It
II.
fftEPABED
ESPECIALLY FOR
AND OLD.
fl
YOUNG
object: "I-oukliic Uck ward" It U IT ell
to Keview the Pnit and Arouse the
Soul to l?mtniiicence of Hanger E
caped and Sorrows Sufi-red.
Text: "'While I was musing, the fire
burned. "Psalms xxxix.. 3.
Heii is David, the psalmfst, with the
forellngcr of hU ritrht hand apainst his
temple nud the door shut against the world,
eDtfaged in contemplation. And it would
be well for us to take tho same posture
often, while wo 5rit down in sweet solitude
to contempiate.
In a small island ofT the coast of Nova
Kcotia I once passed a Sabbath in delight
ful solitude, for I had resolved that I would
Lave one day of entire quiet before I en
tered upon autumnal work. I thought to
have spent the day in laying out plans for
Christian work, but instead of that it be
came a day of tender reminiscence. I re
viewed my pastorate; I shook Lnds with
on old departed friend, whom I shall greet
again when the curtains of life are lifted.
The days of my boyhood came back, and I
was ten years of aire, aud I was eight, and
I was live. There was but one house on
the island, and yet from Sabbath daybreak,
wijen two Diru vaunt woke me, until the
veniiig melted into the Bay of Fundy, from
hore to shore there were ten thousand
memories, and tho groves were a-hum with
voices that had lou ago ceased.
Youth is apt too much to spend all its
time in looking forward. Old age is apt
too much to spend all its timo in looking
backward. People in midlife and on tho
apex look both ways. It would be well for
us, I think, however, to spend more time
In reminiscence. I?y tho constitution of
our nature wo spend most of the time look
ing forward. Aud the vast majority of peo
ple live not so much in tho present as in the
future. I find that you mean to mako a
reputation, you mean, to establish yourself,
end the advantages that you expect to
ncliieve absorb n great deal of your timo.
But I see no harm in this if it does not make
3'ou discontented with the present or dis
qualify you for existing duties. It is a use
ful thing sometimes to look back, and to see
the dangers we have escaped, and to seethe
sorrows we have suffered, and tho trials
und wanderings of our earthly pilgrimage,
and to sum up our enjoyments. I mean, so
far as (iod may help me, to f.tir up your
memory of the past, so that in tho review
you may bo encouraged and humbled and
urged to pray.
Among tho greatest advantages of your
past life were an early home and its sur
roundings. Tho bad men of the day, for
tho most pi.-t, dip their heated passions
out of the boiling spring of an uuhappy
home. We are not surprised to ilnd tnat
JJyrou's heart was a concentration of siu
when we hear his mother was abandoned
nn 1 that she made sport of his infirmity
and often culled him. "tho lame brat." lie
wliii has vicious parents iias to fight every
inch of his way if he would maintain his
Integrity and at last reach the home of the
good in heaven. Perhaps your early homo
was in n city. It may have been when
Pennsylvania avenue, Washington, was
residential as now It is commercial, and
Omul street, New York, was far up town.
That old house in tho city may have been
demolished or changed into stores, and it
seemed like sacrilege to youfor there was
moro meaning in that small house than
there is in a granite mansion or a turreted
cathedral. Looking back, you see it as
though it were yesterday the silting
room, '."hero the loved ono sat by the plain
lamp light, the mother at tho evening
Hand, the brothers and sisters perhaps
long ago gatheiod into the skies, then
Hotting mi-chief on the Hour or uuder tho
tabic; your father with llrm voice com
manding a Hence that lasted half a minute.
Perhaps you were brought up in thj
country. Y'u stand now to-day in men
cry under the old tree. You clubbed it for
fruit that was not qui.e ripe, because you
eotiidu't wait any longer. You hear the
brook rumbling along over tho pebble.-.
You step again iato the furrow where your
father in his shiit sleeves shouted to the
la:'y oxen. You frighten the swallows from
the raTters of the barn and take just one
rgg and Mlence your conscience by saying
they will nut mis it. You take "a drink
Hgain out of the very bucket that the old
well fetched up. You go for the cows at
islght and Ilnd them pushing their heads
through the bars. Ofttiaies in the dusty
and busy 'streets you wish you were
home again on that cool grass, "or in the
rag earicted hall of the farmhouse, through
which there came the breath of new mown
hay or the blossom of buckwheat.
