The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1899-06-01
! LESSON FROM LIFE.
!, Talmage Eulogizes the Late JUS
tice Stephen ]. Field.
,~sous Training Laid the FOun-
...,on of His Character - The
Creat Divine's Tribute to a
Departed Friend.
,copyrirht, Louis Klopsch, 1872
Washington,

n.. NJ the most notable characters OF
dime is the subject of DIR. Talmage's
Ts.ourse. and the lessons drawn are
;nsniring. a, Text, 2 Samuel, a:3s: know
!. not that there is a prince and a great
man fallen this day in Israeli
Here is a plumed catafalque, followed
!. r;ny David and funeral oration
.h;chh he delivers at the tomb. Concern
inc Abner, the great. David weeps out
,he text. More appropriately than
rhen originally uttered we may now
ptter this resounding lamentation:
.Know We not that there is prince and
: rreat man fallen this day in Israeli"
r was so minutes after six. the ex-
act hour Of the sunset of the Sabbath
aay. and while the evening lights were
being kindled, that the soul OF Stephen
j, Field. the lawyer, the judge, the pa
tr;ot. the statesman. the Christian. as
rended 1t was sundown in the home
on yonder Capitol hill as it was sun
down on all the surrounding hills, but
n both cases the sun set to be followed
by glorious sunrise. Hear the Easter
anthems still lingering in the air. "The
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall
rise"
Our departed friend came forth boy
from minister's home in New Eng
iand He knelt with father and mother
Al 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 peace an octogenarian. Blot out
from American history the names of
those ministers sons who have done
honor to judicial bench and CONNER
cial circle and national Legislature and
presidential chair, and you would OBJ
literate many of the grandest chapters
Of that history. 1t is no small advan-
tagc to have started from home where
God is honored and the subject of a
worlds emancipation from sin and sor-
row is under constant discussion. The
Ten Commandments, which are the
foundation OF all good law-Roman
hv, German law, English law, Ameri-
can law-are the best foundation upon
which to build character. and those
which the boy, Stephen j. Field, SO
often heard in the parsonage at Stock
bridge were his guidance when, halt
century after, as a gowned justice OF
the supreme court of the United States,
he unrolled his opinions. Bibles, hymn
books, catechisms, family prayers, at
nosphere sanctified, are good surl ound.
hgs for boys and girls to start from
and 1t our laxer ideas of religion and
Sabbath days and home training pro
duce as splendid men and women as
the much-deridcd Furitanic Sabbath
and Puritanic teaching. have produced
Will be a matter of congratulatiol
and thanksgiving.
10 not pass by the fact that | have
not vet seen emphasized that Stepher
=. Field was minister's son. Notwith
sanding that there are conspicuous ex
eepsions to the rule-and the exception.
nave built up stereotyped defamation
ea the subject statistics plain and un
oeniabie prove that a larger proportion
d ministers sons turn out well tha,
afe e be found in any other genealog
Ma table. Let all the parsonages o
" denominations of Christians wher,
snlsdren are growing up take the con
somtion. See the star of hope pointin.
down to that manger!
Nofice also that our departed friene
80 4 member of royal family. Ther,
we're no crowns or scepters or throne,
Y ihat ancestral line, but the famil,
the Fields, like the family of tn,
new iork Primes, like the family o
ne Pri9ceton AleXanders, like a scor
2 families that might mention, il i
.eso best to mention them. were 9Th
sa''dren Of the King" and had put OF
Mem honors brighter than crowns an,
\ ~'eloed influence longer and wider thai
epters. That family of Fields trace
g honorable lineage back 500 wears t
= auoertas de la Field, coadjutor of vii
aam the conqueror. Let us thank Go,
ier such families. generation after gen
s.ataoa on the side of that which i
Ilsht and good. Four sons of that couu
~ minister, known the world over fo
A.raordlnary usefulness in thei
spneres. legal, commercial, literary an
s1sological, and daughter. the mothe
I y one OF the associate justices Of tn
suPreme court. Such families counte,
ossance for good those families a
SaOng from generation to generatio
nmliies that stand for wealth. ur
!nteously got and stingily kept q
ickedIy squandered; families tha
s.and ior fraud or impurity or male,
/ 'ence; family names that immedia.el
.eus 70 every mind, though throug
ssnse OF propriety they do not come
.hp. The name of Field will surviy
1'asses and be a synonym for rel
,on' ior great Jurisprudence, for alb,
AI,s!ian journalism, as the names {
u Iasraoas and the Caesars stand +,
ssa.y ant. oppression and vice.
.nale all 2arentscannotaspire TO ha,
aea conspicuous households as the or
s.ae - name OF whose son we now eel
4 ,.s AZ parents may by fidelity
and holy example have the