Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1900-01-09


dinner, to which the invited guests sent
in fictitious regrets; that of the shep-
herd answering the bleat of the lost
sheep and all the rural neighbors that
night helping him celebrate the fact
that 1t was safe in the barnyard; that
of the bad boy, reduced to the swines'
trough, greeted home with such BAN
quoting and jewelry that it stuffed the
older son with jealousy and disgruntle-
ment; that of the Pharisee full of bragg
gadocio and the publican shifting his
breast with stroke that brought down
the heavens in commseration; stories
about leprosy, about paralysis, about
catalepsy, about dropsy, about ophthal-
mia-stories that he so well told that
they have rolled down to the present
and will roll down through the entire
future.
The most of the Old Testament is
made up of inspired anecdotes about
Adam and Eve, about Jacob, about
Esau, about Ahab and Jezebel about
Jonah. about Daniel, about Deborah,
about Vashti, about men and women of
whom the story gave an accurate photo
graph long before human photography
was born. Let all Christian workers,
prayer meeting takers, Sunday school
teachers and preachers know the power
of that which my text calls the "tale
that Is told"
If you have had experiences OF par
don and comfort and disenthralment,
tell of it. Tell it in the most pointed
and dramatic way you can manage.
Tell it soon, or you may never tell it at
all. Oh, the power of "the tale that is
told!" An hours discourse about the
fact that blasphemous behavior is
sometimes punished in this world
would not impress us as much as the
simple story that in a town of New
York state, at the close Of the last CEN
fury, SO profane men formed them
selves into a club, calling them
selves Society of the Druids." They
met regularly to deride and damage
Christianity. One night in their awful
meeting they burned Bible and adj
minstered the sacrament to dog.
Two of them died that night. Within
three days three were drowned. In
five years all the SO came to bad end.
Before justices Of the peace it was
sworn that two were starved to death,
seven were drowned, eight were shot.
five committed suicide, seven died on
the gallows, one was frozen TO death,
and three died accidentally. Incidents
like that, sworn to- would balli any pro-
posed irreverent and blasphemous be-
havior.
In what way could the fact that in
fidelity will not help anyone die well
be so powerfully presented as by the
incident concerning man falling i'll in
Paris Just after the death of Noltaire
when professional nurse was called IN
and she asked: us the gentleman
Christian?" "Why do you ask that"
said the messenger. II am the nurse
who attended Voltaire in his last i'll
!. ness, and for all the wealth of Europe
| would never see another intidel die
What discourse in it's moral and spirit
} ual effect could equal tale like that?
You might argue upon the fact tina
those fallen are our brothers and sis
ters, but could we impress ANYONE
|
scene near Victoria park, London
2 where men were digging a deep drail
l and the snoring gave way and d grea
r pile of earth fell upon the workmen
A man stood there with his hands il
9 his pockets looking at those who wer
t trying to shovel away the earth from
t those who were buried, but whe'
S some one said to the spectator: "Bil
u your brother is down there" then tn
e spectator threw off his coat and wen
f: to work with an agony of earnestnes
& to fetch up his brother. What cours
d of argument could so we'll as that in
cident set forth that when we toll TO
t the salvation of soul it is a brothe
e whom we are trying to save?
c \ second reading of my text re
e minds me that life is not only stor
e told. but that it is brief story.
q long narrative stretched out lndef
n nitelv loses its interest. 1t is genera
y w the story that takes only minut
J. or half minute to rehearse that al
n rests the attention. And that give
= additional interest to the story of on
); life. 1t is a short story. Subtra'
q from our lives all the hours OF ne
st essary sleep, all the hours of incapa'
10 itv through fatigue or illness, all til
e. hours of childhood and youth befol
H. we get fairly to work, and you HAY
he abbreviated the story Of life so niue
that you can appreciate the Apost
r James expression when he compare
"a life to "a vapor that appeareth for
IN little season and then vanishes away
'g 1t does not take long to tell all ii
ol vicissitudes of Nfe-the gladness AZ
e the griefs, the arrivals and the d
* partures, the successes and the fai
III ures, the victories and the defeats, IL
~ ups and the downs. The longer v
III live the shorter the years. We har
- ly get over the bewildering fatigue
IN selecting gifts for children al
H. friends and see that the presents g
IN off in time to arrive on the appropl
10 ate day than we see another advan
., ing group of holidays. Autumn
~ fruit so sharply chases the SUNNI
e. harvest, ad the snow of the viii
a. blossoms OF springtime come so sol
w after the SHOWS of winter. 1t is r
IL" mark so often made that it fails
. make any impression and the pla
40 tude that calls forth no reply: "Ho
Il rapidly time goes"
=. - A third reading of my text remln
-. me that life is not only story told, b
10 story listened to. There is nothi
.s' more vexatious to anyone than to t.