The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-07-27

joys of thy Lord" My brother, my
sister, / do not care whether that man
dies at 80 40, so, 60, 20 or so years of
age; You can chisel right under his
name on the tombstone these words:
''His life was worth living"
Amid the hills of New Hampshire, in
olden times, there sits mother. There
are SIX children in the hcusehold-four
boys and two girls. Small farm. Very
rough. hard work to coax living out
of it. Mighty tug to make the two
ends of the year meet. The boys go to
school in winter and work the farm in
summer. Mother is the chief presiding
spirit. With her hands she knits all
the stockings for the little feet, and
she is the mantuamaker for the boys,
and she is the milliner for the girls.
There is only one musical instrument
in the house-the spinning wheel.
The food is very plain, but is always
well provided. The winters are very
cold, but are kept out by the blankets
she quilted. On Sunday, when she APP
pears in the village church, her chill
dren around her. the minister looks
down, and is reminded of the Bible de-
scription of a good housewife: Her
children arise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praiseth her."
Some years go by, and the two
eldest boys want a collegiate educa-
ton and the household economies are
severer, and the calculations are closer,
and until those two boys get their ed
ucation there is a hard battle for
bread. One of these boys enters the
university, stands in a pulpit widely
influential, and breaches righteous
ness, Judgment and temperance, and
thousands during his ministry are
blessed The other lad who got the
collegiate education goes into the law,
and thence into legislative halls, and
after awhile he commands listening
senates as he makes plea for the
down-trodden and the outcast. One of
the younger boys becomes merchant,
starting at the foot of the ladder, but
Ginning on up until his success and
his philanthropies are recognized all
over the land. The other son stays at
home because he prefers farming life,
and then he thinks he will be able to
take care of father and mother when
they get old.
OF the two daughters, when the war
broke out one went through the hos
pitfalls of Pittsburg Landing and
Fortress Monroe, cheering up the dy-
ing and homesick, and taking the last
message to kindred far away. So that
every time Christ thought of her he
said. as of old: 1.-The same is my sister
and mother" The other daughter has
bright home of her own, and in the
afternoon of the forenoon when she
has been devoted to her household. she
goes forth to hunt up the sick and to
encourage the discouraged, leaving
smiles and benediction all along the
way.
But one day there start five tele-
grams from the village for these five
absent ones, saying: Come, mother is
dangerously ILL.," But before they can
be ready to start they receive another
telegram, saying: Come, mother is
dead" The old neighbors gather in
the old farm house to do the last offices
of respect But as that farming son,
and the clergyman, and the senator,
and the merchant, and the two daugh-
tiers stand by the casket of the dead
mother. taking the last look, or lifting
their children to see once more the
face of dear old grandma, l want to
ask that group around the casket one
question: do you really think her life
was worth living?" A life for God, a
life for others. a life of unselfishness, a
useful life, Christian life, is always
worth living.
l would not find it hard to persuade
you that the poor lad, Peter Cooper,
making glue for a living, and then
amassing a great fortune until he could
build philanthropy which has had it's
echo in 10000 philanthropies all over
the country would not find it hard
to persuade you that his life was worth
living. Neither would l find it hard
to persuade you that the life of
Susannah Wesley was worth liv-
ing. She sent out one son to
organize Methodism and the other
son to ring his anthems all through
the ages. would not find it hard to
persuade you that the life of Frances
Leere was worth living, as she estab-
lished in England a school for the
scientific nursing of the sick, and when
the war broke out between France and
Germany. went to the front, and with
her own hands scraped the mud off the
bodies of the soldiers dying in the
trenches. Neither would l have hard |
work to persuade you that Grace
Darling lived life worth living-the |
heorine of the lifebOat.
But know the thoughts in the minds
of hundreds who read this. You say: |
while 1 know all these lived lives
worth living, / dent think my life |
amounts to much" All. my friends, |
whether you live life conspicuous or
inconspicuous, it is worth living, if you
live right And l want my next sem
tcnce to go down into the depths of all |
your souls. You are to be rewarded, |
not according to the greatness of your !
work. but according to the holy indus
tries with which you employed the tai
ents you really possessed. The major
ity of the crowns of Heaven will not be |
given to people with ten talents, for |
most of them were tempted only to
serve themselves. The vast ma jority of |
the crowns of Heaven will be given to
people who had one talent, but gave it |
all to God. And remember that our
life here is Introductory to another.
Your life, if rightly lived, is the first !
bar of an eternal oratoriO, and who de- |
spises the first note of HaydIts SYM
phonies? And the life you live now is
all the more worth living because it
opens into a life that shall never end,
and the last letter of the word time
is the first letter of the word .'eter- |