Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-10-31
Calnase
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talrnaae, d. d.

Los Angeles, Cal, oct. 30.-In this
sermon the preacher tells of the beau
ties and the potentialities of gentle
ness and human kindness in the home,
in business and I'm our everyday deal
ings with friends and enemies. The
text is ii Timothy ii, ~, BE gentle
unto all men
The great moral leaveners Of the
world have used but little blasting
powder They are not past masters in
the High order of Babbling Quar-
refers" Like the laborers, lifting high
er and higher the walls Of Solomon's
temple in Jerusalem, they make but
little noise. They tread the pathway
Of life with feet, for the most part,
Eandaled in velvet. Their voices are not
an angry growl, but a dulcet whisper
Their breath is not cyclOnic, but a sum
mer zephyr. Their countenances are
not twisted with the demoniac pas
slOns of a Hogarths caricature. Their
eyes are not flashing with the light
nings of a Mediterranean eurOclydOn.
They are red Tipped and laughing eyed
and rosy checked, with the happy smile
VI a ElbllOuS - ullt SullIlSt. lueN Dt-
lieve not in the strenuous life, with
its swords and spears and battleaxes
and clubs and bludgeOns and cOnfa-
gratiOns. They believe not in hurting
storm cloud against storm cloud until
the deluge comes. and the bridges are
swept away, and the harvest fields are
battered down, as though two mighty
armies had turned the valleys into
gigantic battlefield, where the heavens
were resounding with the cannonading
Of the elements. But they believe in
the gentle life" They believe in
the golden pulleys of evaporation, gath
ering up the waters into the reservoirs
of the clouds, to be scattered abroad
in the blessed refreshment of April
showers. They believe in the gentler
means, which produce life, and not in
the fierce, passionate methods of the
iconoclast, the anarchist and the fire
brand, which destroy life
Nature has her storms, .eruptions and
earthquakes, which In her angry
moods carry death and destruction in
their path, but the gentle ways are al
ways used by nature to accomplish her
greatest good. Standing upon a ships
deck some day, l say, Where did yon-
der tall, straight mast come from?"
"Why," you say, hundreds of years
ago a bird was flying over the Maine
hills toward her nest with a little seed
in her mouth. The keen eye of a hawk
spied her. When the hawk began to
soar higher and higher in the heavens
that he might make one terrific plunge
upon his prey, the little bird saw him.
Before she fed to safety she gave one
little frightened cry. When she utter
ed that cry her bill opened and the
seed dropped to the ground. A gentle
wind blew up the valley and covered
over that seed with a little soil. A lit
tie shower then came and mOistened
that soil, and the little seed began to
sprOut 1t took root. 1t grew into a
bush. 1t grew up into Il sapling. 1t
rounded out into great big tree. One
day Maine lumberman came through
that valley. With his ak he marked
that tree for the shipyard. The tree
was cut down. 1t was dragged to the
river and flOated down to the sawmill.
1t was scraped and fixed for a mast.
When this ship was launched that tree
vas fitted In it's present place for
lRn's use. Nature developed that tree
not In the upheavals of a day, but by
the gentle ways of maturing years"
The gentle life of the Christian must
be manifested toward those with whom
we come into closest contact. We first
OF all should be gentle to our parents
our wives, our husbands and children
and brothers and sisters and home as
sociates. We should be gentle wheT
we arise in the morning and prepare
for the breakfast table, be gentle wheT
we are fixing the children for school
be gentle when we kiss our wives good
by as we start for the train, be gentle
when we come home at night from the
store, be very gentle when we tucl
away the little ones into their beds 70
the night, for it is by the gentle words
the gentle deeds and the gentle mem
cries that we hold our greatest infiu
ence over our dear ones and not by thu
rebukes and the consciousness of on
bitter tongues.
An Old Proverb.
The old proverb teaches, "One warn
sunshiny May day can woo more buds
out of the trees and bushes than tiv'
months of winter frosts can ever &C
complish." One word of gentlenes'
can accomplish more for good in thu
lives OF our dear ones than a Thousand
angry looks can ever do. You know
that your mothers smile, your moth
eTs kiss and your mothers sweet way:
were the greatest magnets which made
you try TO do right They were no
your fathers punishments and sharl
rebukes. You know that your wife
gentle ways have far more lnnuenc
for good over the lives of your httl
children than your sharp corrections
although your wife rarely lifts a han
to strike them a blow. Why. only las
week this fact was illustrated to yo
in an emphatic way. You told you