Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-05-31

man may he moral coward and vet
he physically as brave ms q lion. SO
many old soldiers have lost the battle
of life not because they we're coward
ly upon the field of carnage but be
cause they were not brave enough TO
defy temptation when it came to them
In time OF peace
A Hero Conquered.
TO illustrate my thought let me draw
for you the picture of one Of my dear
est friends. He was one Of the leading
members Of the first church of which
I was pastor. I can see him now,
straight as an Indian war chief. He
carried himself us only that man does
who has kept step to the beating Of the
drums No music was to him SO sweet
ms the booming Of the cannon on a ma
tional holiday. can hear him now
say: do you hear III We old fellows
have often had for reveile the sound
Of those guns He was in that awful
charge Of the Sunken road at Fred
ercksburg. He led his company there
in defiance of Longstreets cannon
sweeping over that field. He followed
Grant on through the wilderness. He
never feared the face of man. Yet
how relentlesslv the temptations Of sin
entrapped him. Lower and lower he
| sank The stout hand which always
had such a cordial grasp of mine be
gan TO weaken and trcmble as II more
and more frequently reached ont for
the poisonous cup. After I left that
4 IL Ia
ters from my old home came saying,
Captain So-and.so Is not doing we'll"
No, he was not doing well. He drank
up his business. He drank MP the for
tune his father left him He drank
a big mortgage on his home. lie sent
his girls forth TO work for their daily
bread. And the last time | saw him
sin had almost completed itS work
did not at first recognize the physical
/ and mental and spiritual wreck. When
| saw him sitting in my old church I
said, What a mighty power sin mist
be to have conquered So valiant hero"
Oh. il was ptiful to see that stalwart
frame, that indomitable spirit, over
come and laid low by u degrading hnb-
| brave has fallen, God keep US weaker
mortals close to himself, lest we, too,
/ succunb to temptation
But there is another great lesson that
! ] learn from the old soldiers. 1t is the
! preserving power Of Industry. No man
/ is so happy az when he Is working
man in the struggle for his daily bread.
I once read dramatic story of the
| Sioux war OF 1872 The Third United
! States cavalry was ncamped for the
night on the southern borders Of South
Dakota. BY the violence of mighty
storm the cavalry horses stampeded,
All seemed lost for without those
horses the soldiers were helpless before
the enemy. Suddenly the colonel or
dered the bugler to blow the stable
call" At once the horses, lying in
every direction. lifted their ears and
halted. Then they turned and every
horse came back to the camp and the
regiment was saved. Beautiful call,
that. Oh. yes. ii was n beautiful call.
But | want to tell you that the call OF
work has the same magic effect upon
the human race as that bugle call had
upon the cavalry horses of 1872. The
call OF work seems to be harsh call
but It is the call Of contentment, the
call Of happiness and the call Of peace
| am never so impressed with this
thought as when visiting some Of the
old soldiers homes of America With
out any exceptions I believe the vet
Grams retreat Of Washington or Mil
waukee or Danvllle or Sawtelle can he
counted among the garden spots of the
world. The one Of southern California
is especially beautiful Go there any
time of the year. and you can pick
flowers in the gardens. There You are
within few minutes ride OF the great
Pacific ocean. There the libraries are
filed with books and the Memorial hall
has its regular entertainments and the
aviary is filed with birds and the set
tees are in just the right positions IN,
dor the trees. All that most of us fee
IS needed To make life happy is there
The old soldiers do not have TO worry
about their meals or their money or the
beds in which they are to sleep or the
doctors and the nurses who will care
for them when they are sick All is
provided for them. Rut as Il class arc
the old soldiers in Sawtele happy? No
Go to the old soldiers home and begin
to talk with these veterans and you
find them discoutented What do they
say? Praise their surroundings? No
Invariably they will find fault with the
ovcrseers and with their food and with
their associates and with this and that
and with the other thing They have
nothing to do, and so a large part OF
them spend most of their time in com
planning. o man, want you tC
thank God that you are compelled &c
work day in and day out, month in and
month out, year in and year out. When
friend came to Caylus, the celebrated
French antiquarian. and asked him
why he always was at work he an
swered. IL engravs lest ! hang my
self Thus all men can most easily
find contentmcnt, not in idleness, bu
in severe and unrelenting toll.
Iundels Ms Old Men.
But there is still another fact wan
: you TO notice about the old soldiers
The approach of old age and of dealt
. does not change mans views TOWARD
God. II he is a blasphemer when h,
is young. he Is apt to be Il basphemcl
! when he is old. II he rIdculcs ant
sneers at the Bible when he is young
he is apt to he q ScOf1cr and an agnOs