St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-05-27
A LESSON FROM LIFE.
Dr.. Talmage Eulogizes the Lat. JUS
tice Stephen ]. Field.
Religious Training Laid the Foun.
dati0n Of His Character - The
Greet Divinc'x Tribute to
Departed Friend.

dalton OIL h11
Greet Divinc'x Tribute to q
Departed Friend.
Copyright, Louis K.opsch. isss)
Washington,
One of the most notable characters OF
our time Is the subjcc. of DIR. Talmagc's
discourse, and the lessons drawn are
inspiring. Text, Samuel, 3:3S: know
We not that there is prince and great
man fallen this day in Israeli?
Here is plumed catafalque. followed
by King David and funeral oration
which he delivers at the tomb. Concern
ing Abner, the great, David wccrs out
the text. More appropriately than
when originally uttered we may now
utter this resounding lamentations:
Know ye not that there is a prince and
o great man fallen this day in Israeli"
1t was 50 minutes after six, the eN-
act hour of the sunset of the Sabbath
day, and while the evening lights were
being kindled, that the soul OF Stephen
j. Field, the lawyer, the judge. the pa
triot, the statesman. the Christian, as
cendcd. 1t was sundown in the home
on yonder Capitol hill. rs it was sun
down ON all the surrounding hills, but
in both cases the sun set to be followed
by a 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 a 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 a lifetime and helped him to die
in peace an octogenarian. Blot out
from American history the names of
those ministers scns who have done
honor to judicial bench and commer-
cial ciscle and national legislature and
presidential chair, and you would OBJ
literate many of the grandcst chapters
of that history. 1t is no small advan-
taCc to have started from home where
God is honored and the subject of
worlds emancipation from sin and scr
row is under constant discussion. The
Ten Commandments, which are the
foundation of all good law-Roman
law, 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, a half
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
mosphere sanctified, arc good surl ound-
ings for boys and girls to start from.
and if our laNer ideas of religion and
Sabbath days. and home training pro-
duce Us splendid men and women as
the mucl-dcridc,l ruritanic 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
j. Field was Minister'S son. Notwith-
standing that there are conspicuous cx-
ceptions to the ru!c-and the exceptions
have built up a stercotypcd defamation
on the subject-statistics plain and un-
deniable prove that n larger proportion
of ministers sons turn out well than
are to be found in any other gencalog-
ical table. Let all the parsonages of
all denominations of Christians where
children are growing up take TIE con-
ISOLATION. See the star of hope pointing
down to that manger.
Notice also that our departed friend
was member of a royal family. There
were 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 a score
of families that might mention. il it
were best to mention them, were 1.-The
children of the King" and lad put on
them honors brighter than crowns and
welded influence longer and wider than
scepters. That family of Fields traces
an honorable lineage back 500 years to
Hubertus de Ia Field, coadjutor of Will
liam the Conqueror. 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 eonn-
try minister, known the.world over for
extraordinary usefulness in their
spheres. legal. commercial, literary and
theological, and a daughter. the mother
of one of the associate justices of the
supreme court. Such families counter
balance for good those families all
wrong from generation to generation
families that stand for wealth, ua-
righteously got and stingily kept or
wickedly squandered; families that
stand for fraud or impurity or malcv-
| olence; family 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
centuries and be Il synonym for reli-
| gion, for great Jurisprudence, for able
| Christian journalism, rs the names of
the Pharaohs and the Caesars stand for
cruelty and oppression and vice.
While all llparents cannot aspire to have
such conspicuous households as the one
the name of whose son we now cele-
bratc, all parents may by fidelity in
prayer and holy example haze. their
sons and daughters become kings and
queens unto God, to reign forever and
ever. But the work has already been
done, and could 60 through this coun'
try and find thousand households
which have by the grace OF God and
blessing upon raternal and material
excellence become the royal families Of
America.
Let young men beware lest they by
their behavior blot such family record.
with some misdecd. We can all think
of households the names of which
meant everything honorable and con
secrated for q long while, but by iii,
deed of one son sacrificed, disgracet
and blasted. Look out how you rol
your consecratcd ancestry of the nam,
they handed to you unsulliel! Bette
rs trustee to that name add something
worthy. Do something to honor tn,
old homestead, whether mountain
cabin CT a city mansion or q countr,
parsonage.