Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-02-14


those labors OF your father and mother
completed9 lf they were upon earth
would they not nnd something which
they would IKE yen TO doy
You were n mature educated man
when YOUR father died WhyG You
were enc W the oldest children. and
your father was able Go do Tor you
what he could not do Tor your young.
est brother it was hard struggle.
e0t he sent yea through school and
c0,lesc and educated YOU as n lawyer.
\ physician NJ a clVll engineer. You
have been getting On spiendldly. But
how about that Younger hrothcrg "Oh,'
YEA answer John IL not earning his
salt, lie Is no good" No good2 l
think John has the making OF just as
good a man as you. What he needs Is
AN education. What he needs is n de-
veloped and a disciplined brain. lie is
only twenty years OF age. What would
you have amounted to II you were
thrown upon your own resources at
twenty and allowed to make your own
way In the world-perhaps sent into
store rs a clerk instead OF being sent
to college? You had better put your
shoulder under that brothers load.
You had better economic and save
and give your youngest brother an ed
ucation. That is what your father
would do If he were alive. That is
what he did for you. Is Ii square and
right for the older children to have
tall the education of the family and
the younger children have nothing?
Another Duty Left.
But that is not the only duty left 10
You by your father aud mother. There
is moral as well as financial duty
for you to perform. There is the bind
ing duty which you have TO your
brothers and sisters souls as well as
TO their minds and bodies. You know
that your parents always lad favor
lite in the family. That favoritism
was migratory. 1t would continually
change. There was one child that
your mother seemed to love more than
any other. That was the sick child or
the hayward child. You remember
years ago when you had typhoid fever?
Then you had the bed of honor in the
home. You slept for weeks by your
| mothers side. Then when you were
convalescent your sister came down
with the Group, and she for time be-
came the favorite. You were sent into
! another bed, and your sister slept be-
side your mother Next your brother
had trouble with his spine. Your moth
err was always talking and worrying
and thinking about John. Then you
became wild and dissipated. Your col
lege life was not uniformly irreproach-
able. You did things you had no right
to do. What happened? Don't you re-
! member the pleading letters she used
| to write? Don't you remember how
she prayed and talked with you? Don't
| you remember how her love brought
you back to your better self?
There is a story told Of young man
who was dying. He had led wild,
sinful life in his youth. but the last
few years he had surrendered himself
| entirely to Christian service He was
dying Il triumphant Christian death
Just short time before he passed
away q sweet smile overspread his
face, and he threw an arm about the
neck of the broken hearted woman
who was bending over him and said
"Oh, mother, / thank God for such a
mother! You have loved me into be-
ing good!' Yes, when you were way
ward and sinful your parents loved
you into being good. But that is not
what | want TO impress upon your
mind. Your mother and father are
dead. Who have taken their positions
In your brothers life? God knows he
is hayward. God knows he Is doing
what he ought not to do. God knows
he is drifting further and further away
into sin. Who is loving him into being
good and loving him back TO the cross
Is not that an unfinished labor OF the
old homestead which your father and
mother have left for you to complete?
Another Unfinished Labor
But there are other unfinished 'aborS
| for us in the home. We have iaherit
ed from cur ancestors work In politica
as well as In domestic life. When We
think OF the trainers OF the constitu
ton OF the United States we must no
think Of men who were satisfied with
what they accomplished. The constitu
ton, though one or the most wonder
full documents ever written by the per
or man, was far from satisfactory I,
the men who wrote 1t. The Statements
contained therein were the best thai
could be agreed upon at the time. L
was constitution of expediency. no
or perfection. Many were the law:
some men wanted to embody there
but could not; otherwise the thirteen
|
United States
Study the Developments or the amend
nents TO this constitution Thos,
amendments were the best that at tina
time could be framed. But thos,
amendments could and should be i'm
| proved upon. The work OF n constitu
uonal convention had its development
IN the thirteenth, fourteenth and IF
teenth amendments. But the work o
our ancestors is still unfinished. High
err and higher must we climb-highe
and yet higher. And us the patriot
OF the past, like Moses, devised ou
constitutional form of government, S,
we, like Joshua, must continue thei
labors and complete their unfinishe,
work.
And by the grace Of God we are do
Ing 1t. Just as certainly as the SUI
rises 10 the east and sets in the wes
l believe one of the next great AMEND
ments upon the constitution of tn,
United States is to be clause pro
hibiting the sale Of intoxicating poi
sons as beverage. The southern
states have set before us an example
or what the temperance people car
do. The northern people helped tn,
southern people to free themselye.