Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-10-24

| up, and the last IF ashes of a con-
sumed world shall have been blown
away, and all the telescopes of other
worlds directed t. the track around
which our world ore swung shall dis
cover not so much s a cinder of the
burned down and se~-cpt off planet. In
Ceylon there is granite column sc
square feet in size, which is thought
by the natives to decide the worlds
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 worn out of existence before
mothers influence will begin to give
way.
If a mother tell child ne is not
good some bugaDoo Will 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 liar, and the echo of that
false alarm may be heard after fifteen
generations have been born and have
expired. If mother promises
child reward for good behavior, and
after the good behavior forgets to get
the reward, the cheat may crop out in
some faithlessness half a thousand
years further on. IF mother cultl-
vate a child's vanity and eulogize his
curls and extol the night-black or sky
blue or nut-brown of the child's eyes
and call out in his presence the ad-
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 b.
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 champion blasphemer. But, on
the other hand, if mother walking
with one child see suffering one by
the wayside and says: my 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 vii
lage of orphanages. If mother sits
almost every evening by the trundle-
bed of child and teaches it lessons
of a Saviours 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-sacrifice, 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, woodworking reformers,
seraphic Summerfields, weeping Pay
sons, laundering Whitefelds, enamel
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 skips the second, and speaks
of the third and fourth generation:
''Visiting the iniquities of the fathers
upon the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me-" Parental in
fiuence, right and wrong, may jump
over a generation, but it will come
down further on as sure as you sit
there and | stand here. Timothy S
ministry was projected by his grand
mother Lois. There are men and
women here, the sons a nd daughters
of the Christian church, who are such
as the result of the cOhsecratlon OF
great -great- 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 ais prayer Of
fered five minutes ago.
There she is, the de- ar old soul,
Grandmother Lois. In beautiful Green
wood cemetery there is the resting
place of George w. Bethune, once a
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-
err, 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 a sons salvation, you will
not wonder succeeding generations
have been blessed:
New York, May 20, 1791.-This day
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 shipwreck, 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 improved it;
he is gone from my sight, and my
I>,,,c4c with t11J111I1t1n1Ic Opiof