Year: 1879

From the birmingham Dart


The following hits off pretty fairly the
way in which some discourses are con-
structed:


Brethren, the words of my text are
odd Mother Hubbard, she went to the cupboard


To get her poor dog bone


But when she got there, the cupboard wss bare,


And SO the poor dog had none.


These beautiful words, dear friends,
carry with them a solemn lesson. PRO
pose this evening to analyze their mean
ing and to attempt to apply it, lofty AS 1t
may be, to our everyday life:


old mother Hubbard, she went to the cupboard


To get her poor dog bone


Mother Hubbard, you see, was old +;
there being no mention of others, we may
presume she was alone; widow--a
friendlcss, old, solitary widow. Yet did
she despair: Did she sit down and weep,
OF read novel, or wiring her hands No;
she went to the cupboard. And here
observe that she went TO the cupboard.
She did not hop, or skip, or run, OF jump,
or use any other peripatetic artihce; she
solely and merely went to the cupboard.


We have seen that she was old and
lonely, and further see that she was poor.
For, mark, the words are the cupboard.
Not 'one of the cupboards, or the right
hand cupboard, or the left hand cup
board, or the one above or the one below,
or the one under the floor, but just the
cupboard The one humble little cup
board the poor widow possessed. And
why did she 20 to the cupboard; Was
it to bring forth golden goblets or glitter
ing precious stones, or costly apparel, or
any other attribute of wealth. 1t was TO
get her poor dog bone. Not only was
she poor, but her dog, the sole prop of
her age, was poor too. We can imagine
the scene. The poor dog crouching in
the corner, looking wistfully at the soil
tary cupboard, and the widow going to
that cupboard--in hope, in expectation,
may be-to open it, although we are not
distinctly told that it was not half open
or ajar, to open it for that poor dog
And when she got there the cupboard was bare,


And so h poor dog had none.


When she got there. You see, dear
brethren, what perseverance is. You see
the beauty Of persistence in doing right
She got there. There were no turnings
and twistings, no sIppings and slidings,
no leaning to the right or falterings to
the left With glorious simplicity we
are told she got there.


And how was her noble effort reward
cd:


The cupboard was bare 1t was
bare. There were to be found neither
oranges, nor cheesecakes, nor penny buns,
nor gingerbread, nor crackers, nor nuts,
nor lucifer matches. The cupboard was
bare. There was but one, only one sol
itary cupboard in the whole of that cot
tage, and that one, the sole hope of the
widow, and the glorious loadstar of the
poor dog, was bare! Had there been a
leg of mutton, loin of lamb, tillet of
veal, even an ice from Gunters, the case
would have been different, the incident
would have been otherwise. But it was
bare, my brethren, bare as bald head,
bare as an infant born without caul.


Many of you will probably say, with
all the pride of worldly sophisty-'The
widow, no doubt, went out and bought a
dog biscuit All, no Far removed
from earthly ideas, these mundane desires,
poor Mother Hubbard, the widow whom
thoughtless worldlings would despise, in
that she only owned a cupboard, perceived
or | might even say saw-at once the
relentless logic of the situation. and yield
ed to it with all the heroism of that
nature which had enabled her without
deviation to reach the barren cupboard.
She did not attempt, like the stitf-necked
scoffers of this generation, to war against
the inevitable; she did not try, like the
so-called men of science, TO explain what
she did not understand. She did nothing.
The poor dog had none' And then at
this point our information ceases. But
do we not know sufficient; Are we not
cognizant of enough?


Who would dare to pierce the veil that
shrouds the ulterior fate of old Mother
Hubbard-the poor dog-the cupboard
or the bone that was not there, Must
we imagine her still standing at the open
cupboard door, depict to ourselves the
dog still dropping his disappointed tail
upon the floor, the sought-for bone still
remaining somewhere else' All, no, my
brethren, we are not so permitted tc
attempt to read the future. Suffice it fol
us to CLEAN from this beautiful story it:
many lessons; suffice it for US to apply
them, to study them as far as in us hes
and bearing in mind the natural frailty Of
our nature, to avoid being widows; tC
shun the patronymic of Hubbard; tC
have, if our means afford it, more thar
one cupboard in the house; and TO keel
stores in them all. And, oh dear friends
keeping in recollection what we have
learned this day, let US avoid keeping
dogs that are fond of bones. But, breth
ren, if we do; if fact has ordained tha
we should do any of these things, let III
then go, as Mother Hubbard did, straight
without curveting or prancing, to ouI
cupboard, empty though it be-let us
like her, accept the inevitable with calm
steadfastness and should we, like her
ever be left with hungry dog and al
empty cupboard, may future chronicler'
be able to write also of US, in the beauti
full words of our text