Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-10-01


payne. 1 am told that in some of the
cities there are parents who have &C
tually given up housekeeping and gone
to boarding that they may give their
time illimitably to social designations.
[ have known such cases. [ have known
family after family blasted in that way
i'll one Of the other cities where
preached. Father and mother turning
their backs upon all quiet culture and
all the amenities Of home, leading forth
their entire family i'll the wrong direc-
ton. Anr@a;l ated-worse than annihi-
lated, for there are some things worse
than humiliation. l give you the his
tory Of more than one family when 1
say they went on in the designations Of
social life until the father dropped into
q lower style Of dissipation, and after
awhile the son was tossed out into So
ciety q nonentity, and after awhile the
daughter eloped with a French dane
ing master, and after awhile the moth
er, getting on further and further in
years, tries to hide the wrinkles, but
fails i'll the attempt, trying all the arts
of the belle-an old flirt poor miser-
sble butterfly without any wings
If there is anything OH earth beauti-
full to me, it is an aged woman, her
white locks flowing back over the wrin-
killed. brow-lOcks not white with frost,
as the poets say, but white with the
blossoms Of the tree of life, i'll her voice
the tenderness Of gracious memories,
her face benediction. AS grandmother
passes through the room the grandchil-
bn
falls i'll her weakness, but she has moth
ing but candy or cake or kind word
for the little darlings. When she gets
out of the wagon in front of the house,
the whole family rush out and cry,
"Grandma's come!' And when she
goes away from US, never to return,
there is a shadow on the table, and a
shadow or the hearth, and q shadow on
the heart.
There is no moro touching scene on
earth than when grandmother sleeps the
last slumber and the little child is lift
ed up to the casket to give the last kiss,
and she says, "Goodby, grandma" Oh,
there is beauty in old age. God says so.
1.-The hoary head is a crown of glory. "
Why should people decline to get old?
The best things, the greatest things, |
know of are aged-old mountains, old
seas, old stars and old eternity. But if
there is anything distressful it is to see
all old woman ashamed of the fact that
she is old. What with all the artificial
appliances she is too much for my gray
ity. I laugh even in church when | see
her coming. The worst looking bird on
earth is peacock when it has lost its
feathers. would not give one lock of
my old mothers gray hair for so, 900
such caricatures of humanity. And if
the life of q worldling, if the life of
disciple given to the world, is sad. the
close of such a life is simply q tragedy.
Fate of the Sybarites.
Let me tell you that the designations
of social life are despoiling the useful
ness of vast multitude of people.
What do those people care about the
fact that there are whole nations in sor-
row and suffering and agony when they
have for consideration the more impor-
tant question about the size of glove
or the tie of cravat? Which one of
them ever bound up the wounds of the
hospital? Which one Of them ever went
out to care for the poor? Which Of them
do you find in the haunts of sin distrib
uting tracts? They live on themselves,
and 1t is very poor pasture
Sybaris was great city, and it Cnco
sent out 800 horsemen in battle. They
had minstrel who had taught tic
horses of the army great trick, and
when the Old minstrel played certain
tune the horses would rear and with
their front feet seem to beat time to the
music. Well, the old minstrel was OF
Tended with his country, and he went
over to tho enemy. and he said to the
enemy, "You give me the mastership
of the army, and [ will destroy their
troops when those horsemen come from
Syba1is.
So they gave the old minstrel the
management, and he taught all the
other MINISTRIES q certain tune. Then
when the cavalry troop came up the old
minstrel and all the other minstrels
played certain tune, and at the most
critical moment in the battle, when
tho horsemen wanted to rush to the con-
fiict, the horses reared and beat time to
the music with their fore feet and III
disgrace and rout the enemy fled. All,
my friends, I have seen it again and
again-the Ministries of pleasure, the
MINISTRIES of dissipation, the MINISTRIES
of goddess association have defeated peo-
pie in the hardest fight of lifel Frivol-
ity has lost the battle for 10, 900 folk
Oh, what q belittling process to the hui
man mind this everlasting question
about dress, this discussion of fashion
able inf1nitesimals, this group, looking
askance at the glass, wondering with
an ininity Of earnestness how that last
geranium leaf does look, this shrivel-
ing of ma1's moral dignity until it is
not observable to the naked eye, this
Spanish inquisition of tight shoe. this
binding up of an immortal soul in o
ruff1e, this pitching off of an immortal