You may have in your windows now
beau'iful plants and flowers brought from
across the seas, but not one of them stirs
Inycnrsoul so much charm and memory
as the old ivy and the yellow sunflower
that stood sentinel along the garden walk
and the forget-me-nots playing hide and
seek mid the long grass. The lather who
used to eon)1 ia sunburned from the Held
and sit down u tho doersiil nd wire the
pwe.-.t from hii brow may huve gone to bis
verlaUnv; re?t. The mother who iw; I t-
Fit at the, .tour a little bent over, cap ai.i
ppeetacie 0:1 her face mellowing with th ;
vicissitudes uf many yeir. may have put
down her gray head on the pillow in th
valley, but f rget that home you never
rill. " Have you thanked God for it? Have
you rehearsed all these I lessed reminis
cences? Oh, thank God for a Christian,
father! Thank io i for a Christian inoth
r! Thank God for an early Christian altar
at which you were taught to kneel: Thait
God for an early Christian home!
I 'bring to mind another passage la the
history of your life. The day came when
you eet up your own household. The days
passed along in quiet blessedness. You
twain Eat at the taUe morning and night
and talked over your plans for the future.
The most insignificant affair la your life
Lecame the subject of mutual consultation
and advertisement. You were so happy
you felt you never could bo any happier.
One day a dark cloud hovered over your
dwelling, and it got darker and darker,
but out of that cloud the shining messen
ger of God descended to incarnate an im
mortal sp rit. Two little feet started on
an eternal journey, and u were to lead
them, a gem to flash in heaven's coronet,
and you to polish it; eternal ages of light
and darkness watching the starting out of
a newly created creature. You rejoiced
and you trembled at the responsibility that
in your possession an immortal treasure
was placed. Y'ou prayed and rejoiced and
wept and wondered; you were earnest in
supplication that you might lead it through
life into the kingAom of God. There was a
tremor in your earnestness. There wrs a
double interest about that home. There
was an additional interest why you should
fctay there and be faithful, and when in a
few months your house was filled with the
music of the child's laughter you were
struck through with the fact that you had
a stupendous mission.
Havo you kept that vow? Have you
neglected any of these duties? Is your
home as much to you as it used to be?
Have those anticipations been gratified?
God help you iu your solemn reminis
cence, and let His mercy fall upon vour
soul if your kindness has been ill requiredl
God have mercy on the parent on the
wrinkles of whose face is written the story
of a child's sin! God have mercy on the
mother who, in addition to her ot! er
pangs, has the pang of a child's iniquits !
Ob, there are many, many sad sounds in
this sad world, but the sadde3t sound that
is ever heard is the breaking of a mother's
heart!
I find another point in your life history.
You found one day you wero in tho wrong
road. You could not sleep at nigut. There
was just ono word that seemed to sob
through your banking houso, or through
your office, or your shop, or your bedroom,
and that Avoid was "eternity." Y'ou said:
'Irm not ready for it. Oh, Gcd, have
mercyl" The Lord heard. Teace camo to
your heart. In the breath of tho hill and
in tho waterfalls dash you heard tho voicj
of God's love. Tho clouds and the trevj
hailed you with gladness. Y'ou came into
the house of God. Y'ou remember how
your hand trembled as you took up the cup
of tho communion. You remember tho old
minister who consecrated it, and you re
member the church ofilcials who carried it
through the aisle. You remember the old
people who at the close of the sorvico took
your hand in theirs in congratulating sym
pathy, as much as to say, "Welcome home,
you lost prodigal!" And, though those
hands bo all withered away, that com
munion Sabbath is resurrected to-day.
But I must not spend any more of my
time in going over tho advantages of your
life. I just put them in ono great sheaf,
udi T call them ud iu vonr memory with
ono loud harvest song, such as the reapers
sing. Praiso the Lord, ye blood bought
immortals on earth! Praiso the Lord, ya
crowned spirits of heaven!
But some of you have not always had a
smooth life. Some of you are now ia tho
shadow. Others had their troubles years
ago; you are a mere wreck of what you
onccj were. I must gather up tho sorrows
of your past life, but bow shall I do it?
You say that it is impossible, as you have
had so many troubles and adversities.
Then I will just take two the flrst trouble
and the last trouble. As when you are
walking along tho street, and there has
been music in the distance.you unconscious
ly Ilnd yourselves keeping step to the mu
sic, so when you started life your very life
was a musical timo beat. Tue air was
full of joy aud hilarity; with the bright,
clear oar you made the boat skip. You
went on. and life grew brighter, until, af
ter awhile, sudienly a voice from hviven
said. "Halt!" and 'quick as tho sunshine
you halted, you grew pale, you confronted
our first sorrow. You had no idea that
the flush on your child's check was an un
healthy flush. You said it cannot beany
thing serious. Death in slippered feet
walked around the cradle. You did not
hear the tread, but after awhile the truth
hashed 011 you. lou walked tho floor.
