Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-04-29
Copyright, Louis Klopsch. 1891


OF Emulation, Says the Pulpit 0ra-
copyright, Louis Klopsch. 1921
WASHINGTON, April a3-One Of the
most notable characters Of our time ID
the subject Of DIR. Talmage's discourse,
and the lessons drawn are inspiring
text, II Samnel iii. SO. Know ye not
that there Is prince and great man
fallen this day in Iaraelf"
Here is plumed catafalque. followed
by King David and q funeral GRAFTON
which ho delivers at the tomb. Con-
corning Abner. the great, David weepa
ont the text More appropriately than
when originally uttered Ne may now
utter this resounding lamentation.
know We not shat there is a prince and
a great man fallen this day In Israel Z
1t was 80 minutes after 6. the exact
hour of sunset Of the Sabbath day, and
while the evening lights we're being
kindled, that the soul Of Stephen j..
Field. The lawyer. the Judge, the pa
triot, the statesman. the Christian,
ascended. 1t was shutdown In the home
on yonder Capitol hill, as it WAS sun
down on all the surrounding hills, but
in both cases the sunset to be followed
by a glorious sunrise. Hear the Easter
anthems still lingering in the air. 1.-The
trumpet shall sound. and the dead shall
rise. !"
Our departed friend came forth boy
from minister's home in New Eng
land. He knelt with father and mother
at morning and evening prayer, learned
from maternal lips lessons OF piety
which lasted him and controlled him
amid all the varied and exciting scenes
of lifetime and helped him to die in
pence an octogcnarian. Blot out from
American history the names Of those
ministers sons who have done honor to
judicial bench and commercial circle and
national Legislature ard presidential
chair. and You would oElitrrnie many
OF the grandcst chapters CT that history
1t is no small advantage t. li7vr s.,rt"d
from a home where God is ..',in."d and
the subject of II worlds cIr,ncira' ion
from sin and borrow is undcr constant
discussion The Ten Commandments,
which are the foundation q all good
law-Roman law. German law. Eng
lish law, American law-arc the best
foundation upon which to hnild charac-
ter. and those which the boy. Stephen
J. Field, SO often heard in the parson-
age at Stocktridge were his guidance
when half century after. as gowned
Justice of the supreme court of the
United States, he unrolled his opinions
Bibles. hymn books, catechisms. family
prayers. atmosphere sanctified, are good
surroundings for boys and girls to start
from, and if our laxer ideas of religion
and Sabbath days and home training
produce as splendid men and women as
the much derided Puritanic Sabbath
and Puritanic teachings have produced,
it will be matter of congratulation
and thanksgiving
Do not pass by the fact that have
not yet seen emphasized that Stephen
]. Field was minister 8 son. Notwlth-
standing that there are conspicuous ex-
ceptions to the rule-and the exceptions
have built mp stereotyped defamation
on the subject-statistics plain and un-
deniable prove that a larger proportion
of ministers sons turn out well than
are to be found in any other genealogic-
al table. Let all tho parsonages of all
denominations of Christians where chill
dren are growing up take the consola-
ton. See the star of hope pointing
down to that mangerl
Member OF Royal Family.
Notice also that our departed friend
was q member of a royal family. There
we're no crowns or scepters or thrones
in that ancestral line. but the family
of the Fields, like the family of the
New York Primes. like the family of
the Princeton Alexanders, like score
Of families that l might mention, If 1t
were best to mention them, were 1.-THE
children of the king" and had put on
them honors brighter than crowns and
welded influence longer and wider than
scepters. That family Of Fields traces
an honorable lineage back 800 years TO
Hubertus dc Ia Field, coadiutor Of Will
liam the Conqucror Let us thank God
for such families, generation after gen
Grafton on the side of that which Is
right and good. Four sons of that coun-
try minister, known the warld over FOR
extraordinary usefulness in their
spheres, legal. commercial, literary and
theological. and daughter, the mother
of one of the associate justices of the
supreme court Such families counter
balance for good those families all
I wrong from generation to generation
families that stand for wealth. unright-
eously got and stingily kept Or wicked
" squandered families that stand for
fraud or inlpurity or malevoleDce; fam
ily names that Immediately come to
every mind. though through sense OF
propriety they do not come to the lip.
The name of Field will survive centu-
ries and be synonym for religion, for
great jurisprudence, for able Chrlstlan
journalism, as the names Of the Pha-
raohs and the Caesars stand for cruelty
and oppression and vice
While parents cannot aspire to have
such conspicuous households as the one
the name Of whose son we now cele-
brate. all parrnts may by fidelity in
prayer and holy example have theiI
sons and daughters become kings and
qneens unto God. to reign forever and
ever But the work has already been
done. and could 90 through this conn
try and find thousand households
which have by the grace Of God and
blessing upon paternal and maternal
excellence become the royal families OF
America
Let young men beware lest they by
their behavior blot such family records
with some misdeed. We can all thins
of households the names of which