The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-09-24


good and faithful servant; enter
into the Joy of thy Lord" My broth
er, my sister, do not care whether
that man dies at 80, 30, so, go, 20 or so
years of age, you can chisel right un.
der his name on the tombstone these
words: His life was worth living"
Amid the hills of New Hampshire, in
olden times, there sits a mother. There
are six children in the household-four
boys and tw ogirls. Small farm. Very
rough, hard work to coax living out
of it. Mighty tug to make the two
ends of the year meet. The boys go to
school in winter and work the farm in
summer. Mother is the chief presiding
spirit. With her hands she knits all the
stockings for the little feet, and she is
the mantuamaker for the boys, and she
it the milliner for the girls. There is
only one musical instrument in the
house-the spinning wheel. The food
is very plain, but it is always well
provided. The winters are very cold,
but are kept out by the blankets she
has quilted. On Sunday, when she APP
pears in the village church, her chill
dren around her, the minister looks
down, and is reminded of the Bible
description of good ousewife-"Her
children arise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praiseth
her."
Some years go by. and the two old
est boys want collegiate education,
and the household economies are Sc
verer, and the calculations are closer,
nd = !, -, IT.,
cation their is hard battle for bread.
One of these boys enters the university,
stands in a pulpit widely influential,
and breaches Righteousness, judg
ment, and temperance, and thousands
during his ministry are blessed. The
other lad who got the collegiate
education goes into the law,
and thence into legislative halls
and after awhile he commands listen
ing senates as he makes plea for the
downtrodden and the outcast. One of
the younger boys becomes merchant,
starting at the foot of the ladder, but
climbing on up until his success and
his philanthropies are scattered all
over the land. The other son stays at
home because he prefers farming life.
take care of father and mother when
they get old.
OF the two daughters: when the war
broke out one went through the hospi-
tails of Pittsburg Landing and For
tress Monroe, cheering up the dying
and the homesicl1, and taking the last
message to kindred far away, so that
every time Christ thought of her He
said, as of old: THE same is my sister
and mother" The other daughter has
a bright home of her own, and in the
afternoon-the forenoon having been
devoted to her household-she goes
forth to hunt up the sick and to en-
courage the discouraged, leaving smiles
and benediction all along the way.
But one day there start five tele-
grams from the village for these five
absent ones, saying: Come. mother
is dangerously ILL.," But before they
can be ready to start they receive
another telegram, saying: Come,
mother is dead" The old neighbors
gather in the old farm house to do
the last offices of respect. But as
that farming son, and the clergy
man, and the senator, and the
merchant, and the two daughters
stand by the casket of the dead moth
er taking the last look, or lifting their
little children to see once more the
face of dear old grandma, l want to
ask that group around the cask ct one
question: do you really think her
life was worth living?" A life for God,
a life for others, life of unselfishness,
a useful life, Christian life is always
worth living.
would not find it hard to persuade
you that the poor lad, Peter Cooper,
making glue for a living and then
amassing a great fortune, until he
could build philanthropy which had
its echo IN 10000 philan thropies all
over the country would not find it
hard to persuade you that his life was
worth living. Neither would find it
hard to persuade you that the
life of Susannah Wesley was
also worth living. She sent
out one son to organize Methodism
and the other son to ring his anthems
all through the ages. l would not
find it hard work to persuade you
that the life of Frances Leere
was worth living, as she estab-
lished in England school for the sci
entiic nursing of the sick, and then
when the war broke out between
France and Germany went to the front,
and with her own hands scraped
the mud off the bodies of the soldiers
dying in the trenches, and with her
weak outstanding one night in the
hospital pushing back German sol.
der to his couch, as, all frenzied with
his wounds, lie rushed to the door, and
said: Let me go, let me go to my liebe
mutter" ma jor-generals standing back
to let pass this angel of mercy.
Neither would have hard work to
persuade you that Grace Darling lived
"a life worth living-the heroine of the
lifeboat. You are not wondering that
the duchess of Northumberl came
up to see her, and that people of all
lands asked for her lighthouse, and
that the proprietor of the Adelphi
theater in London offered her 500 a
night just to sit in the lifeboat while
some shipwreck scene was being en-
acted.
But l know the thought in the minds
of hundreds of you to-day. You say:
while L know all these lived lives
worth living, | don't think my life
amounts to much" All! my friends,
whether you live life conspicuous or
incOnspicuous, it is worth living if you
live Alright. And 1 want my next sem
tence to go down into the depths of all
your souls. You are to be rewarded,
not according to the greatness of your
work, but according to the holy in
dustries with which you employed the
talents you really possessed. The ma
jority of the crowns of Heaven will not
be given to people with ten talents, for
most of them were tempted only to
serve themselves. The vast majority