Oh. if you could, with your strong, stout
hand, have wrenched that child from the
destroyer! You went to your room and
you said, "God, save my child! God, save
my child!" The world seemed going out
in darkness. You said, "I can't Lear it I
can't bear it." You felt as if you could not
put the long lashes over the bright eve3,
never to see them again sparkle. If Vou
could have taken that little one ia your
arms, and with it leaped the grave. "how
gladly you would have done it! If you
could let your property KO, your houses
go, how gladly you would have let them
depart JiT you could only have kept that
ono treasure!
But one day there earr.e up a chill b'.st
that swept tlirougli the bedroom, an in
tardly ail the lights went out. r.iid thro
v-.s da rk no.- t ! ir's . r.m rk y , i .0 ;. r., : ra ' ,
s ividieri:. - darkne-s. Tjjt Go I v'i I not
leivo v.u there. Mer?y spo. As you
tok upt! bitter n;..tn put itlo voli
lips Go 1 said, "Let it pass." and forthwith,
as by tho haL, 1 of angel, another cup w.i-i
put iuto your hau ls. It was th- cup of
God's consolation. And ns you have some
times llfte I the head of a wounded so'.dier
and poured wiuo into his lip, 0 Gol put
lis left arm under your head and with
His right hand He pours into your Hps the
wine of His comfort and Ilia consolation,
and you looked aftho empty cradle and
looked at your broken heart, and you
looked at the Lord's chastisement, and
you said, "Even so, Father, for so it
teemeth good in Thy sight."
Ah, it was your lirst trouble. How did
you get over it? God confronted you. Y'ou
have been a better man ever since. You
have been a better woman ever since. In
the jar 0 the closing gate of the sopulcher
you heard the clanging 01 tne opening gate
of Heaven, and you felt an irresistible
drawing heavenward. Y'ou havo been
spiritually better ever since that night
when the little ono for the last time put
its. arms around your neck and said:
"Good night, papa! Good night, mammal
Meet me in Heaven!"
Perhaps your last sorrow was a financial
embarrassment. I congratulate some of
you on your lucrative profession or occu
pation, on ornate apparel, on a commodi
ous residenceeverything you put your
hands on seems to turn to gold. But there
are others of you who are like the ship on
which Paul sailed where two seas met, and
you are broken by the violenc-3 of the
waves. By an unadvised indorsement, or
by a'conjunction of unforeseen events, or
by Are or storm, or a senseless panic, you
have been flung headlong and where you
once dispensed greit charities now you
have hard work to win your daily bread.
Have you forgotten to thank God for your
days of prosperity, and that through your
trials somo of you havo made investments
which will continue after the last bank of
thi3 world has exploded, and the silverand
gold are molten in the flres of a burning
world? Have you, amid all your losses
and discouragements, forgot that there was
bread on your table this morning, and that
there shall be a shelter for your head from
the storm, and there is air for your lungs,
and blood for your heart, and light for
your eye, and a glad and glorious and
triumphant religion for your soul?
Perhaps your last trouble was a bereave
ment. That heart which in childhood wag
your refuge, the parental heart, and wLich
has been a source of the quickest sympathy
ever since, has suddenly become silent for
ever. And now sometimes, whenever ia
sudden annoyauce and without deliberation
you say, "I will go and tell mother," the
thought flashes on you, "I havo no
mother." Or the father, with voice less
tender, but with heart as loving, watchful
of all your ways, exultant over your succes9
without saying much, although the old peo
pie do talk it over by themselves, his trem
bling hand on that staff which you now keep
as a family relic, his memory embalmed in
grateful hearts is taken away forever. Or
there was your campanion in life, sharer of
your joys and sorrows, taken, leaving tho
heart an old ruin, where the ill winds blow
over a wide wilderness of desolation, the
sands of desert driving across the place
which once bloomed like the garden of
God. And Abraham mourns for Sarah at
the cave of Machpclah. As you were mov
ing along your path in life, suddenly, right
before" you, was an open grave. People
looked down, and they saw it was only a
few feet deep and a fow feet wide, but to
you it was a cavern down which went all
your hopes and all your expectations. But
cheer up ia the name oi tho Lord Jesus
Christ, the Comforter.
There is one more uoint of absorbing
reminiscence, andthat Is the last hour oi
lire, when we have tD look over all our
past existence. What a moment that will
be! I place Napoleon's dying reminis
cence on St. Helena besides Mrs. Judsoa's
dying reminiscence in tho harbor of St.
