Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-05-28

VIII want Coo, ana my ADVICE Is, esrzpIsn
family altar, and. II need be, conducs
the worship yourself" The counsel was
taken, and that young wife oonsecrnted
every room IN the house to God.
Years passed on, and there were In that
home hilarities, but they were good and
healthful, 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 ls illuminated With stories of resur-
rection and reunion. The children of the
household that lived have grown up, and
they are all Christians, the father and
mother leading the way. and the children
following. What care the mother took Of
wardrobe and education, character and
mannersl How hard she sometimes work
ed When the head Of the household was
unfortunate In business, she sewed until
her fingers were numb and bleeding at the
tips, and what close calculation Of econo-
mics, and what ingenuity in reftting the
garments of the elder children for the
younger, and only God kept eccount Of
that mothers sideaches and headaches and
heartaches and the trem mulous 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 acquaintances hardly knew
her in the street. But, without COM
plaint, she waited and toiled and endured
and accomplished all these years. The
children are out In the world, an honor to
themselves and their parents. After
awhile the mothers last sickness comes.
Children 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 better world, and then kisses
them goodby and says to each, "God bless
and keep you, my dear child" The day
of the obsequies comes. and the officiating
clergyman tells the story Of wifely and
motherly endurance, and many hearts ON
earth and in heaven echo the sentiment,
and as she is carried off the stage of this
mortal life there ore 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
servantl Thou hast been faithful over
few things. will make thee ruler over
many things. Enter thou into the JOY of
thy Lord!"
The Choice.
But what became of the father of that
household He started as young man in
business and had a small income, and hav-
ing got little ahead sickness In the fam
lily swept it all away. He went through
all the business panics of 40 years, met
many losses and suffered many betrayals,
but kept right on trusting in God, whether
business was good or poor, setting his chill
dren good example and giving them the
best of counsel, and never prayer did he
offer for all those years but they were
mentioned in it. He is old now and realizes
it cannot be long before he must quit all
these scenes. But he is going to leave his
children an inheritance of prayer and
Christian principles which all the defalca-
tions of earth can never touch, and as he
goes out of the world the church of God
blesses him, and the poor ring his doorbell
to see If he Is any BETTER and his grave Is
surrounded by multitude who went on
foot and stood there before the procession
of carriages came up, and some say, "There
will be no one to take his place." and
others say, "Who will pity me nowP" and
others remark, "He shall be held In ever
lasting remembrance" And as the drama
of his life closes all the vooiferation and
braves and encores that ever shook the
amphitheaters of earthly spectacle were
tame and feeble compared with the long,
loud thunders of approval that shall break
from tho cloud of witnesses in the piled up
gallery of the heavens. Choose ye between
the life that shall close by being hissed off
the stage and the life that shall close amid
aoclamations supernal and archangelic.
Oh, men and women on the stage of life
many of you in the first act Of the drama,
and others in the second, and some Of you
in the third, and few in the fourth, and
here and there one in the fifth, but sll of
you between entrance and exit, quote to
| you as the peroration of this sermon the
| most suggestive passage that Shakespeare
ever wrote, although you never heard it
recited. The author has often been claimed
as infdel and atheist, so the quotation
shall be not only religiously helpful to
ourselves, but grandly vindicatory Of the
great dramatist 1 quote from his last
| will and testament:
"In the name of God, amen I, Will
liam Shakespeare of neutrality-suspicious.,
in the county Of Warwick, gentleman, In
perfect health and memory (God be prais.
ed), do make this my last will and tesla.
ment, in manner and form following:
First, commend my soul into the hands
of God, my Creator, hoping and assuredly
believing throug gh the only merits of Jesus
Christ, my Saviour, to be made partake,
| of life everlasting