The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-09-16
.e smiles and benedic.ion al

seed. leaving smiles and benediction al
along the way.
But ono day there start ave telegrams
hon the village for these Ave 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 farmhouse to do the last ofiice Of
respect. But as the farming son and the
clergyman, and the Senator and the mer.
chant and the two daughters stand by the
casket OF the dead mother taking the last
look. or lifting their little children to see
once more the face OF dear old grandma, I
want to ask that group around the casket
one question, do you really think her life
was worth livingi" A life for God, life for
Others, life OF unselfshness, a useful life,
q Christian life, IL always worth living.
would not find it hard to persuade you
that the poor lad, Peter Cooper, making
glue for living, and then amassing great
fortune until ne could build philanthropy
which has had its echo in 10, 900 philan-
thropies all over the country-I would not
find 1t hard to persuade you that his life
was worth living. Neither would find 1t
hard to persuade you that the life OF Sus-
annah Wesley was 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 established In England a school for the
scientific 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 of the bodies
OF the soldiers dying In the trenches and
with her weak arm-standing one night In
the hospital-pushlng back a German SOL
dier to his couch, as, all frenzied with his
wounds, he rushed to the door and said,
Let me go, let me go to my liebe mutter,"
major generals standing back to let pass
this angel of mercy.
Neither would l have hard work to per.
suade you that Grace Darling lived life
worth living-the heroine OF the lifeboat.
You are not wondering that the Duchess Of
Northumberland came to sec her and that
people OF oil lands asked for her lighthouse
and that the proprietor OF the Adelphi
theatre In London offered her 300 night
Just to sit In the iifeboat while some ship
wreck scene was being enacted.
But know the thought in the minds OF
hundreds Of you to-day. You say, "while l
know all these lived lives worth living, I
don't think my life amounts to much" All,
my friends whether you live life conspic-
uous or inconspicuous, 1t Is worth living,
IL you live Alright. And l want my next
sentence to go down into the depths OF
all your souls. You arc to be rewarded
not according to the greatness OF your
work, but according to the holy industries
with which you employed the talents you
really possessed. The majority of the
crowns OF heaven will not be given to peo-
pie with ten talents, for mast of them were
tempted only to serve themselves. The
vast majority Of the crowns OF heaven will
be given to the people who had one talent,
but gave 1t all to God. And remember that
our life here is Introductory to another It Is
the vestbule to palace, but who despises
the door OF Madeleine because there are
grander glories within2 Your life, IL
rigidly lived, is the first bar OF an eternal
Haydn's symphonies? And the life YOU
live now is all the more worth living be-
cause 1t opens into n life that shall never
end, and the last letter Of tho word "time"
Is the first letter Of the word "eternity."