Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-10-17

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and swift neuralgias are clos on their track.
i Amid many of the glttering scenes OF social
life diseases stand right and left and balance
and chain. The breath OF the sepulcher
doats up through the perfume, and the fToth
| Of Deaths lips bubbIesNp in the champagne.
| am told that in some ofthe cities there are
| parents who have actually given up house.
| keeping and gone TO boarding that they may
| give their time illimitably TO social dlsspa-
tions. I have known such cases. 1 have
| known family after family blastei in tina.
| way in one of the other cities " iere 1
| preached. Father and mother turn NJ their
backs upon all quiet culture and all the
amenities OF home, leading forth
their entire family in the wrong !ifrec-
| tion. Annihilated worse than annihilatei, Z,
for there are some things worse than ami
| hilation. / give you the history OF more
than one family when I say they went on in
the dissipations OF social life until the father
| dropped into a lower style OF dissipation,
| and after awhile the son was tossed ont into
society nonentity, and after awhile tina
| DAUGHTER eloped with French danc;ny ms
| ter, and after awhile the mother, getting on
| further and further in years, tries to hid"
| the wrinkles, but fails in the attempt. trying
| al the arts of the belle-an old firr, "A poor,
miserable butterfly without any wings.
II there Is anything on earth beautiful TO
me, it Is an aged woman. her white lo.Ss
lowing back over the wrinklei brow-lock-
not white with frost, as the poets say. but
white with the blossoms OF the tree OF life.
In her voice the tenderness OF graciou-
memories, her face a benediciion. As grand
mother passes through the room the grant,
children pull at her dress, and she almost
falls In her weakness, but she has nothing
but candy or cake or a kind wort for tn"
little darlings. When she gets ont OF .hC
wagon in front of the house, the Who'll
family rush out and cry, "Grandna's
eomew And when she goes away IRON rs
n
liable, and a shadow on the hearth, and a
shadow on the heart.
There is no more touching scene on earth
than when grandmother sleeps the last sum-
ber and the little child IS lifted up to the
casket to give the last kiss, and she says,
"Goodby, grandma" Oh, there is beauty
In old age. God says so. "The hoary hea 4
Is a crown OF glory" Why should people
6ecline to get old? The bes: things, the
greatest things, know OF are aged-old
ty. But If there is anything distreSsfnl 1t Is
to see an old woman ashamed of the fact
that she is old. What with all the artificial
appliances she Is too much for my gravity.
1 laugh even in church when 1 see her CON-
ing. The worst looking bird on earth is a
peacock when 1t has lost its feathers.
would not give one lock of my old mothers
gray hair for 80. 900 such caricatures of hui
manjty. And if the lie OF a wording, il
the life OF a disciple given to the world, ts
sad the close OF such a life is simply tragedy.
Let me tell you that the dissipations OF social
life are despoiling the usefulness OF a vast
multitude of people. What do those people
care About the fact that there are whole M
ttons in sorrow and suffering and agony
when they have for consideration the more
important question about the size of glove
or the tie OF a cravate? 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
baunts o: sin distributing tracts? Tney live
on themselves, and it is very poor pasture.
Sybaris was great city, and it once sent
out 800 horsemen in battle. They had g
minstrel who had taught the horses OF the
army great trick, and when the old min
strel played certain tune the horses would
rear and with their front feet seemed to beat
time to the music. Well, the old minstrel
over to the 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 Sybaris."
So they gave the old minstrelthe manage.
ment, and he taught all the other rlinstrels
a 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 the horsemen wanted to rush to the
conflict. the horses reared and beat time to
the music with their fore feet, and in dis
friends, I have seen it again and again-the
minstrels of pleasure, the minstrels Of dissi-
patton, the minstrels Ct goddess association
have defeated people in the hard
est fight of life! Frivolity has
lost the battle for 10000 folk.
oh, what belittling process to the human
mind this everlasting question about dress,
this discussion OF fashionable infinitesirals,
this group, looking askance at the glass,
wondering with an infinfty of earnestness
how that last geranium leaf does LOOK, this
shriveling of mans moral dignity until 1t is
not observable to tho naked eye, this Soan-
ish inquisition of tight shoe. this binding
up OF an immortal soul in a ruffie, this pitch
ing of of an immortal nature over the rocks
when God created it for great and everlast-
ing uplifting!
With many life Is masquerade ball, an 4
as at such entertainments gentlemen and
ladies put on the glrb of kings and queens
or mountebanks or clowns, and ut the close
put of the disSuisa, SO "a great many pass
their whole life in a mask, taking OF the
mask at death. While the masquerade ball
OF life goes on they trip merrily over the
floor, gemmel hand is stretched to the
gemmed hand, AMI cleaning brow ben Is to
cleaning brow. On with the dancsi Flush
and rustic and laughter OF immeasurable
merrymaking!
But after awhile the languor Of death
comes on the limbs and blurs the eyesight.
Lights lower. Floor hollow with sepuIchral
echo. Music si;dened into a wall. Lights
lower. Now the maskers are only seen in
the dim light. Now the fragrance of tn .
flowers is like the sicSeuing o Tor that comes
from Garlands that have lain long in the
vaults of cemeteries. lights lower. Mists
gather in the room. Glasses shake as thou n
ouaked by sullen thunder. Sigh caught IN
the curtain. Scarf drops from the shoulder
of beauty-a snrondl Lights lower. Over
the slippery boards in dance OF death glides
jealousies, enyies, revsnges, lust, despqr
and death. Stencil the lamp wicks almost
extinguished. Torn garments will not halt
cover the liberated feet. Choking damps.
Chilliness Feet still. Hands closed. Voices
hushed. Eyes shut. Lights out.
Oh. how many o. you have ioated FAR away
from God through social dissipatfons, and 1t
is time you turnei. for l remember that
there were two vessels on the sea in q storm.
II was very very dark. and the two vessels
were going strai ,ht for each other, and the
captains knew il not. But after awhile the
man on the lookout saw the approaching
ship. and he shouted, "Hard a-larooard J.
aud from the other vessel the cry Went up.
'.Hard a-Iarbolri!' and they turEed just
enough TO glance by and passed in safety to
their hartors. Some OF you are In the storm
of temptation, and you are driving on an :
coming toward fearful collisions unless you
change YOUR course. Hard a-larboard! Turn
We. turn We, for "why will ye die, o hous-
of IsraeIp'