The Iola register., 1896-05-29

her espousal was ike guide of that
household. Days of sunshine were fol-
lowed by days of shadows. Did
you ever know home that for
| so years had no vicissitude? The
young woman who left her fathers
house for her young husbands
home started out with parental bene-
diction aud 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 will feel that you can come
to US at any time. But your home
will be elsewhere. From long expert
ence find it is best to serve God. It
is very bright with you now, my child,
and you may think you can get along
without 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 your
self" The council was taken, and
that 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 bealthful; 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 family lot in
the cemetery. but all the place is illu-
minated with stories of resurrection
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 educa-
ton, character and mannersi how hard
she sometimes workedi When the
head of the household was un-
fortunate in business she sewed
until her fingers were numb and
bleeding at the tips And what close
calculation of economies and what in.
genuity in reftting the garments of
the elder children for the younger,
and only God kept account of that
mothers sideaches and headaches and
heartaches and the tremulous prayers
by the side of the sick child's cradle
and by the side of this one fully
grown. The neighbors often noticed
how tired she looked, and old ae9uaint-
ances hardly knew her in the street.
But without complaint 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. 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 better world, and
then kisses them good-by 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 are cries of Faithful
unto to 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 faith
full over few things, l will make thee
ruler over many things; enter thou in
to the joy of thy Lord!'
But what became of the father of
that household? He started as a
young man in business and had a
small income, and having got little
ahead, sickness in the family sweptit
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 children a good example
and giving them the best of counsel,
and never prayer did he offer for all
those years but they were mentioned
in il. He is old now and realizes 10
cannot be long before he must quit
all these scenes But he Is going
to leave his children an inheritancs
of prayer and Christian principles
which all the defalcations of earth
can never LOuc04 anu dS no
goes out of the world the church Of
God blesses him and the poor ring his
door-bell to see if he is any better, and
his grave is surrounded by multitude
who went on foot and stood there be-
fore 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 nowY and others
remark: HE shall be held in everlast-
ing remembrance" And as the drama
of his life closes, all the vociferation
and bravos and encores that ever
shook the amphitheaters of earthly
spectacle were tame and feeble COM
pared with the long, loud thunders Of
approval that shall break from the
cloud of witnesses in the piled-up gall
lery of the heavens. Choose ye be-
tween the life that shall close by be-
ing hissed off the stage and the life
that shall close amid acclamations
supernai and archangelic-
Oh, men and women on the stage Of
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