The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-06-03

cemetery, out ali Tue place IS llluml-
mated with stories Of resurrection and
reunion. The children of the house
hold that lived have grown up, and
they are all Christians, the 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
business, she sewed until her fingers
were numb and bleeding at the tips,
and what close calculation Of econo-
mics, and what ingenuity ia rehtting
the garments Of the elder children for
the younger, and only God kept &C
count of that mothers sideaches and
headaches and heartaches aud the
tremulous 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 acquaintance hardly knew
her in the street. But, without COM
plant, she waited and toiled and en-
dured ard accomplished all these
years The children are out in the
world, an honor to themselves and
their parents. After awhile the moth
er's 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 al time. She runs her dying
fingers lovingly through their hair
and tells them not to cry, aud that she
is going now. but they will meet again
in little while in a better world, and
then kisses them good5y 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, Faith.
ful 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: We'll done,
good and faithful servant Thou hast
been faithful over few things I
will make thee ruler over many
things. Eater thou into the Joy of
thy Lord"
But what became OF the father of
that household? He started as young
man in business aud had a small in
come, and having got little ahead
sickness in the family swept it all
away. He went through all the busi-
ness panics of 10 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 a prayer Gid 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
defalcations of earth can never touch,
aud 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 surround
ed 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 now" and others remark, He
shall be held in everlasting remem-
brance." And as the drama of his life
closes all the vociferation and bravos
and encores that ever shook the am.
phitheaters of earthly spectacle were
tame and feeble compared with the
long, loud thunders of approval that
shall break from the cloud OF witness
es in the piled up gallery Of the heav.
ems. Choose We between the life that
shall close by being hissed Off the
stage and the life that shall close
amid acclamatlons supernal and arch
angelic.
On, 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 all of you between
entrance and exit, I 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 infidel and atheist, so the
quotation shall be not only religious
~ helpful to ourselves, but grandly
vindicatory of the great dramatist. I
quote from his last will and testament:
"In the name of God, amen. l,
William Shakesl care of Stratford-
upon-Avon, in the county Of War
wick, gentlemen. in perfect health
and memory, God be praised), do
make this my last will and testament,
in manner and form following: First,
I commend my soul into the hands Of
God, my Creator, hoping and assl,r-
edly believing through the only mer.
its of Jesus Christ, my Saviour, to be
made partaker of life everlasting"