Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-03-04

terfalls dash. but only bears bark and
panther scream and VOLTS howl, then
you might we'll gather into your homes
only the shadows. But when God has
strewn the earth and the heavens with
beauty and with gladness let us take
into our home circles all innocent hilar-
ity, all brightness and all good cheer.
A dark home makes bad boys and bad
girls in preparation for bad men and
bad women.
Above all, my friends, take into your
homes Christian principle. Can it be
that in any of the comfortable homes
whose inmates l confront the voice OF
prayer is never lifted? What No sup
plication at night for protection? What
No thanksgiving in the morning for
carer How, my brother, my sister, will
you answer God in the day of judg-
ment with reference to your childrenI
1t is a plain question. and therefore L
ask it. In the tenth chapter OF jeremiah
God says he will pour out his fury upon
the families that call not upon his
name Oh, parents. when you are dead
and gone and the moss is covering the
inscription Of the tombstone. will your
children look back and think Of father
and mother at family prayer? Will
they take the old family Bible and open
it and see the mark Of tears CT contr1-
ton and tears of consoling promise
wept by eyes long before gone out into
darkness? Oh. if you do not inculcate
Christian principle in the hearts OF
your children, and you do not warn
them against evil, and you do not in
vite them to holiness and to God, and
they wander off into dissipation and
into infdelity. and at last make ship
wreck of their immortal soul, on their
deathbed and in the day Of Judgment
they will curse you'll
EARLY Rccol1ectiOns.
Seated by the register or the stove,
what if on the wall should come out
the history of your children What a
history-the mortal and IMMORTAL life
of your loved ones Every parent is
writing the history of his child. He is
writing it, composing it into a song or
pointing it with a groan.
NY mind runs back to one OF the best
of early homes Prayer like roof over
it. Peach like an atmosphere In 1t.
Parents personifcations of faith in
trial and comfort in darkness. The two
pillars of that earthly home long crum-
bled to dust. But shall ever forget
that early home? Yes, when the flower
forgets the sun that warmed it Yes,
when the mariner forgets the star that
guided him. Yes, when love has gone
out on the hearts altar and memory
has cmptied its urn into forgetfulness.
Then. the home of my childhood, l will
forget thee The family altar of IA
theirs Importantly and mothers ten
derness, the voices of affection, the fu-
neral of our dead, the father and moth
er with interlocked arms like intertwln-
ing branches of trees making per-
petual arbor of love andpeace and kind
ness. Then | will forget thee-then,
and only then You know, my brother
that hundred times you have been
kept out of sin by the memory of such
a scene as I have been describing. You
have often had raging temptations, but
YOU know what has held you with SUI
pernatural grasp. tell you man who
has had such good home as that never
gets over it, and man who has had a
bad early home never gets over it
Again, home is a type of heaven. AT
our best estate we are only pilgrims
and strangers here. Heaven is our
home. Death will never knock at the
door of that mansion, and in all that
country there is not single grave.
How glad parents are in the holidays
TO gather their children home againl
But have noticed that there is almost
always a son or daughter absent
absent from home, perhaps absent from
the country, perhaps absent from the
world Oh. how glad cur Heavenly Fa-
Their will be when he gets all his chill
dren home with him in heaven And
how delightful it will be for brothers
and sisters to meet after lopJ; separa-
ton Once they parted at e door OF
the tomb, now they meet at the COR of
Immortality Once they saw only
Through a glass, darkly'' now it is
face to face-corruption. interruption;
mortality, immortality. Where are now
all +bair sins and sorrows and troubles ?
Overwhelmed in the Red sea OF death
while they pass through dry shod. Gates
of pearl, capstones of amethyst. thrones
of dominion do not stir my soul so
much as the thought of home. Once
there. let earthly sorrows howl like
storms and roll like seas. Home Let
thrones rot and empires wither. Homel
Let the world die in earthquake strug-
gle and be buried amid procession OF
planets and dirge Of spheres Home
Let everlasting ages roll in irresistible
sweep. Honle No sorrow. No crying
No tears No death But home. sweet
home, beautiful home. everlasting home,
home with each other. home with an
gels. home with Vou'
Dream OF Far Country.
One night, lying on my lounge when
very tired. my children all around
about me, in full romp and hilarity
and laughter-on the lounge, half
awake and half asleep dreamed this
dream: was in far country. II was
not Persia, although more than orien-
tai Insurance crowned the cities. 1t
was not the tropics, although more
than tropical fr1itfulness filled the gar
dens It was not Italy although more
tin Italian softness filed the air. And
/ wandered around looking for thorns
and nettles, but found that none OF
them grew there. And I saw the sun
rise, and l watched to see it set, but 1t
sank not. And saw the people in holt
day attire, and l said, "When will they
put off this and put on worllmen S garb'