Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-12-21

lbi ltD. Twenty. stdlS. Dut
after the death angel calls one child
he is very apt TO come back soon for
another and another until all are gone
When the family plot is once selected
and a couple of graves dug therein the
hearse gets into the habit of travelling
in the same direction and the black
horses TO stopping at the same gate.
Then the sad truth is that when death
does come regrets may be piled in
flowers mountains high upon the
easket, brothers may weep over the
dead brother. the hands may be press
ed and the lips pressed and the fore
head stroked. but the dead will hear
not one word. He will not lift one eye
lid. He will not smile one look of for
giveness back to those who want TO be
forgiven. oh, regrets. regrets. How
often have we wept our regrets over
the coffin lids! How often that word
might have been chiseled as epitaph
upon the tombstone of the dead. Re-
grets, bitter, heartrending. but useless
regrets. Regrets. burning regrets in
reference to our kith and kin who are
gone.
A Blunt Question.
Family diSsensions should cease.
Dare any one. old or young, gainsay
this immaneHt truth? But if this warn
ing comes with mighty force to broth
ers and sisters how much more should
it come to the fathers and mothers who
are angry or Indifferent with their chill
dren! Many people are apt to judge
the children harshly when domestic
troubles arise between parents and
their offspring. But as men and women
| grow older and have children of their
own they are more willing to blame the
parent for the estrangement than they
are to blame the child Have you, par
| ents ever tried to win back the affec-
| tons of your children? Did you ever
| try to recall that cruel remark you once
made to your obstinate boy? That re-
mark cut into his heart as a surgeons
knife buries itself in the flesh quivering
upon the operating table. Have you.
o parent, since that second marriage,
| which so trampled upon the love of
your children. gone regularly to visit
your children, as you used to do before
their mothers death? Do you send to
them the warm, cordial invitations to
come home and insist that they come
with their families? Do you. the par
ents, try to instill into your children the
thought that their father and their
mother are absolutely dependent for
happiness upon their boys and girls
affections?
Parents, let me ask you one blunt
question. Supposing your children have
done wrong-and in all probability they
have-who ought to forgive first? Who
ought to be continually forgiving until
the old sweet relationships are re-
stored? Ought not the first forgiven, the
chief forgiven. be you, o father, o
mother, you who have been worshiping
at Christ's feet for forty years? Ought
it not to be you rather than your child.
who has not been a member of the
church more than five years? Ought
not the father and the mother try to
show to their children forgiving ma
lures, no matter what those children
have said or done? Remember the
prayer you have been saying ever since
you learned it at your mothers knee,
Forgive us our treSpaSSes as we for
give those that trespass against u.s.
That means, Forgive us. 0 God. as we
are willing to forgive our children
Peace on Earth.
Cannot the parents who are estrang
ed from their children realize that the
years are very few in which it is pos