Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-03-30

There is more help In one good thunder
storm than in five days OF cold drizzle.
Better the old fashioned style OF chastise-
ment, II that be necessary, than the fret
ting and the scolding which have de-
stroyed so many.
sometimes because our young people are
surrounded by so many temptations.
castle may not be taken by straightfor-
ward SIEGE but suppose there be inside the
castle an enemy, and in tho night he
sboves back the bolt and swings open the
door. Our young folks have foes without,
and thew have foes within. Who does not
understand 1t? Who is the man here who
il not aware Of the fact that the young
people OF this day have tremendous temp
tations?
Oh. how many traps set for the young!
STYLES OF temptation just suited to them.
Do YOU suppose that a man who went clear
10 the depths of dissipation went down In
ono great plunge? Oh, no! At first 1t was
a fashionable hotel. Marble floor. No I'M
clean pictures behind the counter. NO
drunken hiccough while they drink, but
the click OF cut glass to the elegant senti-
ment. You ask that young man now to go
into some low restaurant and get drink,
and he would say "Do you mean to insult
me?" But the fashionable and the elegant
hotel Is not always close by, and now tho
Young man is on the down grade. Farther
and farther down until. he has about struck
the bottom of the depths Of ruin. Now he
is In the low restaurant. The cards SO
greasy YOU eau hardly tell who has the
best hand. Gambling for drinks. Snuhle
way, shuttle away. The landlord STANDS
In his short sleeves, with his nands on us
bips. waiting for an order to fill up the
glasses.
The clock strikes twelve-the tolllng OIL
the funeral bell of SOUL The breath OIL
eternal woe Pushes In that young mans
cheeks. 10 the Jets OF the gasllght. the
fiery tongue of the worm that never dies.
Two o'clock In the morning, and now they
are sound asleep In their chairs. Land
lord comes around and says wake up:
wake upl Time to shut up!' WHAT
says the young man. Time 20 smut up!
Push them all out into the night air. NOW
they are going home. Going homei Let
tho wife crouch In the corner and the chill
dren hide under the bed. What was the
history Of that young man? He began his
dlssipa lions in the barroom OF Il Fifth ave-
nue hotel and completed his damnation In
the lowest grogshop.
Sometimes sin does not halt In that way.
Sometimes sin even comes 10 the drawing
room. There are leprous hearts some.
times admitted In the highest circles OF
society. He is so elegant, he is so Dewitch-
lug in bis manner, he Is so refined, he Is so
educated. no one suspects the sinful de-
sign. but after n while the talons of death
| come forth. What Is the matter with that
| house2 The front windows have not been
| omen for six months or year. sDadow
| has come down on that domestic hearth, a
shadow thicker than ono woven OF mid
night and hurricane. The agony OF that
parent makes him say, "Oh, | wish L had
| buried my children when they were small.
| Loss OF property? No. Death in tue
family? No. Madness? No. Some VII,
lain, kid gloved and diamonded, hlted
| that Gun of domestic bliss until the sun
| light struck 1t, and all the rainbows
| piaved around the rim and then dashed 1t
into desolaton and woe, until the harpies
| of darkness clapped their hands and all
| the voices of the pit uttered loud ma,
| hal"
| The statistic has never been made up IN
| these great cities OF how many have been
| DESTROYED and how many beautiful MONIES
| have been overthrown. II the statistic
could be presented, 1t would freeze your
blood in q solid cake at your heart. Oui
great cities are full OF temptations, and &c
vast multitudes OF parents these tempta
lions become matter OF great sollcltudo:
| Begin early Will yOul
stand on the banks OF a river and you Try
to change its course. 1t has been rolling
now tor 100 miles You cannot change 1t
| Rut lust 90 to the source OF that river, &c
to where the water Just drip5 down on the
rock. Then with your knife make q chan,
mel this way and channel that way. ana
II will take 1t. Come out and stand on the
banks of your child's life when 1t Is thlIty
or forty years OF age, or even twenty anO
try to change the course OF tnat liie
II is too latel 1t is too late! Go far
Their up at the source OF Ire ana near
est to the mothers heart, where tn(
character starts, and try to take 1t II
the right direction. But, oh, my friend
be careful to make line, dlstinc
line between innocent hilarity on the one
hand and vicious bilarity on the other. ~
not think your children are going to ruiz
because they make racket. All health.
children make racket. But do not laugl
at YOUR child's sin because 1t is smart. l
YOU do, you will cry after awhile because
it is malicious. Remember 1t Is what yo'
do more than what you say that is goini
| 10 affect your children. DO you suppos'
Noah would have got his family TO so int
the ark II he staid out? No. His sons
would have said, 81 am not going into TN
| boat: there's something wrong; fathe
won't 90 In; if father stays out, I'll sta!
out"
Are all your children safe? know 1t Is !
! stupendous question to ask, but L must
| ask it. Are all your children sate! a
mother. when the house was on fire, gol
out the household goods, many articles Of
beautiful furniture, but forgot to ask I'll
too late, care the children SAFER WheT
the elements are melting with fervent hea
and God STALL bnrn the world up ana tn'
| t,ol
the mountains and the valleys, will youi
children be safe?
wonder IL tho subject strikes chord ii
the heart OF any man who had Christian
pareptage. but has rot lived Is he ought
God brought YOU here this morning Il
| have YOUR memory revived. Did you hay
a Christian ancestry? "Oh, yes!' says ON
man. "If there ever was n good woman
nv mother was good" How she watched
vol. when you were siekl Others wearled
IL she got weary. she nevertheless wa
wakeful, and the medicine was given Mt tn
right time, and when the pillow was no
she turned 1t. And, oh, thea, When yo'
began to 90 astray, what grief 1t was T.
her heart!
All the scene comes back. You remom
Der the chairs, you remember tho table
Won remember the doorsill where yo
Dlayed, you remember the tones OF be
voice. She seems calling you now. not b
the formal title with which We address you
saving, "Mr." this or "Mr." that, or Hon
orable' this or Honorable" that. 1t
lust the first name, your first name, sh
calls you by this morning. She bids you 10
better life. She says: Forget not all III
counsel I ga o you, my wandering boy
Turn into paths of righteousness. "a
waiting for you at the gate" Oh, yes, Go
brought you hero this morning to hay
that memory revived. and l shout upwar
the tidings. Angels OF God send forwar
the news. Ringl Ring The dead lie ally
again and the lost is foundi