The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-10-21

! square feet in size, which is thought
! by the natives to decide the world
continuance. An angel with robe
spun from zephyrs is once century
to descend and sweep the hem OF that
robe across the granite, and when by
that attrition the column is worn
away they say time will end. But by
that process that granite column
would be wora out of existence before
mothers influence viii begin to give
way.
If a mother tell q child he is not
| good some bugaDoo VII. come and
catch him, the fear excited may make
the child a coward, and the fact that
he finds that there is no bugaboo may
make him a liar, and the echo OF that
false alarm may be heard after fifteen
| generations have been born and have
expired. If mother promises
child a reward for good behavior, and
after the good behavior forgets to get
the reward, the cheat may crop out i'll
| some faithlessness half thousand
| years further on. If a mother culti-
vate a child's vanity and eulogize his
curls and extol the night-black or sky
blue or nut-brown of the childs eyes
and call out in his presence the adj
mirtaion of spectators, pride and ar
rogance may be prolonger after half
a dozen family records have been OBJ
liberated. If a mother express doubt
about some statement of the Holy BIZ
BILE in a child's presence, long after
the gates of this historical era have
closed and the gates of another era
have opened, the result may be seen
in a champion bIasphemer. But, on
the other hand, if a mother walking
with one child see a suffering one by
the wayside and says: ''Nly child, give
that ten-cent piece to that lame boy"
the result may be seen on the other
side of the following century in some
George Muller building a whole viii
lage of orphanages. If a mother sits
almost every evening by the trundle-
bed of child and teaches it lessons
of Saviour's love and a Saviour's eX-
ample, of the Importance of truth and
the horror of lie, and the virtues of
industry and kindness and sympathy
and self-sacrifce, long after the moth
er has gone and the child has gone,
and the lettering on both the tomb
stones shall have been washed out by
the storms of innumerable winters,
there may be standing, as a result of
those trundle-bed lessons, flaming
evangels, world-moving reformers,
seraphic Summerfelds, weeping Pay
sons, laundering Whitefelds, emanci-
pating Washingtons.
Good or bad influence may skip one
generation or two generations, but it
will be sure to land in the third or
fourth generation, just as the Ten
Commandments, speaking of the visi-
tation of God on families, says moth
ing about the second generation, but
entirely slips the second, and speaks
of the third and fourth generation:
Visiting the iniquities of the fathers
unon the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me-" Parental in
fuence, right and wrong, may jump
over a generation, but it will come
down further on as sure as you sit
there and 1 stand here. Timothy's
ministry was projected by his grand
mother Lois. There are men and
women here, the Sons and daughters
of the Christian church, who are such
as the result of the consecration of
great-great- at-grandmothers. Why, who
do you think the Lord is? You talk as
though His memory was weak. He
can as easily remember prayer Of
fered five centuries ago as prayer Of
fered five minutes ago.
There she is, the dear old soul,
Grandmother Lois. In beautiful Green
wood cemetery there is the resting
place of George w. Bethune, once q
minister of Brooklyn Heights, his
name never spoken among intelligent
Americans without suggesting two
things -eloquence and evangelism. In
the same tomb sleeps his grandmoth-
er, Isabella Graham, who was the
chief inspiration of his ministry. You
are not surprised at the poetry and
pathos and pulpit power of the grand
son when you read of the faith and
devotion of his wonderful ancestress.
When you read this letter, in which
she poured out her widowed soul in
longings for son'u salvation, you win
not wonder succeeding generations
have been blessed:
NSN 1OIA, O1ebJ -, A4OAs liio bstJ
my only son left me in bitter wiring
ings of heart; he is again launched on
the ocean-God's ocean. The Lord
saved him from shipwreclI, brought
him to my home, and allowed me once
more to indulge my affections over
him. He has been with me but a
short time, and i'll have L improved it;
he is gone from my sight, and my
heart bursts with tumultuous grief.
Lord, have mercy on the widows son,
:'the only son of his mother"
1 wait for thy salvation. Amen.
With such a grandmother, would
you not have a right to expect a
George w. Bethune? And all the thou
sands converted through his ministry
may date~the saving power back to
Isabella Graham.
Mothers, consecrate yourselves to
God and you will help consecrate all
the ages following! Do not dwell so
much on your hardsh;ps that you miss
your chance of welding an influence
that shall look down upon you from
the towers of an endless future.
] know Martin Luther was right
when he consoled his wife over the
| death of their daughter by saying:
Don't take on SO, wife; remember
| that this is hard world for girls"
Yes, go further and say: 1t is hard
world for women. Ay, [ go further
and say 1t is a hard world for men.
But for all women and men who trust
their bodies and souls in the hand of
Christ the shining gates viii soon
swing open. Don't you see the siclzly
palIor on the sky? That is the pallor