Helena, the same island, 20 years after.
Napoleon's dying reminiscence was ono of
delirium "Tete d'armee" "Head of the
army." Mrs. Judson's dying reminiscence,
as she came home from her missionary toil
and her life of self sacrifice for God, dying
in the cabin of the ship in the harbor of
St. Helena, was, "I always did lovo tho
Lord Jesus Christ." And then the his
torian says she fell into a sound sleep
for an hour and woko amid tho songs
of angels. I place the dying reminis
cence of Augustus C.-rsar agaiut tho
dying reminiscence of the apostle Paul.
.The dvintr lerniiiiscena r,r ii.m.n-
------ - - - -
nddres.-iug his attend ants,
- I my part well oa the s:ag.
they answered in the arTirui.i--did,
"Why, theu, don't you
Tiie dyiu reminiscence of
i.j-iie was. "i n.ivo louirut u
have finished mv course, I
;rs:ir wau.
"Have I pi-!-of
life?'' an ,
live, aud he
applaud me".'
1 a u 1 1 n e a 1
f:ood light, I
havo kept the
h.id up for me
which the Lord,
give me in that
faith; henceforth there H
crown of righteousness
the righteous Judge, will
dav. and not to me oalv.
but to all them th it love His appearing."
Augustus Ca'sar died aruid pomp and reat
surroundings. Paul uttere i Ids dying re 1..
ini-jence looking up through the wail of a
dungeon. Go 1 gr.tnt that our dying pin v
mav be the closing of a u.-eful iiCe and tue
cpei;ing of a glorious eternity.
The stamps of the Cuban republic,
printed a year or so ago, as a means
of rakine funds for the insurgents
have ten sold in large quantities.
though they have never been recog
nized as postage stamps. If a letter
f ranked with one cf these labels ams
sent to the United States it was treat
ed by the postal authorities as wholly
unpaid, and the postage collected upon
delWry. Having no recognized gov-ernrr-nt
the Cubans could not issue
postage stamps and expect them to
t honored in other countries.
THE BANANA'S POSSIBILITIES?
Investigating Its Adaptability for
cultural Operations. ' l
A common article of f(.,j , ,
West Indies is a Hour inad.. fr,
bread fruit. Tho fruit is
"pegs." or strip, and dried ir. tie
then ground to powder in :l
aud sifted. This Hour i:uk,.s a
convenient and highly nu!m:MlN J?
tiou to the hamper of pn, iL
negro usually takes with hha
traveling far from his h.-i;,,. anj ?
well knows the art of inak!:, it ;f
a variety of appetizing dM."
plantain is sometimes treated in
same way, as well as the lau
which gives a sweeter and ri, -h,.r
than either the plantain or the 1,-v'j
fruit. It is estimated that the bara:4
has forty-four times more im:r;tt
value than the potato, and i tv.,.L.T
live times more mnritious than p!
white bread. This fart ha iu-Kj
the French government to u n &
iniiinn to tlj T'nitrnl SIt-it... .... i
... .w.. ' " " V - it; M ill;
tral America with a view of in wstica
ing the adaptability of the ba:uu
plant for extensive agriultural cn
tions. Should this commissi,, 1, j-,.
favorably on the sathject of i!1(.;r ;s.
vest igat ion a new and vast ii:duTrr
will be established, '.vhich interests t
United States, from the l;u t of Tiuna
Rico and Cuba, possessing hundMsof
thousands of acres on hi-h the
varieties of the banan a ean !' crowi
It is probable that another hxhwrr
will grow up from the asset -iatiei of
this country with the West I ndie
rui. , t 1
j.ue oanana m 11s canuieu lormisi
delicious sweetmeat. Many people pr.
fer it infinitely to dried ligs. It is3-
ply made. The ripe banana is cm 1k
thin slices and laid in the tnpit -:U -a
until it becomes a sweet, seini-gelm
ous mass. The slices are paeketj 3
boxes, with a dusting of line sugar be
tween the layers, and are ready id
fdiipment. This process, though jsd
elaborate, requiio- care ami wauLfi
ness, without whicr the product iuj
Ik? inferior and unai raetive. I'm I
the curing and packing are pn.;!
done and the cured fruit is put un tit
American market, it is not iniprold
that it "will soon take the 'i-i.-c of l
fig for dessert purposes
l-otrr.
What makes poetry? A heart bris
ful of one nchle nasslon
Southern
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I
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'ASIUKGTON D C