Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-11-14
REV. SUNDAY INSPIRES
CROWD WITH ELOQUENT
VERSION OF s'HOME''

VERSION OF HONE
the most sacred spot in this world,
spot which knows more of sweet
association and pleasant memories
than any other place in this world
the Home. The more I travel up
and down this old world, the more |
see of success and failure, the more
I see of drunkenness and sobriety,
. the more ! see of vice and virtue, the
more see Of religion and irreligion-
the more become convinced OF the
fact that the home is the greatest
problem with which we have TO con-
tend today, and want you to give
me your attention so that you can
help me in solving the problem and
thus make a greater and better ma.
ton in which we can live and spend
our days
Homes Are Streams.
Our homes are streams which are
constantly pouring forth their cur
rent, either to brighten or damn the
land, and thye should be in the center
of all that is noble, Cody, inspiring
and great.
I say to you people that as have
walked and ridden and driven over
your hills, through your valleys and
looked at some Of your beautiful
homes, and your spacious lawns and
your happy children. say, you can
build your palaces and amass your
fortunes; your sideboards can groan
beneath the weight of gold and silver.
cut glass and hand painted china;
and you can let your little ones play
over your Brussels carpet or your
Persian or Administer rugs; and you
can have a retinue of servants 10
wait upon you and satisfy your
slightest desire: and you can loll upon
your oriental divans and breathe che
perfumed air and watch the sparkling
water as IT spurts from fountains; and
you can look at your rare paintings
and raneack Europe in order to find
masterpieces; and you can sit and
gourmandize and satisfy wour eGicure-
an appetites upon all the viands that
the earth can produce; but, after all,
iif you sit behind the tapestry and
look out through the plate glass and
wait for that staggering, reeklng,
pewking, drink-soaked drunken sot OF
a son. or you wait for the coming OF
the steps of a girl who has lost her
virtue, tell you. all that wealth can
bring you will fly. and you will think
you are sitting in sepulchre. and the
rich furniture will simply become the
bones of other days and other faces,
for nothing can make happy the father
or the mother who has drunken sot
for q boy, as many of them have to-
day, and nothing can make happy the
father or the mother of a girl who has
sold her womanhood for gain. And |
tell you, not only should our homes be
the center of all that Is pure, but all
that is cheerful and bright.
At Some Mothers Knee.
Every gambler who leans over a
card table and stakes his last SOU
on the next SHOW down. every
staggering sot that reels to the pit
Of hell, every woman in red light
district, every one of these depraved
characters at one time sat at some
mothers knee and learned from her
the mother tongue and by her to
walk in the tottering steps
l think the downfall Of most every
man or woman can be traced to some
defect in the home. You know there
are multitudes of families to whom
the rearing of one or more boys OF
girls simply means another boy fol
the penitentiary or another girl fol
the house of prostitution.
l think one Of the prettiest pictures
ever looked upon Is to see father
with the religion of Jesus Christ il
his heart, and mother with the re
ligion of Jesus Christ in her heart
and to see them throw their arm!
about their Oldest child, and the old
est child throw his arms about the
next oldest child, and that child take
the next Oldest child by the hand
and so on until the youngest, and al
with happiness in their hearts ant
songs ON their lips, start for heaven
And / think the blacklist, darkest pic
,ture ever looked upon is to see
father without the religion of Jesu
Christ in his heart, and befrizzle'
society woman without the religion O
Jesus Christ in her heart, and the ole
dest child without the religion
Jesus Christ in its heart, and the mex
Oldest child and down until the bah
in the cradle. and to see father an
mother lock arms and all start to he'll
like many of them are doing today.
Broken Homes, Broken Lives.
OF what value are the things 20
have in this world? Nearly all youn
men in the reformatories in this couI
try had homes-some of thel
hadn't--but most of them had cas-
themselves loose from home tie an
become confirmed Migrants. The gel
esis Of vagrancy is too big subjet
to discuss this evening. and yet it
one Of the most fruitful sources {
crime among boys and girls. Abo,
one-tenth Of the boys and girls in th
reformatories have lost both parent
fully Sone-half of them have To-
either father or mother, and CT pt
cent of them came from homes whei
the father and mother had been d
vorced. Broken homes and broke
lives seem to be connected. We al
facing the conditions as they ext
and not as they find birth in your il
agination Look at the sons al
daughters who are brought up in i'd
rTbo,r pSd1v acpuira had ha