The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-13
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
ey TIE REV. FRANK DE WITT TALMAaE. Q. Q.

1 tween a father and his son. Every little l while we hear of the son of some prom l lnent man being at variance with his father. An lnkling of the trouble may get Into the newspaper or be gosslpped about the neighborhood. Some of us side with the parent. We say; "No matter what the father may have done, the son l has no right to turn his back upon h!s sire. He has no right to desplse the par ent who cared for him when he was T little child and who educated him and started him out as young man Into the l world" On the other hand, some of us side with the son instead of the father. We say that some fathers are mean and 1 selfish and grasping. They never want to give their sons their rights, It Is told Of l old Emperor William I. of Germany that when the court, with Crown Prince Fred erlcks foot upon the lowest step Of the 1 throne, King William called the artist l to him and said. "Take that boys foot ol that throne step, Az long as I am king l want to have the throne for my self" But in all probability if you can get to the Inside facts of that quarrel be- tween the father and the son they can all be traced to a disposition in the father which has been inherited by thh son. The father may have been high strung ner- vous, quick tempered, oveswrought, over-
 
 have inherited the same fiery disposition, It is scientific fact that opposites con join, not slmilarities The positive ana the negative poles work together In har- mony, not the electric wires carrying the same current. The reason the wife Is able to live harmoniously with the husband is that her nature Is entirely different from his and Is it's natural complement The father and the son were continually irritating each other. One night there was a domestic explosion. The father ordered the son from the house. The boy never came back. He went to live In another city. He plunged into a life of dissipation The father blamed the son. The son blamed the father. But are there not grievous faults on both sides?
 Heal Family Troubles.
 Take. for illustration, that difficulty | which exists between the daughter and her parents. There are faults there Just | the same. Faults are on both sides. The | daughter may have grown up to be the | pride of the parental heart. She was l the idol of her father and mother. They l sent her to school and gave her every ed- | ucational advantage that money could | procure, but while they were giving l money and, seemingly, every advantage, those parents were not careful about the acquaintances their daughter was form ing. They were not careful about looking up the records of the young men who were calling during the evening hour. The result of this parental negligence was that the daughter med an affection for a young man who was not regarded fa- vorably by the parents. They did every thing in their power to prevent the mar riage, but the trouble was that the par ents awoke to the danger too late. Tine young girl was obstnate; she married against their will. After the daughter Jeff home she felt that her husband and children were not wanted back in the place where the wife and mother was born, therefore she does not visit where they are not welcomed. The parents, in an unguarded moment, may have said that all their children wanted of them was their money. The daughter is poor. but very proud At times she has not had food enough even for her babies. How much happiness 1t would give on all hands if a reconciliation could be affected and if the parents, remembering that their negligence contributed to the trouble, and the daughter, remembering the hard words, spoken in a moment of irritation. should not weigh against long years of love and parental kindness, should come together again and agree to forget the faults on both sides
 What is true of the difficulties between
 
 difficulties between brothers and brothers, sisters and sisters. Inevitably faults are to be found both sides. Therefore, what is the practical conclusion of all this trend of thought? You, o man. and you, O woman, have no right to complain about the injustices which others have done against you unless you at the same time have done all in your power to atone for the sins which you have. intentionally nj brother If you will go and honestly ask your brother to forgive you the wrong you have done him. in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred that brother will ask you to forgive the injustices he has done you. Then as you are both ready to atone for the evils you have done each other. there will be no further cause for domestic strife. Try to smother the flames of family trouble by asking your brother to forgive you the wrongs you have done him. Try 1t, my friend. Try it. Try it before the coming Christmas festivities.
 Family dissensions should cease, and immediately cease .Why? Because nearly all family troubles are caused by one member of family misiudging the mo- tives and position of other members of the family. Because 1t is almost impossi- b1e for people in one sphere of life to properly appreciate the difficulties and the trials and the worries and the dis appointments and the heartaches which are continually nagging and sapping the lives of people in other spheres of life Because 1t Is not easy for one to read ''the signs of the times" through an- others spectaeles. Because every pair of family glasses, as a rule. has a diff ferent lens and a different focus
 Put Yourself in His Place. Just study for moment the different ways the country brother and the city | brother look at the matter of family ex- nenses. They can rarely appreciate one