Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-10-14


ence the tragedies in the third watch
of the night? l am not here to thrust
1 you back with one hard word. Take
the bandage from your bruised soul
and put On it the soothing salve of
Christ's gospel and of Gods compass
sion
1 could give you the history in a
minute of one Of the best friends 1
ever had. Outside of my own family 1
never had a better friend. He well
coined me to my home at the west. He
was of splendid personal appearance,
! but he had an ardor of soul and a
warmth of affection that made me love
| him like q brother. l saw men coming
out of the saloons and gambling bells,
and they surrounded my friend, and
! they took him at the weak point-hiS
social nature-and l saw him going
down, and l had a fair talk with him.
for | never yet saw a man you could
not talk with on the subject of his hab-
its if you talked with him in the right
way. [ said to him, "Why don't you
give up your bad habits and become a
Christian?" 1 remember now just how
he looked. leaning over his counter as
should like to be a Christian, but 1
have gone so far astray L can't get
backr' So the time went on. After
awhile the day of sickness came. l
was summoned to his sickbed. l has
tened. 1t took me but a very few mo-
ments to get there. 1 was surprised
as [ went in. l saw him in his ordi-
nary dress, fully dressed, lying on top
of the bed. l gave him my hand, and
he seized it convulsively and said: ooh,
how glad / am to see you! Sit down
there" l sat down, and he said: Mr..
Talmage, just where you sit now my
mother sat last night. She has been
dead twenty years. Now, l don't want
you to think l am out of my mind or
that 1 am superstitious, but, sir, she
sat there last night, and she said,
Roswell, L wish you would do better,
l wish you would do better l said:
Mother, 1 wish could do better. l try
to do better, but l can't. Mother, you
used to help me; why can't you help
me now? And, sir, l got out Of bed
for it was a reality, and l went to her
and threw my arms around her neck,
and l said: Mother, | will do better
but you must help. l can't do this
alone" l knelt and prayed. That
night his sou! went to the Lord who
made ii.
A Tragedy In Five Acts.
Arrangements were made for the OBJ
sequies. The question was raised
whether they should bring him to the
church. Somebody said, You cannot
bring such a dissolute man as that into
the church, 1 said: You will bring
him in church. He stood by me when
he was alive. and l will stand by him
when he is dead Bring him" AS l
stood in the pulpit and saw them car
rying the body up the aisle 1 felt as if |
l could weep tears of blood. On one |
side of the pulpit sat his little child of |
eight years. a sweet. beautiful little |
girl, that l had seen him hug convul- |
sively in his better moments. He put !
on her all jewels and gave her all pic
lures and toys and then he would go
away, as if bounded by an evil spirit
to his cups and the house of iniquity,
fool to the correction of the stocks. She
looked up wonderngly; she knew not
what it all meant; she was not old
enough to understand the sorrow of an
orphan. On the other side sat the men
who ruined him. They were the meE
who had poured the NORWOOD into
the orphans cup; they were the men
who had bound him hand and foot |
knew them. How did they seem to
feel? Did they weep? No. Did they
say. what a pity that so generous a
man should be destroyed?" No. Did
they sigh repentingly over what they
had done? No; they sat there, looking
as vultures look at the carcass of
lamb whose heart they have ripped out.
SO they sat and looked at the coffin lid,
and l told them the judgment of God
upon those who had destroyed their
fellows. Did they reform? l was told
they were in the places of iniquity that
night after my friend was laid in Oak
wood cemetery, and they blasphemed
and they drank. Oh, how merciless
men are, especially after they have de-
you! Do not look to men for
comfort or help.
But there is man who will not re-
form. He says, 81 won't reform"
Well, then. how many acts are there
in a tragedy? l believe there are five
acts in a tragedy.
Act the first of the tragedy: A young
man starting off from home; parents
end sisters weeping to have him go;
wagon rising over the hill; farewell
kiss flung back. Ring the bell and let
the curtain fall.
Act the second: The marriage altar;
full organ. bright lights; long white
veil trailing through the aisle; prayer
and congratulation and exclamation of,
"How we'll she looksv'
Act the third: A woman waiting for
staggering steps; old garments stuck