Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-11-30

wastes of arid deserts. So the influence
of a human life, like that of a tree.
never dies. Its good or evil lives on
and on, long after the human tree has
fallen.
Earthly demise would not be appall-
Ing if when a man died the bad he did
while upon the earth should die with
him. But the trouble is that the bad
lives on as well as the good. The Won
derful book of Eugene Sue called THE
Wandering jew" is founded upon a
well known Roman legend. 1t runs
that when Christ had been condemned
in Pilates judgment hall the Jewish
doorkeeper struck at him and cried:
Move on. man, Move on faster! Why
dost thou linger? Move on With
that the condemned Christ turned and
said, Il will go. but thou shalt remain
until | come" And so, says the legend,
the brutal Jewish doorkeeper wanders
up and down the world, begging God
for death, but he cannot die. He can
not die. Though that is only legend,
it is a solemn truth that every good
word we have spoken or evil deed we
have done lives on after we are dead.
1t lives on in the lives of others with
whom we come in contact. We live
on in the good we have done. Then we
are like that beautiful tree mentioned
in an Easter fable whose branches
were laden with apples of solid gold
and its leaves covered with silver bells.
When the leaves of that tree were
shaken by the soft winds those bells
would begin to chime the sweetest
music. and that would be the signal
and gather the falling fruit. Or we
shall live on after we are dead in the
evil we have done to our neighbOrs.
Down through the centuries has the
evil been perpetuated of that first sin,
when a tempted man and woman
| plucked the fruit hanging from the
branch of tree. So through all time
the influence of our lives for good or
evil shall so on bringing forth fruit.
As the Tree Grows, So 1t Falls.
There is another significant reason
why the dead tree nearly always falls
in the way it has grOwn-the direction
is determined by the influences which
were at work upon Its younger life.
| The proverb declares that "old trees
cannot be transplanted." The knots
are too big. The trunk is too bent
| The branches are too heavy. The roots
are too wide to be lifted and moved.
| The imperfections of trees may be the
more readily recognizable in their old
age, but the influences which caused
the tree to grow to the north or to the
south nearly always Go their work for
| good or evil when the trees are hardly
more than small saplings. If this fact
| be true, is it not of utmost importance
that parents should carefully look after
| the work of rearing their children? A
middle aged man said to me, some time
| ago: THE most awful realization that
| have of lifes duty is that | am ia
Their. When | look back and see the
influence my parents had upon my life,
and when | see my boys every day
copying me in dress. in speech. in ac-
ton, in wanting to wear clothes as |
wear mine and do things because | do
| them, it makes me tremble." Yes. par
| eHts, the most important part of your
earthly influence is that which you are
now eXerting over your children. You
are now influencing them at the critical
time of their lives. They are now
young trees, to be easily bent as you
will, and if you set the wrong kind of
an example before them, as did that
parent who one day saw his boys play
ing that they were intoxicated, as their
father often was, you will destroy those
young lives as easily as herd of swine
can root up sagebush.
Word to the Young.
Young people, | would like to speak
just one word to you. You are apt to
think that the period of youth does not
amount to much. | want to tell you
that you are now forming the habits
that will grow stronger and stronger
as the years roll on. The bark of the
tree is the place where the life is sup
posed to exist. But if the inside of the
tree, or the wooden part, is allowed to
be tunneled by a worm the inside of
the tree will soon be eaten out. Then
the whole tree will soon totter and fall
One small sinful habit can destroy the
human heart. One little tug in youth
in the wrong direction can pull off the
branches of truth and purity and love
and honor and make a lopsided tree
What you do now will decide the mora
character Of your future. Trees 1,00(
years old are neither more nor less
than the fully developed and expanded
projections and imperfections of tres
only four. five. ten. twenty. thirty
years old. Nearly all the hardened
criminals who spend most of their lives
in the penitentiary committed theil
first crime when they were nothing
more than boys under twenty years Of
age. Many a murderer has started on {
quick journey for the gallows by whet
ting his taste for blood when as chile
he tortured dog or d Gagged rat Ok
| = flnni, cir IL,