The Washington weekly post., 1899-05-23

Taking as his text I Samuel xx1s
Thou shalt be missed. because ;hy seat
will De empty" Dr. Talmage yesterday
said.
set on the table the cutlery and chased
silverware ot the palace, for King Saui
viii give a state dinner today A dis
tinEUishgd place is kept al the table for
hts son-in-lsw, a celebrated warrior. Da-
vid BY name. The guests, jeweled and
plumed. come in and take their places
When people are invited 10 a Kings han
qGet they are very apt to 60 But before
the covers are lifted from the feast Saul
looks around and finds a vacant chair al
the table. he SAYS within himself, perhaps
audIbly. What does this mean? Where Is
my Son-in-iaw? Where Is David, the great
warrior? ! invited him. ! expected him
What, a vacant chair at the Kings ban
qget% The fact was that David, The war
rior. had ben seated for the last time at
his father-in-iaw's table. The day before
Jonathan had coaxed David TO so and
occupy that place al the table. saying
10 David in the words OF my text: Thou
shalt be missed, because thy seat
viii be empty The prediction was
fulfilled. David was missed. His seat was
empty. That one vacant chair spoke loud
CT than all the occupied chairs at the
banquet
In almost every house the articles Of
furniture take living personality. That
piCture-a stranger would not see any
thing remarkable either in its design or
execution, but II Is more TO you than ali the
pictures Of the Louvre and the LuXem-
bourg. You remember who bought 1t and
who admired it. And that hymn book
you remember who sang out of 1t. And
that cTadle-you remember who rocked
( IL. And that Bible-you remember who
read out Of IL. And that bed-yOU remem-
ber who slept in il. And that rOom-you
remember who died in it, But there is
nothing in your house so eloquent and so
mightv-voiced as the vacant chair. / SUP
pose that before Saul and his guests got
Up from this banquet there was a great
clatter of wine pitchers, but all that
racket was drowned by the voice that
came up from the vacant chair at the ta-
bic
Thousands have gazed and wept at
John Quincy Adams vacant chair in the
House Of Repre- esentatives, and at Henry
Wilson's vacant chair in the Vice Pres
idency, and at Calhoun's vacant chair in
the American Senate, and at Prince Al
berts vacant chair I'm Windsor Castle,
and at Theirs vacant chair in the Coun-
ellis Of the French nation; but all these
chairs are Unimportant to you as compar-
ed with the vacant chairs in your own
household. Have these chairs any lessons
for US to learn? Are we any better men
and women than when they first addressed
US?
The Fathers Chair.
First, point out to you the fathers
vacant chair. OLD men always like to sit
in the same place and in the same chair.
They somehow feel more at home. and
sometimes when you are in their place
and they come into the room you jump up
suddenly and say, Here. father; here's
your chair The probability is that il is
an armchair, for he is not so strong as he
once was, and he needs little uphoIdilg.
His hair Is little frosty, his gums q lit
tie depressed, for in his early days there
was not much dentistry. Perhaps q cane
chair and old-fashioned apparel, for
though you may have suggested some
. improvement, father does not want any
of your nonsense. Grandfather never had
much admiration for new-fangled notions.
Il sat at the table of one of my parish
toner's in my first congregation; an aged
man was at the table, and the son was
presiding, and the father somewhat
abruptly addressed the son and said: My
son, do not DO things differently because
the minister is herer Your father never
liked any new customs or manners; he
preferred the old way OF doing things, and
he never looked so happy as when, with
his eyes closed, he sat in the armchair in
the corner. From the wrinkled brow TO
the tip Of the slippers, what plscidityI
The wave Of the past years OF his life
broke at the foot of that chair.
Perhaps. sometimes he was d little i'm
patient, and sometimes told the same
story twice; but over that old char how
many blessed memories hover! I hope you
did not crowd that old chair, and that it
did not get very much in the way
/ Sometimes the old mans chair gets very
much in the way, especially if he has been
SO Unwise as TO make over all mis- prop
eTty TO his children, with the understand
ing that they are 10 take care of him. l
have seen in such cases children crowd
the old mans chair TO the door, and then
crowd it clear into the street, and then
crowd il into the pOOrhOuse, and keep
| on cTowding it until the old man fell out
o. il into his grave.
VI
But your fathers chair was a sacred
/ place. The children used to climb uD on
The rungs of it for a goodnight kiss, and
| the longer he stayed the better you liked
it. But that chair mas been vacant now
for some time. The furniture dealer
would not give you - cents for it, but it
is q throne of influence in your domestic
circle. l saw in the French palace, aad
in the throne room. the chair that Napo-
leon used 10 occupy. II was a beautiful
chair. but the most significant part Of it
was the letter " embroidered into the
back of the chair in purple and gold "
for Napoleon And your fathers old chair
sits IN the throne room OF your heart, and
your affections have embroidered into the
back OF that chair in purple and gold let
| ters f. Have all the prayers Of that old
chair been answered? Have all the conn.,
sells OF that old chair been practIced
/ Speak 91t, old armchair
History tells US cf an old man vhose
three sons were yictors in the Olyu7Dfc
games. and when they came back win
/ their gar.ands they put them On their
/ fathers brow, and The old man was 50, ra-
/ iOiCed AT the victories OF his three rriI-
/ dren .hat ne tell dead in their arms. ArI
are you. Oh. man. going 20 bring a Uyastb
OF JOY ana Christian usefulness and uut H.
on Your fathers brow. or on the ysesn.
chair. or on the memory OF the one de-
/ parted; Speak out, OLD armchair, with
reference 10 your father. TIE words az nv
text have been fulfilled Thou SbsE -
missed. because thy seat Will b. en1Dt,
Il 20 a little farther on i'm vour
/ house, ana md the mothers CHAIR. II
is Ve-y apt 10 be q rocking char she
had 80 many cares and troubles - sgorra
tia. hzr chair must have rockers. / Re-
~ CHrr IL vel. Il was an "a crair AMI
the rockers were almost worn out. far I
was thc Youngest, and the clair had rock
eE The WhOIe family. IT made 4 sF1aBI9s
noise : IL moved, but there Was music IN
The sound II was Just high enough 10 A.
.UW ire children 10 uut their heads into
her lap. That was the BANK where we
I deposited al our hurts and worries
Had Its Personality.
"Ah. What chair that vas Ii was 6tf-
T fsFent from the fathers chair; il Was en-
I t-Hely different. You ask ne how? [ car
rot tel. hut We al felt il vas different
I Perhaps about this chair there WAS more
gpEtlsEess. more Tenderness more grief
( when W had done wrong When We uer-
UayVGrd father scOlded. but mother
/ CrI-d II was = very wake.sI chair. In
I the sick days Of children other chairs