The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-10-08


the great business of state. But Jacob
was glad to get back Joseph anyhc w,
and it did not make much difference to
the old man whether the boy looked
older or looked younger. And it will
be enough joy for that parent if he can
get back that son, that daughter, at the
gate of heaven, whether the departed
loved one shall come cherub or in full
grown angelhood There must be a
change wrought by that celestial eli
mate and by those supernal years, but
it will only be from loveliness to more
loneliness and from health to more radi-
ant health
When the Old Parents Come.
Oh, parent, as you think of the dar-
ling painting and white in membranous
Group. ] want you to know it will be
gloriously bettered in that land where
there has never been death and where
all the inhabitants will live ON in the
great future as long as God. Joseph
was Joseph Notwithstanding the palace,
and your child will be your child not
outstanding all the raining splendors
of everlasting noon. What a thrilling
visit was that of the old shepherd to
the prime minister Joseph! l see the
ola counlryman seated in the palace
looking around at the mirrors and the
fountains and the carved pillars, and,
oh. how he wishes that Rachel, his
wife, was alive and she could come
with him to see their son in his great
house. ooh, says the old man within
himself Il do wish Rachel could be
here to see all this!" l visited at the
farmhouse of the father Of MlIlard Fill
more when the son was president of the
United States, and the octogenarian
farmer entertained me until 1 O. cloc--
at night telling me what great things
he saw in his sons house at Washing
ton and what Daniel Webster said to
him and how grandly Willard treated
his father in the White House. The old
mans face was illumined with the story
until almost the midnight He had just
been visiting his son at the capital
And suppose it was something of the
same joy that thrilled the heart of the
old shepherd as he stood in the palace
of the prime minister.
1t is a great day with you when your
old parents come to visit you. Your lit
tie children stand around with great
wide open eyes, wondering how any
body could be so old The parents can
not stay many days, for they are lit
tie restless, and especially at nightfall,
because they sleep better i'll their own
bed, but while they tarry you somehow
feel there is a benediction in every room
in the house. They are little feeble,
and you make it as easy as you can for
them, and you realize they will prob
ably not visit you very often-perhaps
never again. You go to their room after
they have retired at night to see if the
lights are properly put out, for the old
people understand candle and lamp bet
ter than the modern apparatus for illu
mination. In the morning, with real
interest in their health, you ask how
they rested last night. Joseph, i'll the
historical scene of the text, did not
think any more Of his father than you
do Of your parents. The probability is,
before they leave your house they half
spoil your children with kindnesses.
The First and the Last.
Grandfather and grandmother are
more lenient and indulgent to your chill
dren than they ever were with you.
And what wonders of revelation i'll the
bombazine pocket of the one and the
sleeve of the other Blessed is that home
where Christian parents come to visit,
no vic Of
the architecture when they came, it is
palace before they leave. If they visit
you 80 times, the two most memorable
visits will be the first and the last
Those two pictures will hang i'll the
hall of your memory while memory
lasts, and you will remember just how
they looked, and where they sat, and
what they said, and at what figure of
the carpet, and at what doorsill they
parted with you, giving you the final
goodby. Do not be embarrassed if your
father come to town and he have the
manners of the shepherd, and if your
mother come to town and there be in
her hat no sign of costly millinery The
wife of the Emperor Theodosius said
wise thing when she said, Husband, |
remember what you lately were and re-
member what you are and be thankful. -
By this time you all notice what
kindly provision Joseph made for his
father Jacob. Joseph did not say: II
can't have the old man around this
place. How clumsy he would look climb
ing up these marble stairs and walking
over those mosaics! Then he would be !
putting his hands upon some of these
frescoes People would wonder where
that old greenhorn came from. He
would shock all the Egyptian court
with his manners at table. Besides
that, he might get sick on my hands,
and he might be querulous, and he
might talk to me as though l were only
a boy, when l am the second man in
all the realm. OF course he must not
suffer, and if there is famine in his
country-and l hear there isl will
send him some provisions, but can't
take man from Padanaram and intro
duce him into this polite Egyptian
court What nuisance tits to have
poor relationsP
JOsenh did not saw that but he ruSh-