Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-11-11

udNe COuQueTeu the eN1 HdDltS Dl luG
grace of God and become eternal victor.
oh, despise not parental anxiety The
time will come when you will have
neither father nor mother, and you will
go around the place where they used TO
watch you and find them gone from
the house and gone from the field and
gone from the neighborhood. Cry as
loud for forgiveness as you may oveT
the mound in the churchyard, they
cannot answer. Dead! Deadi And then
you will take out the white lock of hair
that was cut from mothers brow just
before they buried her, and you will
take the cane with which your father
used to walk, and you will think n
think and wish that you had done just
as they wanted you and would give the
world if you had never thrust a pang
through their dear old hearts.
The Door of Mercy.
God pity the young man who has
brought disgrace on his fathers name!
God pity the young man who has bro
ken his mothers heart! Better that he
had never been born. Better if in the
first hour of his life, instead of being
laid against the warm bosom of mater
nal tenderness, he had been coffined and
SepuIchered. There is no balm power
full enough to heal the heart of one who
has brought parents to a sOrrOwful
grave and who wanders about through
the dismal cemetery rending the air
and wringing the hands and crying:
Mother! Mother!" oh, that today, by
all the memories of the past and by all
the hopes of the future, you would
yield your heart to God! May your ia
theirs God and your mothers God be
your God forever!
This hour the door of mercy swings
wide open. Hesitate not a moment.
In many a case hesitation is the loss of
all. At the corner of a street 1 saw a
tragedy. A young man evidently
doubted as to which direction he had
better take. His hat was lifted high
enough so you could see he had IN in
telligent forehead. He had a stout
chest and a rObust development. Splen-
did young man! Cultured young man!
Honored young man! Why did he stop
there while so many were going up and
down? The fact is hat every young
man las a good angel and a bad angel
contending for the mastery of his spir-
it, and there were a good angel and a
bad angel struggling with that young
mans soul at the corner of the street.
Come along with me-" sal the good
angel; II will take you home. 1 will
spread my wings yer you pillow. l
will lovingly escort you all through life
under supernatural protection. 1 will
bless every cup you drink out of, every
0nI1oh rAIJ rncf on nunrr 6nnpU-n
enter. 1 will c0nsecrate your tears when
you weep, your sweat when you toll,
and at the last l will hand over your
grave into the hand of the bright angel
of q Christian resurrection l have
been sent of the Lord to be your guard
ian spirit. Come with me-" said the
good angel in a voice of unearthly SYM
phOny. 1t was music like that which
drops from a lutte of heaven when a
Seraph breatheS on it.
ooh, no." said the bad angel; ''come
with me. l have something better to
offer. The wines l pour are from hal
ices of bewitching %carOusal. The dance
I lead is over floors tessellated with un-
restrained Indulgence. There is no
God to frown on the temples of sin
where | worship. The skies are Ital-
ian. The paths 1 tread are through
meadows daisied and primrosed. Come
with me-"
Angels of Destiny.
The young man hesitated at q time
when hesitation was ruin, and the bad
angel smote the good angel until it de-
parted, spreading wings through the
starlight, upward and away until a
door Syvr1nay OaQn in tho civ and for
ever the wings vanished. That was
the turning point in that young mans
history, for. the good angel flown, he
hesitated no longer, but started on a
pathway which is beautiful at the
opening, but blasted at the last. The
bad angel led the way through gate
after gate, and at each gate the road
became rougher and the sky more
1urid, and, what was peculiar, as the
gate slammed shut it came to with a
jar that indicated it would never open.
Past each portal there were a grinding
of locks and a showing of bolts, and
the scenery on each side of the road
changed from gardens to deserts, and
the June air became a cutting Deem
Der blast, and the bright wings of the
bad angel turned to ~sackclOth, and the
fountains that at the start had tossed
with wine poured forth bubbling tears
of foaming blood. And on the right
side of the road there was a erpent,
and the man said to the bad angel.
"XYhat is that %serpent?" And the an
swer was, THAT is the serpent of
singing remorse." On the left side
of the road there was a lion, and the
man asked the bad angel, what is
that lion?' The answe was, THAT is
the lion of all %deyouring despair" A
vulture few through the sky. and the
man asked the bad angel, what is
that vuIture?" The answer was