Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-08-04

believe a man ever fully appreciates
the love of parent until he himself
is married and has babies about his
own family table. 1t is only after a
man has had the worries and the anx-
leties of his own home troubling his
heart, it is only after he has stood by
the side Of the cradle and nursed his
baby boy through the awful sickness
of diphtheria, it is only after he has
got his own family burial plot and has
dug therein little grave for one of
his own babies, that he begins to fully
appreciate what his father and mother
in their time have done for him.
The Spirit of Reverence.
The aged Christian is able to inspire
the spirit Of reverence in the hearts
of many with whom he comes in con-
tact. This spirit is growth and not
an act. 1t is a germ seed which often
takes years and years to develop, and
not an entity which springs into being
at jump or a bound. 1t generally
starts away back in the nursery. If the
child learn to respect his mother, then
it is very easy for him to learn as a boy
to respect his teachers. If the boy learn
to respect his teachers, then it is very
easy for him as a young man to learn
to respect his Christian employers. If
a young man respects his Christian
employers, then it is very easy for him
as middle aged man to learn to re-
spect the aged Christian servants who
for years have been living at the Di-
vine Masters feet. If the middle aged
man respect Gods aged Christian serv-
ants, then it is very easy for him to
learn to respect the God whom those
Christians serve and to communicate
that respect to others.
Thus God uses your physical weak
nesses and your mental helplessness
| for a purpose. When he sees you, an
aged Christian parent, being tenderly
cared for in your old age by loving
son; when he sees that son giving to
| you the best room in the house and
the easiest armchair and the softest
bed; when he sees that son trying to
make your last days upon earth happy
and peaceful, then we can imagine
him saying: THAT young man who is
caring so tenderly for his aged Chris
tan parent is capable of great love
/ for me and my children The young
man who is true to his old mother, by
my grace, will always be true to me-
l will honor him because he has hon.
ored one of my aged servants" Did
not God say in his Ten Command
ments, Honor thy father and thy
| haf NV bo So,
the land which the Lord thy God giveth
thee?"
| Honor Old Age.
A beautiful German story relates
how one day little girl named jean
nette witnessed great army review.
Thousands upon thousands of specta-
tors crowded around the stand, before
which the emperor was to watch the
passing regiments. While Jeanette
was seated in the stand she saw an
old feeble woman trying very hard to
get where sRe could see. The little
German girl said to herself cit is not
right for me to sit here, when l am
strong and well and can stand, while
that poor, feeble old woman can see
nothing. 1 ought to honor old age as
l want some one to honor me when l
am old" Then she gave up her seat
to the old woman and went and stood
in the crowd. But while Jeanette was
standing upon her tiptoes trying in
vain to see courtier of the emperor,
covered with gold lace, elbowed his
way to her side as he said, Little
girl, her majesty would be pleased to
see you in the royal box" When the
abashed child stood before the en-
press, she graciously said: "Come here,
my daughter, and sit with me. l saw
you give up your seat to that old wom-
an, and now you must remain by my
side" So God honors those who honor
his servants. God especially honors
those who honor the aged and seem
ingly helpless disciples whose earthly
pilgrimages are nearly ended.
The aged Christian is living evil
dence that for most of us earthly life
Is to be very short. Therefore what
we are to do for Christ we must do
soon or we shall never be able to do 1t
at all. Sixty or seventy or eighty years
are very long time to live, but most
|
of us will never reach even middle life.
If you speak to an aged Christian, you
will find that he is like November
leaf, hanging almost solitary and alone
after the thousands and the tens of
thousands of autumnal leaves have
been torn from their branches by the
eQuinoctial winds. You will find that
most of his contemporaries died when
he was comparatively young, that
nearly all the rest died when he was
in middle life and that only very
few companions Of his youth are alive
to walk by his side. The statisticians
declare that third of the human race
die in infancy. At least One-third OF
the remainder die before twenty-one
years of age have been reached, and
only or per cent Of the human fam
lily live to be sixty years of age OF
Oyor Go fho moro prpSoOoQ in this