Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-07-20


Whatever may have been the style Of the
architecture when they came, it is a
palace before they leave. If they visit
you fifty times, the two most memorable
visits will be the first AMI the last. Those
two pictures will hang in the hail Of your
memory while memory lasts. and you will
remember just how they looked, and where
they sat- and what they said, and at what
ngure or the carpet, and at what doorsiii
they parted with you, giving you the final
goodby. Do not be embarrassed II your
father come to town and he have the man
ners 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 wise thing when
she said. Husbands, remember what you
lately were and remember what you are and
be thankful
By this time you al notice what kindly
provision Joseph made for his father, Jacob.
Joseph did not say: 81 can't have the old
man around this place. How clumsy he
would look climbing up these marble stairs
and walking over these mosaics! 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 man
ners at table. Besides that he might get
sick on my hands, and he might be querulous.
and he might talk to me as though I were
only boy, when am the second man in
all the realm. OF course he must not suffer,
and If there is famine in this country-and
hear there isl will send him some pro-
visions, but I can't take a man from
Padanaram and introduce him into this
polite Egyptian Court. What nuisancci it
is to have poor relations ~
Joseph did not say that, but he rushed out
10 meet his father with perfect abandon Of
affection, and brought him up 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, and 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 1t 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,
the young people make it very hard for the
old mani They are SO surprised he eats
with knife instead of a fork. They are
chagrined at his antediluvian habits. They
are provoked because he cannot hear as we'll
as he used to, and when he asks it over
again and the son has to repeat it he bawls |
in the old mans ear, al hope you hear that" :"
How long he must wear the old coat or the |
old hat before they get him new one! How
chagrined they are at his independence OF
the English grammar How long he hangs
on! Seventy years, and not gone vet
Seventy five years, and not gone yet Eighty |
years, and not gone yet Will he ever go: |
They think it of no use to have doctor in |
his last sickness, and go 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 q note for the reduced amount. |
which they never pay. l have offfciated at
Obsequies Of aged people where the family |!
have been so inordinateiy resigned to Provi- |
dence that felt like taking my text from |
Proverbs, ''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 |
ii; migrate oug ht to have a flock of crows !
for pallbearers! l congratulate you if YOU |
have the honor Of providing for aged par |
ents. The blessings of the Lord God OF
Joseph and Jacob will be on you.
[ rejoice to remember that, though my
father lived in plain house the most of his !
days, he died in Il mansion provided by the |
filial piety ola son who had achieved for |
tune. There the Octogcnarian sat, and the !;
servants waited on him, and there were |
plenty of horses and plenty of carriages to |
convey him, and bower in which to sit on |
long summer afternoons dreaming over the |
past, and there was not n room i'll the house |
where he was not welcome, and there were |
musical instruments of all sorts to regaie |
him, and when life had passed the neiyhbors /
came out and expressed all honor possible |
and carried him to the village Machpelah |
and put him down beside the Rachel with |
whom he had lived more than half CEN
tury. Share your successes with the old |
people. The probability is that the principles |
they inculcated achieved your fortune. Give |
them Christian percentage of kindly con- |
sideration. Let Joseph divide with Jacob the |
pasture fields Of Goshen and the glories of !
the Egyptian court.
And here 1 would like to sing the praises |
of the sisterhood who remain unmarried |
that they might administer to aged parents. !
The brutal world calls these sacrificing ones
peculiar or angular, but if you have had is
many annoyances as they have had Kan
tippe would have been an angel compared to |
you. 1t is easier to take care of five rollick- |
ing, romping children than of one childish |
old man. Among the best women are those |
who allo wed the bloom fife to pass away
while they were caring for their parents. |
While other maidens were sound asleep |
they were soaking the old mans feet or |
tucking up the covers around the invalid |
mother. While other maidens were in the |
cOtillon they were dancing attendance upon |
rheumatism and spreading plasters for the |
lame back of the septenarian and heating |
catnip tea for insomnia
In almost every circle of our kindred there
has been some queen of self sacriffceto whom |
ieweled hand after jeweled hand was offered |
in marriage, but who stayed on the old |
place because of the sense of filial obligation
until the health was gone and the attractive
ness of personal presence had vanished.
Brutal society may cal! such one by a nick
name. God calls her daughter, and heaven
calls her saint. and l call her domestic mar
tyr. A half dozen or linary women have not
as much nobility as could be found in the
smallest joint of the little finger of her left
hand. Although the world has stool 6000
years, this is the first apotheosis of maiden
hood, although in the long line ofthose who
have declined marriage that they might be
qualified for some especial mission are the
names of Anna Ross and Margaret Breckin-
ridge and Mary Shelton and Anna Etheridge
and Georgiana Willetts, the angels OF the
battlefelds of Fair Oaks and Lookout Noun
tain and Charlottesville, and though single
life has been honOred by the fact that the
three greatest men of the Bibe-John and
Paul and Christ-were celibates.
Let the ungrateful world sneer at the
maiden aunt, but God has a throne bur
nished for her arrival, and on one side of
that throne in heaven there is 4
tanning two jewels, the one brighter than the
KOhinoor of London Tower and the other
larger than any diamond ever found in the
districts of Go!conda-the one Jewel by the
lapidary of the palace cut with the words,
''lnasmuch as We did it to father = the other
jewel by the lapidary Of the palace out with
the words, "1Dasmuch as ye did it to moth
er." cover the Hills to the PoOrhouse'' is
the exquisite ballad of Will Carleton, who
found an old woman who had been turned |
off by her prosperous sons, but thank God
[ may find in my text cover the hills to the |
palace
AS if to disgust us with unfilial conduct,
Tue bIoIe presents US tle story oI Mtcdu, VINO
stole the 100 shekels from his mother, AMI
the story of A5salom. who tried to dethrone
his father. But all history is beautiful, with
stories of f1lial fidelity. Epaminondas, the
warrior, found his chief delight in reciting
to his parents his victories. There goes
Eneas from burning Troy, on his shoulders
Anchises, his father. The Athenians pun
ished with death any unf1lial conduct. There
goes beautiful Ruth escorting venerable
Naomi across the desert amid the bowling OF
the wolves and the barking OF the jackals.
John Lawrence. burned at the stake in Col
chester, was cheered in the flames by his
children, who said, go, God. strengthen
Thy servant and keep Thy promise!' And
Christ in the hour of excruciation provided