Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-07-13

CdIN6u pilluin, anu, vi, INV ho NioASo
that Rachel, his wife, was alive and
she could have come there with him to
see their son in his great housed ooh,
says tho old man within himself, II do
wish Rachel could be here to see all
this!" visited at the farmhouse Of the
father Of Alillard Fillmore when the
son was president Of the United States,
and the octogenarian farmer entertain
ed me until II o'clock at night, telling
me what great things he saw in his
sons house at Washington, and what
Daniel Webster said to him, and how
prandly Willard treated his father in
the White House The old mans face
was illumined with the story until al
most the midnight. He had just been
visiting his son at the capital. And l
suppose it was something Of the same
ioy that thrilled the heart Of the old
shepherd as he stood in the palace Of
the prime minister.
1t is a great day with you when your
old parents come to visit you. Your
little children stand around with great
wide open eyes, wondering how any
body could be so old. The parents can
not stay many days, for they are little
restless, and especially at nightfall, be-
cause they sleep better in their own
bed, but while they ta1Ty you somehow
feel there is a benediction in every room
in the house. They are a little feeble,
and you make it rs easy as you can for
them, and you realize they will probably
not visit you very often-perhaps never
again. You go to their room after they
have retired at night to see if the lights
are properly put out, for the old people
understand candle and lamp better than
the modern apparatus for illumination.
In the morning, with real interest in
their health, you ask them how they
rested last night Joseph, in the his
torical scene Of the text, did not think
any more Of his father than you do Of
your parents. The probability is, before
they leave your house they half spoil
your children with kindness. Grand
father and grandmother are more leni-
ent and indulgent to your children than
they ever were with YOU. And what
wonders Of revelation in the bOmbazine
pocket Of the one and the sleeve Of the
other! Blessed is that home where
Christian parents come to visit What
ever may have been the style of the
architecture when they came, it is a
palace before they leave. If they visit
You 90 times, the two most memorable
visits will be the first and the last.
Those two pictures will hang in the hall
Of your memory while memory lasts,
and you Will remember just how they
looked. and where they nat, and what
they said. and at what figure Of the
carpet, and at what doorsill they parted
with you, giving you the final goodby.
Do not be embarrassed if your father
come to town and he have the manners
of the shepherd, and if your mother
come to town and there be in her hat no
sign Of costly millinery. The wife Of
the Emperor Theodosius said a wise
thing when she said, Husbands, re-
member what you lately were and re-
member what You are and be thank
full.
Joseph and Jacob.
By this time You all notice what
kindly provision Joseph made for his
father, Jacob. Joseph did not say; !
can't have the old man around this
place How clumsy be would look
climbing up these marble stairs and
walking over these mosaicsl Then he
would be putting his hands upon some
Of these frescoes People would wonder
where that old greenhorn came from.
He would shock all the Egyptian court
with his manners at table. Besides that
he might get sick on my hands, and he
might be querulous, and he might talk
to me as though l were only boy,
when / am the second man in all the
realm. OF course he must not suffer,
and if there is famine in his country
and I hear there isl will send him
some provisions, but I can't take q man
from Padanaram and introduce him
into this polite Egyptian court What
nuisance it is to have poor relations"
Joseph did not say that but he rush
ed out to meet his father with perfect
abandon Of affection, and brought him
mp to the palace, and introduced him to
the emperor, and provided for all the rest
Of the fathers days, and nothing was
too good for the old man while living,
md when he was dead Joseph, with
military escort, took his fathers re-
mains to the family cemetery. Would
God all children were as kind to their
parents!
If the father have large property, and
he be wise enough to keep it in his own
name, he will be respected by the heirs,
but how often it is when the son finds
his father in famine, as Joseph found
Jacob in famine, tho young people make
t very hard for the old man. They are
so surprised he eats with knife instead
Of a fork They are chagined at his
antediluyian habits. They are provoked
because he cannot hear as well as he
used to, and when he asks it over again
and the son has to repeat 1t he Davis III
the old mans ear, Il hope you hear
that" How long he must wear the old
coat or the old hat before they get him
q new onel How chagrined they are at
his independence Of the English gram
mari How long he hangs onl Seventy
years, and not gone yeti Seventy-fve
years, and not gone yeti Eighty years,
and not gone yeti VIII he ever 60?
They think it Of no use to have a doc
tor in his last sickness, and 90 up to the
drug store, and get dose Of something
that makes him worse, and economize
on a coffin, and beat the undertaken
down to the last point, giving a note
for the reduced amount, which they
never pay. 1 have ofliciated at cbsequies
Of aged people where the family have
been so inordinately resigned to Provi-
dence that l felt like taking my text
from Proverbs, 1.-THE eye that mocketh
at its father and refuseth to obey its
mother, the ravens of the valley shall
pick it out, and the young eagles shall
eat it" In other words, such an in
CRATE ought to have flock Of crows for