Milford chronicle., 1907-05-24
Calnage
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, D.D.

Los Angeles, Cal. May 19.-In tbi,
sermon the preacher shows that w,
hfe not sufficiently appreciatiye Of q,
'uanklul for the blessings we enioy
ana that to make life sweeter and bet.
Ter we should bear these constantly in
mind. The text is Ps. ciii, 2, Forget
not all his benefits"
Memory's grip is not always firm.
her pen IS not necessarily a cbiseI.
der memorial tablets are not always
cast In bronze or iron or steel Her
death masks are not impervious to
Time. They crumble and decay like the
bones and the flesh and the life they
represent. Her thoughts are not al-
ways recorded upon the leaves Of solid
rock by the sharp pencil of the light
nlng. Her broad manuscripts are Of
ten like the sands of the seashore.
washed clean at least once a dav by
the tndowing tides. They are the
olackboards in the schoolroom of a lit
tie child. The written words Of the
morning are obliterated by the teacher
TO make room for the arithmetic class
and the fiGures of the afternoon. What
we do and say today may be swal-
lowed up in the great, deep, impenetra-
ble abysses of oblivion of what we will
do and say tomorrow.
Indeed, If l might use the illustra-
tion, memory has always seemed to |
me to be like French bastile. 1t is |
similar to a great walled in castle of |
chivalric times. 1t is filled with secret /
closets and secret rooms and secret |
subterranean passages. 1t has its treas
ure vaults, where are concealed the
precious stones and the gold and the
silver no one knows anything about.
1t has its cedar chests where the IA
bled brides have hidden their wedding
robes and where families hide their
decOmposed grinning skeletons, so that
no one may find them, yet there men,
ory stands a huge castle with her
and her moats and her
drawbridges and her banquet halls and
her bathrooms and her cellars and also
with her secret chambers, about the
contents of which even the owners
themselves have forgotten.
Perhaps l can illustrate my thought
even more simply than this. A very
lear friend of mine is the owner of
me of the most historic of Virginia l
mansions. Every one conversant with a
he history of Washington's common [
wealth knows about WestOver, the 4
ome of the famous Colonel William '
Iyrd Of James River. One day some v
ew years ago my friend was making 4
Jme repairs in his cellar Suddenly o
Ie pick of the workman went through p
e wall. \ large opening was made Il
trough the wall. Lights were brought
hen my friend entered and found a
lcret tunnel. which old Colonel Byrd
ad built leading from his mansion
OWN to the river bank, through which
necessary in times of danger he and
IS family could have escaped and fed
? water to the coast or to England.
hus memOry's castles have their Sc ii
ct halls and secret chambers and Sc 70
ct subterranean passages. We our 70
Ives have built them. But after we III
we built them we have shut the Sc "
ct doors which lead to them and m
We then forgotten their very exist old
ce. What we said and did as boys. of
here we went as young men, the or
lrnings and advice we have received tbi
the past may be swallowed up in taI
, great sea Of forgetfulness. Memory his
Id these in tight grip for a little nre
ne Dut memorys Vlsellke hold aIter lin
ime grew less and less strong. Now ed
" have slipped out of her hands. Of
ey will be lost to us forever unless of
ne one opens for US memory's secret vol
lmbers and says: Brother, look in. fits
ter, here are your treasures" rem
The Phonograph Method. soc
+ might use a familiar illustration,
} must deal with the scrolls of mem W
: as the phonograph maker or owner wh'
kes the records for his instruments ner
u have often seen him do it. He thel
les a round cylinder of wax. Then him
the surface of this cylinder of wax 20
places a little needle. Then attach. the
to this needle he has a huge trum may
Then the orator or singer or the Wh'
hestra starts the waves of sound dow
ese waves of sound surge into the we
n month of that trumnat and drive sick
needle into tbe revoIving wav and that
impression is made. Then by these mast
entatiOns the phonograph is able to kho'
nd forth for you the songs Of a "he
Isky or a Melba, the stringed in nara
ment playing of a Theodore Thorn @ uear
the grafton of a Depew 4ne
Bryan and the vociferous laughter Us o.
|. happy child. The deeper the in. tner'
,ooranbic voica Tho doanor tho bene
ressions which are made upon the sue
/ and the heart, as a rule, the long cry"
lemory will hold these records and llom
at them when wanted. siiilie
u must make the first impression lue a. =
or else you can have no vivid re- -.