Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-06-24

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got home at last Mother will go to her
little garden and get the sweetest fiow-
ers and twist them into a chaplet for
the silent heart of the wayward boy and
push back from the bloated brow the
long locks that were once her pride.
And the air will be rent with the ia
theirs cry, "Oh, my son, my son, my
poor son; would God l had died for
thee, oh, my son, my son J"
You may judge Of amusements by
their effect upon physical health. The
need of many good people is physical
recuperation. There are Christian men
who write hard things against their inn
mortal souls when there is nothing the
matter with them but an incompetent
liver. There are Christian people who
seem TO think that it is a good sign TO
be poorly, and because Richard Baxter
and Robert Hall were inyalids they
think that by the same sickness they
may come to the same grandeur Of char
acter. want to tell Christian people
that God will hold you responsible for
your invahdism if it is your own fault
and when through right exercise and
prudence you might be athletic and
well. The effect Of the body upon the
soul you acknowledge. Put man Of
mild disposition upon the animal diet
Of which the Indian partakes, and in
little while his blood will change its
chemical proportions 1t will become
like unto the blood Of the lion or the
tiger or the bear, while his disposition
will change and become fierce, cruel
and unrelenting. The body has pow
erful effect upon the soul. There are
people whose ideas Of heaven are all
shut out with clouds Of tobacco smoke.
There are people who dare to shatter
the physical vase in which God put the
Jewel of eternity. There are men with
great hearts and intellects in bodies
worn out by their own neglects Mag
nificent machinery capable Of propelling
a great Etruria across the Atlantic, yet
fastened in a rickety North river pro-
peller Physical development which
merely shows itself in a fabulous lift
ing or in perilous rope walking or in
pugllistic encounter excites only our
contempt, but we confess to great ad-
miration for the man who has great
soul in an athletic body, every nerve,
muscle and bone Of which is consecrated
to right uses. Oh, it seems to me out
rageous that men through neglect should
allow their physical health to go down
beyond repair, spending the rest Of their
life not in some great enterprise for
God and the world, but in studying
what is the best thing to take for dys-
pepsia. A ship which ought with all
sails set and every man at his post to be
CARRYING a rich cargo for eternity, en-
ploying all its men in stopping up leak
ages. When you may through some Of
the popular and healthful recreations Of
our time work off your spleen and your
ouerulousness and one-half Of your
physical and mental ailments, do not
turn your back from such a grand med
icament.
Again, Judge Of the places Of amuse-
ment by the companionshlp into which
they put you. If you belong to an or
ganization where you have to associate
with the incorporate, with the un-
clean, with the abandoned, however
well they may be dressed, IN the name
of God quit it. They will despoil your
nature. They will undermine your
moral character. They will drop you
when you are destroyed. They will not
give one cent to support your children
when you are dead They will weep
not one tear at your burial. They will
chuckle over your damnation. But the
day comes when the men who have ex-
erted evil influence upon their fellows
will be brought to judgment Scene, the
last day. Stage, the rocking earth. En-
ter dukes, lords, kings, beggars, clowns
No sword No tinsel. No crown. For
footlights. the kindling flames Of a
world. For orchestra, the trumpets
that wake the dead. For gallery, the
clouds filed with angel spectators. For
applause, the clapping floods OF the sea
For curtains, the heavens rolled togeth-
er as a scroll. For tragedy, the doom OF
the destroyed. For farce, the effort
to serve the world and God at the
same time. For the last scene Of the
fifth act, the tramp Of nations across
the stage-some to the right others TO
the left.
Again. any amusement that gives you
a distaste for domestic life is bad. How
many bright domestic circles have been
broken up by sinful amusements! The
father went off, the mother went on,
the child went off. There are all around
us the fragments Of blasted households
Oh, if you have wandered away
would like to charm you back by the
sound of that one word, "homeW do
you not know that you have but little
more time to give to domestic welfare'
Do YOU not see, father, that your chill
dren are soon to go out into the world
and all the influence for good you art
to have over them you must have now!
Death will break in on your conJugal
relations, and alas if you have TO stand
over the grave of one who perished from
your neglect
saw wayward husband standing al
the deathbed Of his Christian wife, and
] saw her point to a ring ON her hngei
and heard her say to her husband, do
YOU see that ringl" He replied, Yes,
| see it. "Well," said she, "do you
remember who put it therel" "Yes. y
said he. Il put it there" And all the
past seemed TO rush upon him By the
memory of that day, when in the pres
ence of men and angels you promised to
be faithful in JOY and sorrow and IN
sickness and in health; by the memory
of those pleasant hours when you sat to.
gether in your new house talking Of
bright future; by the cradle and the ex.
cited hour when one life was spared and
another given; by that sickbed. when
the little one lifted up the hands and
callcl for help and you knew he mus
Die, and he put one arm around each OF
your necks and brought you very neal
together in that dying kiss; by the lit
tie grave in the cemetery that yor
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