The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-24

!. cap the climax father had an ugly morse, and one day it kicked him and broke his leg. There We were, a lot of little help less children. with both parents sick. 1 can remember as though it were yester- day when father called me into the room. He said. Harry. my boy, l am afraid you must give up your school for awhile. 1 do not know how God will lead us out from this difficulty. But He can and He will. He has never failed me yet. and He will not fail me now. Then you look at me in a peculiar way as you say: And God never did desert him. He never did. Oh, my father and mother were so good. They were so truly good
 Ths Best Inheritance.
 I am glad to hear you say that, my brother. It means more than gold and silver. It means more than fame or cial prestige. 1 would sooner have a fla ther and mother such as you had than to have any other inheritance The heri- tage of your cradle is today teeming with manifold blessings. No wonder you do not complain of your parents. Why, by every word they uttered. by every ao they did, they were leading you to t higher life, and their influence Is pot
 yet. When you think of your par
 and think of the blessings of you
 homestead, you are content and gr
 There is nothing left in that resp
 you to desire. Doth the wild
 when he hath grass or loweth
 his fodder?
 But there is another nome
 the record of your life that
 marvelously. I have nev
 complain because you did enough or opportunity
 the daily bread for yo
 family. Now, I have
 of you complain becaI
 dress as well as som
 heard you complain rs.ss fa not live in a grand cottage and run a, I have never heard s3, iu did not have enc sg nd enough clothing trsU and a weather tight lead. Not once have traits that you had 0 buy a loaf of bres Not your wardrobe been so empty tn did not have an extra coat hanging l. to keep out the cold. As far as 1 can make ont God has fed and clothed you and housed you for 50 years. Having done this has He not right to ask you to trust Him to the end? With such a past and with such God to care for your future are you not content? Why should you com plain? Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass or loweth the OK over his fodder?"
 But there is still another fact that im- presses me about your life. You never complain about your wife and children. Though there are scores and hundreds and 1 sometimes fear even thousands of unhappy homes in this city, yours is not one of these. You are like the patriarch Job in his earlier and later days You think you have about the finest wife, the best sons, the prettiest and smartest daughters in all this land. And the trouble is that your children know how highly you think of them. Why, they can get anything out of you they desire. Your wife has some common sense as to raising the children, but you have ab- solutely none. But, though you may be so fond of your children that you allow them to get anything out of you, are you doing all you can for their best interests? Your children love you so much that you can lead them to enter the Christian life. Now, in your great love for your home and family you have every incentive to be faithful to your God As a parental undershepherd are you going to prove recreant to your trust?
 A Heathen's Mothers Idea.
 There is a sad story told that near the burning ghats of Benares some years ago an Indian missionary was walking. There he saw poor Hindoo mother weep ing by the ashes where a couple of days before the body of her child had been burned. But in the night a hideous ser pent had crawled in among the ashes to seep. While the woman was weeping the serpent began to uncoil itself. Then, the heathen S SuperStitious belief in the trans migration of souls passing through her mind, the horror stricken mother flung herself at the feet of the white man, crying, 70 God, has my little baby come fn hnt tI,,A result of her pagan teaching. But, tell me, father and mother have you no fear that such horror may one day be yours if you fail to lead your children to Christ? They seem to you pure and good now. but if they go out into the world without the protection that Christ alone can give you may be startled and agonized at sec ing the serpents of sin and vice rear their heads out of the breasts of those loved ones. You can now mold them as you will, but the time is short, and unless you make the most of it they will pass from under your influence unprotected by Christ's love- Now, while the opportunity is yours, by your example and your teachings, do your utmost to place them under Christ's protecting care.
 But there is another matter of which I have never heard you complain. It is your religious privileges. l have never heard you complain because you had no Sunday school to which you could send your little children, no prayer meeting in which you could assemble with Gods dis ciples to pray, no church altar at which on the Sabbath day you could kneel and worship. Thousands upon thousands to- day are living so far away from church that it is an impossibility for them to go there on the Sabbath day. But this is not l the case with you. Here you are living practically under the shadow of the walls of our church. Here is a place in the 1 family pew always waiting you. Here are good men and women ready and willing l to pray with you. Whenever you come | within these walls a spirit of love and conservation creeps over you such as you | find in no other place on earth.
 A Church Home.
 Oh, how sorry I feel for the man or | the woman who has no church home. I | feel almost as sorry as for the man who has no domestic freside and who, in- stead of eating at his own family table, Is compelled to eat at boarding houses and in restaurants Home5 home, home, 1t is the sweetest word in all the Eng fish language Home, home, homei It means the laughter of children and the frol In