Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-06-20

and heard her say to her husband, "Do
you see that ring?" He replied, Eyes,
I see it. = 'sWell, said she, lido you
remember who put it there?" EYES,"
said he, 81 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 hea1th by the memory
of those pleasant hours when you sat to-
gether in your new house talking of a
bright future; by the cradle and the ex-
cited hour when one life was spared and
mother given; by that sickbed, when
the little one lifted up the hands and
called for help and you knew he must
die, and he put one arm around each Of
your necks and brought you very near
together in that dying kiss; by the lit
tie grave in the cemetery that you
never thing Of without rush of tears;
by the family Bible, where in its stories
of heavenly love is the brief but express
i've record of births and deaths; by the
neglects of the past and by the agonies
Of the future; by judgment day when
husbands and wives, parents and chill
dren, in immortal groups will stand to
be caught up in shining array or to
shrink down into darkness-by all that,
I beg you to give to home your best af-
fections. I look in your eyes today, and
ask you the question that Gehazi ask
ed Of the Shunammite: sis it well with
thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it
we'll with thy child?" God grant that
it NAV be everlastingly we'll!
Let me say to all young men your
style of amusement will decide your
eternal destiny. One night I saw
young man at street corner evidently
doubling as to which direction he had
better take. He had his hat lifted high
enough so you could see he had an in
telligent forehead. He had a stout
chest; he had robust development.
Splendid young man. Cultured young
man. Honored young man. Why did
he stop there while SO many were going
up and down? The fact is that every
man has good angel and bad an
gel contending for the mastery of his
spirit. And there was good angel
and bad angel struggling with that
young mans soul at the corner of the
street.
"Come with me-" said the good an
gel, 81 will take you home. l will
spread my wing over your pathway. [
will lovingly escort you all through
life. | will bless every cup you drink
out of, every couch you rest on, every
doorway you enter. 1 Will consecrate
your tears when you weep, your sweat
when you toll, and at the last 1 will
hand over your grave into the hand of
the bright angel of Christian resur-
rection. In answer to your fathers pc
tition and your mothers prayer 1 have
be your guardian spirit. Come with
me, - said the good angel in a voice Of
unearthly symphony. twas music like
that which drops from lutte of heaven
when a seraph breathes ON it. mo,
no, P" said the bad angel, 'come with
me. [ have something better to offer.
The wines pour are from chalices of
bewitching carousal. The dance 1 lead
is over floor tessellated with unrestrain-
ed indulgences. There is no God to
frown on the temples of sin where I
worship. The skies are Italian. The
paths l tread are through meadows
daisied and primrosed. Come with
me-" The young man hesitated at a
time when hesitation was ruin, and the
bad angel smote the good angel until it
departed, spreading wings through the
starlight upward and away, until a
door flashed open in the sky and forever
the wings vanished. That was the turn
ing point in that young mans history,
for, the good angel flown, he hesitated
no longer, but started ON a pathway
which is beautiful at the opening, but
blasted at the last
The bad angel, leading the way,
opened gate after gate, and at each gate
the road became rougher and the sky
more lurid, and, what was peculiar, as
the gate slammed shut it came to with |
a jar that indicated that it would never
open. Passed each portal, there was a
grinding of locks and a showing of |
bolts, and the scenery on either side the |
road changed from gardens to deserts, |
and the June air became cutting De- |
cember blast and the bright wings of |
the bad angel turned to saclzcloth, and |
the eyes of light became hollow with |
hopeless grief, and the fountains, that
at the start had tossed wine, poured
forth bubbling tears and foaming blood,
and on the right side Of the road there
was a serpent, and the man said to the
Dad angel, "What is that serpent?" and
'he answer was, 'That is the serpent
If singing remorse. On the left side
If the road there was a lion, and the
nan asked the bad angel, "'What is that
ion?' and the answer was, ''That is
he lion of all devouring despair. A
culture flew through the sky, and the
nan asked the bad angel, "What is
hat vulture?' and the answer was,
'That is the yulture waiting for the