Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-05-12

On. could l see you now, my boy,
AS fair as in olden time,
Vixen prattle and smile made home
And life was merry chime!
When the last notes of this song died
away, an old man came toward the
group and said to the young people:
Twill you please sing that song again?
My wife and I have a hayward boy.
We do not know where he is tonight.
He ran away from home. We do
want him to come back before we de-
God, the Divine Father, is waiting.
He is waiting for some of his way
ward children to come tonight to the
gospel freside.
A Message For Boys.
Boy, sitting before me tonight, I
have a message for you. I see the
marks of dissipation upon your brow.
I see that you have been crying dur
ing this sermon. I fear you are the
younger son OF my text. AS I catch
one of your falling tears I would like
to describe a vision which came to me
last winter about you. Where was the
scene? No, it was not in Chicago; not
in that low saloon or cheap theater or
in that hall where you spent last
night playing billiards and gambling
away your soul. The scene was way
back in the country. You remember
the old farm, the white house, the pill
Jared porch, the big barn in the rear,
the woodpile to the left of the kitchen
door, Tie hens were running around
nj opsy ho rfh
was a frozen tomb. The worms had
gone to sleep for their winter nap.
1t was about evening. An old gray
haired woman was cooking over the
kitchen stove. She looked thinner than
when you saw her last. The neighbors
say she is aging very rapidly and will
not live long.
Just then an old man came in. He
stamped the snow off his great boots.
This gray haired woman looked UP and
said ''Pa. have you brought letter?
Have you been to the postoffice? Is it
not strange he has not written. He has
been gone now five long years. Do you
think God will let me live long enough
to see him just once before l go?' The
old man said nothing. He went to the
door and looked down the road. He
shaded his eyes as though he could
''see a great way off, Then he said:
'Mother, that is a fine calf we have
there in the barnyard. She is getting
fatter each day. We must kill her soon
Perhaps we can have big feast when
our boy comes home" They sat by the
fire a little while after the dishes were
wiped. The old folks were too tired to
stay up late. They were too tired to
sleep.
They took down the old Bible. The
mother said: "Pa, won't you read that
story of the prodigal son? Somehow
never can hear it enough You read it
last night 1t is in the fifteenth chapter
of Luke. Read about the younger son
that went away and starved and was
| too proud to come home" Then the old
folks knelt AS they prayed the little
| candlelight began to fash in sympa-
| thy. The tears trickled through the
| four withered hands. There the two
tired heartsick parents stayed upon
| their knees, pleading with God for the
return of their hayward boy, until an
angel in heaven could bear their grief
no longer. He fluttered away and whis-
| pered to me the secret that | am now
telling My son, will you not so home
| Before the old folks are dead do go
home. Leave this far country of sin.
| copyright, 1902. Louis Klopsch. N. VI