The Progress., 1898-10-22

tBGt1F SYNOPSIS Of TAF DiVtNE'S SUN
DAY DISCOURSE.
Subject: "The Granhmoiher- inE"-
ence of Hsredity-A Rich Legacy Left
Us by a Glorious Race of Cody Won-
en-value of Their Example.

Lois. I'll Tim. l.. s.
In this pastoral letter which Paul, the
old minister, is writing to Timothy, the
young minister, the family record is
brought out. Paul practically says: Tim
othy, what good grandmother you had!
You ought to be better than most folks be-
cause not only was your mother good, but
your grandmother was good also. Two
preceding generations OF piety ought to
give you mighty push in the right direc-
ton" The fact was that Timothy needed
encouragement. He was In poor health,
having u weak stomach, and was u dys-
peptic, and Paul prescribed for him a
tonic, ga little wine for thy stomach's
sake"-not much wine but "A little wine
and only as medicine. And ii the wine
then had been as much adulterated with
logwoOd and rtrychnine rs our modern
wines, he would not have prescribed any,
But Timothy, not strong physically, is
encouraged spiritually by the recital OF
grandmotheriy excellence, Paul limiting to
him. as | hint this day to you, that God
sometimes gathers up as in reservoir,
away back Of tho active generations of to-
day, godly influence, and then in re-
Spouse to prayer lets down the power upon
children and grandchildren and great
grandchildren. The world is woeful.y In
want OF a table OF statistics in regard to
what Is the protractedness and immensely
OF influence OF one good woman in the
church and world. We have accounts Of
how much evil has been wrought by
woman who lived nearly hundred years
ago, and OF how many criminals her de-
scendants furnished for the penitentary
and the gallows, and how many hundreds
OF thousands OF dollars they cost our coun-
In oil ai,,o nd
port, as we'll rs in the property they bur.
glarized and destroyed. But will not some
one come out with brain comprehensive
enough, and heart warm enough, and pen
keen enough to give us the facts in regard
to some good woman of q hundred years
ago, and let us know how many Christian
men and women and reformers and useful
people have been found among her de-
scendants, and how many asylums and
colleges and churches they built, and how
many millions Of dollars they contributed
for humanitarian and Christian purposes?
The good women whose tombstones were
planted in the eighteenth century are more
alive for good in the nineteenth century
than they were before, as the good women
ofthe nineteenth century will be more alive
for good in the twentieth century than
now. Mark you, / have no idea that the
graDdmothers were any better than their
graRddaughters. You cannot get very old
people to talk much about how things were
when they were boys and girls. They have
reticence and non cOmmittalism which
makes me think that they feel themselves
to be the custodians of the reputation OF
their early comrades. While our dear
old folks are rehearsing the foliies Of the
present, if we put them on witness-stand
and cross-examine them as to how things
were seventy years ago thu silence becomes
oppressive. :,
this country In 1896, and he says Of wom-
ans diet In those times: "If a premium
was offered for regimen most destructive
to health, none could be devised more eff
cacious for these ends than that in use
among these people," That eclipses ourlob-
ster salad at midnight. Everybody talks
about the dissipation OF modern society and
how womanly health goes down under 1t,
but it was worse hundred years ago. for
the chaplain ola French regiment In our
Revolutionary War wrote in 1882, in his
Book OF American Women" saying: "They
are tall and proportional, their fea-
lures are generally regular, their complex
ions are generally fair and without color.
AT twenty years Of age the women have no
longer the freshness OF youth. At thirty or
forty they are decrepit." In 1912 foreign
consul wrote book entitled, ga Sketch OF
the United States at tho Commencement OF
the Present Century," and he says Of the
women OF those times. "At the age OF thfr-
ty all their charms have disappeared" One
glance at the portraits OF the women a hun
dred years ago and their style of dress
makes us wonder how they ever got their
breath. All this makes me think that the
express rail train Is no more an improve
ment on the old canal boat, or the telegraph
no more an improvement on the old-time
saddle-bags, than the women Of our day
are an Improvement on the women Of the
las. century.
But still, Notwithstanding that those
times were so much worse than ours, there
was glorious race Of godiy women, sew
euty and Il hundred years ago, who held
the world back from sin and lifted 1t to-
ward virtue, and without their exalted and
sanctfled influence before this the last good
influence would have persisted from the
earth. Indeed, all over this land there are
seated to-day-not so much In churches,
for many OF them are too feeble to come-a
great many aged grandmothers. They
sometimes feel that the world has gone
past them, and they have an idea that they
q are OF little account. Their head some
times gets aching from the racket OF the
grandchildren downstairs or in the next
room. They steady themselves by tn,
banisters as they SO up and down. Wher
they get cold 1t hangs on them longer
than it used to. They cannot bear to hav,
the grandchildren punished even whei
they deserve 1t, and have so relaxed
their ideas OF family discipline that the,
would spoil I'LL the youngsters Of the house
& hold by too great lenency. These OLE
folks are the resort when great trouble
come, and there is calming and soothin,
power IN the touch of IN aged hand that Il
/ almost supernatural. They feel they ar,
4 almost through with the journey OF lif
4 and read the old Book more than they uset
& to, hardly knowing which most they enjoy
q the Old Testament or the New, and Otter
4, stop and dwell tearfully over the famil,
record halfway between. We hail then
To-day, whether in the house Of God or a
the homestead. Blessed Is that household
that has In It a grandmother Lois. Wher,
she is, angels are lowering round.
Is 1t not time that you and do TIVE
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