Year: 1879

his deectable discourses


Brethren, the words of my text are
"'old Mother Hubbard, she went to tho cup


board,


To get her poor dog bone


But when she got there tho cupboard was


bare,


And so the poor dog had none'


"These beautiful words, dear friends,
carry with them solemn lesson. l pro-
pose this evening to analyze their mean
ing, and to attempt to apply it, lofty as it
may be, to our every day life.


"'Old Mother Hubbard, she went to the cup


board,


To get her poor dog a bone.


"Mother Hubbard, you see, was old I;
there being no mention of others, we may
presume she was alone; widow-a
frierdless, old. solitary widow. Yet, did
she despair ? Did she sit down and weep,
or read a novel, or wiring her hands? No!
she we't to the cupboard. And here OBJ
serve that she rent to the cupboard. She
did not hop, or skip, or jump, or use any
other peripatetic artiflce she solely and
merely aeent to the cupboard.


1--WE have seen that she was old and
lonely, and we now further see that sho
was poor. For, mark, the words the
cupboard Not 'one of tho cupboards,
or the right hand Cupboard or the left
hand cupboard, or the one above, or the
one below, or the one under the stair, but
just the cupboard. The one little humble
cupboard the poor widow possessed. And
why did she go to the cupboard ? Was it
to bring forth golden goblets or glittering
precious stones, or costly apparel, or
feasts, or any other attributes of wealth ?
II Oas TO get her poor dog bone Not
only was the widow poor, but her deg,
the sole prop OF her age, was poor too.
We can imagine the scene. The poor
dog crouching in the corner, looking visit
fully at the solitary cupboard, and the
widow going to that cupboard-in hope,
in expectation may be--to open it, al
though we are not distinctly told that it
was not half open or ajar, to open it for
that poor dog.


"But when she got there tho cupboard was


bare,


And so tho 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 urnings
and twistings, no sippings and slidings,
no leaning to the right or falterlng to the
left. With glorious simplicity we are
told she got there.


"And how was her noble effort reward
cd E?


"'The cupboard was bare = 1t was
bare There were to be found neither
oranges, nor cheesecakes, nor penny buns,
nor gingerbread, nor crackers, not nuts,
nor ucifer matches. The cupboard was
bare There was but one, only one soli-
tary cupboard in the whole Of that cottage,
and that one, the sole hope OF the widow,
and the glorious lodestar Of the poor dog,
was bare Had there been leg of NUT
ton, loin Of lamb, a fllet Of veal, even
an ice, the case would have been offer
ent, the incident would have been other
wise. But it was bare, my brethren, bare
rs bald head, bare as an infant born
without caul.


"Many Of you will probably say, with
all the pride of worldly sophistry-'the
widow, no doubt, went out and bought a
dog. biscuit All, mol Far removed
from these earthly ideas, these mundane
desires, poor Mother Hubbard, the wild
ow, whom many thoughtless worldlings
would despise, in that she only owned one
cupboard, perceived or / might even say
saw at once the relentless logic Of the
situation, and yielded to it with all the
heroism of that nature which had en-
abled her without deviation to reach the
barren cupboard. She did not attempt,
like the stif-necked scofIers Of this gen>
Grafton to war against the inevitable; she
did not try, like the so called men OF sci
ence, to explain what she did not UNDER
stand. 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 2


"Who would dare to pierce the veil
that shrouds the ulterior fate OF old Moth
er Hubbard, the poor dog, the cupboard,
or the bone that was not thereH Must
we imagine her still standing at the open
cupboard door-depict to ourselves the
dog still dropping his disappointed tail
upon the hoor-the sought for bone still
remaining somewhere elsef All! no, my
dear brethren, we are not so permitted to
attempt TO read the future. Suffice it for
US to CLEAN from this beautiful story its
many lessons suffice it for us to apply
them, to study them as far as in US lies,
and bearing in mind the natural frailty of
our nature to avoid being widows to
shrn tho patronymic Of Hubbard TO
have, if our means afford it, more than
one cupboard in the house, and to keep
stores in them all. And, oh ! dear
friends, keeping in recollection what we
have learned this day, let us avoid keep
ing dogs that are fond of bones. But
brethren, il we do--if Fate has or
dained that we should do any Of these
things-let us then go, as Mother Hubs
bard did, straight, without curveting or
prancing, to our cupboard, empty though
it be. let us, like her, accept the inevita-
BILE with calm steadlastness ; and should
we, like her, ever be left with hungry
dog and an empty cupboard, may future
chronicers be able to write also of US, in
fbo kaantiftI monde ~ otr 10 ~