Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-05-29

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1t is about 80 years ago thas in a COM
paratively small apartment Of the city
newly married pair set up a home
The first guest invited to that residence
was the Lord Jesus Christ, and the BIZ
BILE given the bride on the day Of her
espousal was the guide Of that house
hold. Days of sunshine We're followed
by days Of shadow. Did you ever know
a home that for 30 years had no vicis-
situde? The young woman who left her
fathers house for her young husbands
home started out with a parental bene-
diction 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 rs. 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 experience find it i; best to
serve God. 1t 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 fam
lily altar, and. if need be, conduct the
worship yourself" The counsel 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 healthful, and sorrows, but they
were comforted. Marriages as bright as
orange blossoms could make them, and
burials in which all hearts were riyen.
They have family lot in the cemetery.
but all the place is illuminated with
stories Of resurrection and reunion. The
children Of the household that lived
have grown up, and they are all Chris
tians, the father and mother leading the
way and the children following. What
care the mother took Of wardrobe and
education, character 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 economies
and what ingenuity in reftting 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 tremulous pray
ers 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 acquaint-
ances hardly knew her in thestreet. But
without complaint she waited and toll
ed 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 grandchil-
dren, summoned from afar, come softly
into the room one by one, for she Is too
weak to see more than one at a time.
She runs her dying fingers lovingly
through their hair and tells them not 10
cry, and that she is going now, but they
will meet again ina little while III a
better world, and then kisses them
goodby and says 10 each, God bless
and keep you, my dear child. " The day
Of the Obsequies comes, and the officlat-
ing 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 death, " "She hath
done what she could, " while overpow-
ering 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 a 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
having got a little ahcad sickness IN
the family 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 trust
ing in God, whether business was good
or poor. setting his children a good ex-
ample, and giving them the best Of
counsel, and never prayer did he offer
for all those years but they were men,
toned in it. He is old now and realizes
it cannot be long before he must quit
all these scenes. But he Is going 10
leave his children an Inheritance OF
prayer and Christian principles which
all the defalcations 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
a multitude who went on foot and stood
there before the procession Of carriages
came up, and some say, There will be
no one 70 take his place" and others
say, "Who will pity me now?" and 9TH
ers remark, "He shall be held III ever
lasting remembrance. " And as the
drama Of his life closes, all the vocifer-
alton and braves and encores that ever
shook the amphitheaters Of earthly spec
tacle were tame and feeble compared
with the long, loud thunders Of approval
hat shall break from the cloud Of wit
lesses in the piled up gallery OF the
heavens Choose ye between the lie that
hall close by being hissed of the stage
and the life that shall close amid ac-
CARNATIONS 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 all Of you between en-
trance and exit, quote TO You as tho
peroration Of this sermon the most sug-
gestive passage that Shakespeare ever
wrote, although you never heard 1t re-
cited. The author has often been
claimed as infdel and atheistic, SO the
quotation shall be not only religiously
helpful to ourselves, but grandly vindl-
catory Of the great dramatist | quote
from his last will and testament;
"In the name Of God, Amen. i, Will
liam Shakespeare Of Stratford-upon-
Avon, in the county Of Warwick, gen.
,oman, in perfect health and memory
(God be praised), do make this my last
will and testament, in manner and form
following: First, l commend my soul