Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-06-02

hSA va hhC" hihi. AL udJS Ou DIS UG
passes. Bask for days and years in
the sunlight of his prosperity. Going
down. is he? Pretend to be near
sighted so that you cannot see him as
he walks past. When men ask you if
you knew him, halt and hesitate as
though you were trying to call up dim
memory and say: We'll, y-e-e-s, yes;
| belive l once did know him, but have
not seen him for long while" Cross
a different ferry from the one where
you used to meet him lest he ask for
financial help. When you started life
he spoke good word for you at the
bank. Talk down his credit now that
his fortunes are collapsing. He put his
name on two of your notes; tell him
that you have changed your mind about
such things and that you never indorse.
After awhile his matters come to dead
halt, and an assignment or suspension
or sheriff's sale takes place. You say:
HE ought to have stopped sooner. Just
as l expected. He made too big q
| splash in the world. Glad the balloon
has burst. Ha-haw Applause when he
went up, sibilant derision when he came
down. Men shall clap their hands
| at him and hiss him out of his place."
So, high up amid the crags, the eagle
flutters dust into the eyes o. the roe
buck, which then, with eyes blinded,
goes tumbling over the precipice, 'le
great antlers crashing on the rocks.
Now, compare some of these goings
out of life with the departure of men
and women, who, in the drama of life,
take the part that God assigned them
and then went away honored of men
and applauded of the Lord Almighty. It
is about fifty years ago that in a COM
paratively small apartment Of the city a
newly married pair set up home. The
first guest invited to that residence was
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Bible
given the bride on the day of her
espousal was the guide of that house
hold. Days of sunshine were followed
by days of shadow. Did you ever
know home that for fifty years had
no vicissitude? The young woman
who left her fathers house for her
y
a parental benediction and good advice
she will never forget. Her mother said
to her the day before the marriage:
Now, my child, you are going away
from us. OF course, as long as your
father and live you can feel that you
can come to us at any time. But your
home will be elsewhere. From long
E,,I hoe IL
is very bright for you now my child and
you may think you can get along with
out religion, but the day will come when
you will want God, and my advice is,
establish family altar, and, If need be,
conduct the worship yourself" The
counsel was taken, and the young wife
consecrated every room in the house to
God.
Years passed on and there were in
that home hilarities, but they were good
and healthfui; and sorrows. but they
were comforted. Marriages as bright
as orange-blossoms could make them,
and burials in which all hearts were
riven. They have a family lot in the
cemetery, but all the place is illumi-
mated with stories of resurrection and
reunion. The children of the house,
hold that lived have grown up and they
are all Christians, and father and
mother leading the way and the chill
dren following. What care the mother
took of wardrobe and education, char
acter and manners! How hard she
sometimes worked! When the head OF
the household was unfortunate in BUSH
ness she sewed until her fingers we're
numb and bleeding at the tips. And
what close calculation of economies and
what ingenuity in refitting the gar
ments of the elder children for the
younger, and only God kept account Of
that mothers sideaches and headaches
and heartaches and the tremplous
prayers by the side of the sick child's
cradle and by the couch of this one fully
grown. The neighbors often noticed
how tired she looked, and old acquain-
tances hardly knew her in the street.
But without complaint she waited and
toiled and endured and accomplished
all these years. The children are
ouL III the WOTlu-dH uOHOT 10 tnem-
selves and their parents. After awhile |
the mothers last sickness comes. Chill |
dren and grandchildren, summoned
from afar, come softly into the room
one by one, for she is too weak to see |
more than one at time. She runs her |
dying fingers lovingly through their |
hair and tells them not to cry, and that |
she is going now, but they will meet |
again in little while in a better world, |
and then kisses them goodbye and |
says to each, God bless and keep you,
my dear child" The day of the obse-
quies comes, and the officiating clergy
man tells the story of wifely and moth
erly endurance, and many hearts on |
earth and in heaven echo the senti-
ment, and as she is carried off the stage
Of this mortal life there are cries of
Faithful unto DEATH" "She hath done !
what she could" while overpowering all
the voices of earth and heaven is the
plaudit of the God who watched her
from first to last, saying, "Well done,
good and faithful servant; thou hast |
been faithful over few things, I will |
make thee ruler over many things; en-
ter thou into the joy of thy Lordw