The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1895-02-01
THE LONDONDERRY SITTER

sionary asked, "Was his name MI
Gladstone?" "Oh, yes" said tho boy.
"that is his name-Mr Gladstone" Do
you tell mo man can see religion like
that and not like iti There is an old
fashioned mother In q farmhouse. Per-
haps she is somewhere in the seventies,
perhaps 70 or 70. 1t Is the early evens
ing hour, Through speotacles No. s she
is reading a newspaper until toward
bedtime, when she takes up we'll worfi
book, called the Bible, know from the
illumination in her face she is reading
one of the thanksgiving psalms, or in
Revelation the story of the IL pearly
gates. After awhile she closes the book
and folds her hands and thinks over the
past and seems whispering the names Of
her children, some Of them ON earth and
some of them in heaven. Now d smile
is ON her face, and now tear. and
sometimes the smile catches the tear.
The scenes OF a long lifo come back to
her One minute she sees all the chill
dren smiling around her, with their toys
and sports and strange questionings.
Then She temembers several of them
down sick with infahtJe disorders;
Then sho soes short grave, but over it
cut in marble, Suffer them to come to
me" Then there Is the wedding hour.
and tho neighbors in, and tho promise
of 81 will, and the departure from tho
old homestead, then scene of hard
times, and soant bread and struggle.
Then sho thinks of few years with
gush of sunshin5 and fittings Of dark
shadows and vicissitudes.
This Is Piety.
Then she kneels down slowly, for
many years nave stiffened the Joints,
and the illnesses of lifetime have made
her less supple. Her prayer is a mixture
of thanks for sustaining grace during all
those years, and thanks for children good
and Christian and kind, and prayer
for the wandering boy, whom she hopes
to see come home before her departure.
And then her trembling lips speak of
the land of reunion where she expects to
meet her loved ones already translated,
and after telling the Lord in very SIM
pie language how much she loves him,
and trusts him, and hopes to see him
soon, hear her pronounce the quiet
"Amen, " and she rises up-a little more
difficult effort than kneeling down. And
then she puts her head on the pillow for
the night, and the angels of safety and
peace stand sentinel about that couch in
the farmhouse, and her face ever and
anon shows signs Of dreams about the
heaven she read of before retiring. In
the morning the days work has begun
down stairs, and seated at the table the
remark is made, "Mother must have
oversight herself" And the grandchil-
6ren also notice that grandmother is alb
sent from her usual splace at the table.
One of the grandchildren goes to the foot
of the stairs and cries, Grandmother
But there is no answer. Fearing some
thing is the matter, they go up to see,
and all seems right The spectacles and
Bible on the stand, and the covers of the
bed are smooth, and the face is calm,
her white hair ON the white pillow case
like snow ON snow already fallen. But
her soul is gone up to look upon the
things that the night before she had
been reading of in the Scriptures. What
a transporting look on her dear old
wrinkled face! She has seen the liking
in his beauty" She has been welcomed
by the Lamb who was slain. "And her
two Oldest sons, having hurried up stairs,
look and whisper, Henry to George,
"That is religion!" George to Henry,
Eyes, that is religionl'
He Dispensed Blessings.
There is New York merchant who
has been in business l should say 40 or
so years. During ain old fashioned re-
vival of religion in boyhood he gave his
heart to God. He did not make the
CHASTITY and infinite and everlasting mis-
take of sowing wild oats" with the
expectation of sowing good wheat later
on. He realized the fact that the most
of those who SOW wild oats" never
reap any other crop. He started right
and has kept right He went down in
1857, when the banks failed, but he
failed honestly and never lost his faith
in God. Ups and downs-he sometimes
laughs over them-but whether losing
or gaining he was growing better all the
time. He has been in many business
ventures, but he never ventured the ex-
pertinent of gaining the world and los
ing his soul His name was power
both in the church and in the business
world He has drawn more checks for
contributions to asylums and churches
and schools than any one, except God,
knows. He has kept many business
man from failing by lending his name
on the back of note till the crisis was
past All heaven knows about him, for
the poor woman whose rent he paid in
her last days, and the man with con-
sumption in the hospital to whom he
sent flowers and the cordials just before
ascension, and the people he encouraged
in many ways, after they entered heaven
kept talking about it, for the immortals
are neither deaf nor dumb. Well, it is
about time for the old merchant himself
to quit earthly residence.
AS it is toward evening, he shuts the
safe, puts the roll of newspapers in his
pocket, thinking that the family may
like to read them after he gets home.
He folds up So bill and gives it to the
boy to carry to one of the car men who
got his leg broken and may be in need
of little money; puts stamp on let,
ter to his grandson at college, letter
with good advice, and an Enclosure to
make the holidays happy, then looks
around the store or Office and says to the
clerks, Good evening", and starts for
home, stopping on the way at door to
ask how his old friend, deacon in the
same church, is getting on since his last
bad attack of vertigo HE enters his own
home, and that is his last evening ON
earth. He does not say much. No last
words are necessary. His whole life has
been testimony for God and righteouE-
ness. More people would like to attend
his obsequies than any house or church
would hold The officiating clergyman
begins his remarks by quoting from the
psalmist, Help, Lord, for the godly
man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from
among the children of men" Every