Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-08-11
"FIRHSIDE MUSING. p"
rr. Talmage Conjures Up a Rem
iniscent Past.
Vagaries of Life Histories.

TEXT While tcds n'usinJ the tr
burned. Psalm xxx, B.
Here is David. the pslimist, with the fore
| finger OF his right hand against his temple
| the door shut against the world, engaged II
contemplation. And II would be we'll for ui
TO take the sane posture often, closing the
door against the world while we sit down in
sweet solitude to contemplate.
In a small island of the coast once passed
a Sabbath in delightful solitude. for l had
resolved that l would have one day OF entire
| quiet before | entered upon autumnal work
thought TO have spent the day in laying out
| plans for Christian work but instead OF that
! it became a day OF tender Renaissance. /
| reviewed my pastorate. | shook hands with
an old departed friend. whom / shall greet
again when the curtains OF life are lifted.
| The days OF my boyhoo1 came back. and
was 10 years OF age, AMI l was 8, and | was
| 5. There was hut one house on the island
| and yet from Sabbath daybreak, when the
bird chant woke me. until evening melted
into the bay, from shore to shore there were
! 10000 memories, and the groves were a-hum
with voices that had long ago ceased.
Youth is apt too much to spend all its 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 II would be we'll for US, think, how
ever to spend more time in "reminiscences.
| By the constitution Of our nature we spend
most OF the time looking forward. And the
vast majority OF people live not 50 much in
the present rs 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 great deal
of your time. But l see no harm in this II
| il does not make you discontended with the
present or disqualify you fer existing duties.
1t is a 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. l
mean to-day. so far 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. It 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 all covered up
with 10. 900 CELEBRATIONS. 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 want 10 bini in another
sheaf all your past a1versties II is prec-
ious harvest. and must be cautious now 1
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
are not surprised that ByrOn's heart was
/ concentration of sin when We hear that his
mother was abandoned AMI that she made
sport OF his infrmity AMI often called him
/ 1.-THE lame brat" He who has vicious parents
/ has to fight every inch Of his way if he
would maintain his integrity and at last
reachthe 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 granite mansion or n turreted
/ cathedral Looking back this morning. you
, see it rs though it were yesterday-the sit
i ting room. where the loved ones sat by the
plain amplight. 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
|
/ that lasted half a minute.
/ On. those were good days II you had
your foot hurt. your mother always had a
soothing salve to heal it. II you were
wronged in the street. your father was always
ready to protect you. The year was ono
] round OF irolic and mir;h. Your greatest
q 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 sheepiold
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 il for fruit that
was not quite ripe because you cOlld not
wait any longer. You hear the brook rumb-
ling along over the pebbles. You step again
into the iurrow where yOIr father in his
shirt sleeves shouted TO the lazy oxen. You
frighten the Swallows from the rafters OF the
harm and take Just one egg and silence your
conscience by saying they will not miss il
You take a drink again ont Of the very bucket
that the old well fetched up. You 90 forths
COWS at night AMI find them wagg,ng thelr
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
OF buckwheat.
You may have in v9u- win 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 ola
wv and the yellow sunflOwer that stood
sentinel along the garden walk aud 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. nav have gone to his everlasting rest.
The mother who used to sit at the door
little bent over. cap and spectacles on, her
face mclowing with the yicissitudes OF many
years. may have put down her gray head on
The pillow in the valley, but forget that homo
YOU never will.
Have YOU thanked Col for it} Have you
rehearsed all these blessed "reminiscences
oh. thank God for a Christian father. Thank
God for q Christian mother. Thank God for
an early Christian altar at which you were
taught TO kneel. Thank God for an early
Christian home.
/ bring to mind another passage In the his
tory OF your life The day came when you
set up your own houshold. The days passed
along in quiet blessedness. Your twain sat at
the table morning and night and talked oye'
your plans for the future. The most sgnih-
cant affair in your life became the subject ol
mutual consultation and Amusement. loN
were so happy you felt you never could be
any happier.
One day dark cloud lowered over your
dwelling. and It got darker and darker. Blu
out OF that cloud the shining messenger o
God descended to incarnate an immorta
shirt Two little feet started on an eterna
tourney. and you were to lead them. gen
TO flash in heavens coronet, and you t
polish it, Eternal ages OF light and DARK
ness watching the starting oIt OF newly
created being.
You reioiced and you trembled at the re-
sponslbility that in your possession an i'm.
mortal treasure was placed. You prayed and
reioiced and wept and wondered. and prayed
and reioiced. AMI wept and wondered. You
were earnest in supp!cation that you might
lead it through life into the kingdom OF God.
There was a trsmor in your earnestness.
There was n double interest about that home.
There was an additional interest why you
should stay there and be faithful. AMI when
in n few months your house was filed with
the music OF the child's laughter yOu were
struck through with the fact that you had
stupendous mission.
Have you kept that vow? Have you no.
elected any Of these dutiesy Isyour home ~
much TO YOU as it used to be2 Have those
antic.pations been gratiGsd? God help you
today in your solemn Renaissance and let
His mercy fall upon your soul il your kind
81 C,I bat~