
album with voices that had long ago ceased.
ANTIC1PATIoNs OF YOUTH.
Youth is apt too much to spend all its
time in looking forward. Old age Is apt too
much to spend all Of its time in looking
backward. People in midlife and on the
apex look both ways. 1t would be we'll for
| think To Snpn1
in "Reminiscences. By the constitution of our
nature we spend most of the time looking
forward And the vast majority of the peo
pie live not so much in the present as in the
future ! find that you mean to make a rep
utation 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 if it does not make you dis
contented with the present or disqualify
you for existing duties.
1t is a useful thing sometimes to look
back and to see the dangers we have
capped, and to see the sorrows we have suf-
fered, and the trials and wanderings of our
earthly pilgrimage, and to sum up our en-
joyments. l mean today, so far as God
may help me, to stir up your memory a
the past, so that in the review you may be
encouraged and humbled and urged to pray.
co 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 l am aware that the memory
of the past with many of you is covered up
with ten thousand obliteratons and pro-
pose this morning, so far as the Lord may
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 l want to bind in another
sheaf all your past adversities 1t is a
precious harvest, and l must be cautious
how swing the scythe.
HOME INFLUENCES.
Among the greatest advantages of your
past life was an early home and its sur
roundings. 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 concentration of sin when we
hear his mother was abandoned, and that
she made sport of his infirmity and often
called him the lame brat" lie 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 demOl-
ished or changed into stores and it seemed
like sacrilege to you, for there was more
meaning i'll that plain house, in that small
house, than there is in a granite mansion
or a turreted cathedral. Looking back this
morning, you see it as though it We're yes
terday-the sitting room, where the loved
ones sat by the plain lamplight the mother
at the evening stand, the brothers and sis
ters-perhaps long ago gathered into the
skies-then plotting mischief on the floor
Or under the table; your father, with firm
voice. commanding silence that lasted hall
minute
Oh, those were good days! If you had
your foot hurt, your mother always had a
soothing salve to heal it. If you were
wronged in the street, your father was al
ways ready to protect you. The year wa,
one round Of frolc and mirth. Your great
est trouble was an April shower more sun
shine than shower. The heart had not beer
ransacked by troubles, nor had sickness
broken in, and no lamb had a warmer
sheepfold than the home in which YOU
childhood nestled.
Perhaps you were brought up in the coun
try. You stand now today in memory un
der the old tree. You dubbed it for fruit
that was not quite ripe, because you coult
not wait any longer. You hear the brool
rumbling along the pebbles You stel
again into the furrow where your father il
his shirt sleeves shouted to the lazy oxen
You brighten the swallows from the rafter
of the barn and take just one egg and 81
lence your conscience by saying they viii
not miss it. You take a drink again out o
the very bucket that the old well fetched
up. You go for the cows at night and fint
them wagging their heads through tn
bars. Outlines in the dusty and bus
streets you wish you were home again OF
that cool grass or in the hall of the farm
house, through which there was the breatl
of new mown hay or the blossom of buck
wheat
You may have in your windows nov
beautiful plants and flowers brought iron
across the seas, but not one of them stir
in your soul SO much charm and memor
as the old ivy and the yellow sunflower tina
stood sentinel along the garden walk an