Show written f for paper GLAD MEMORIES OF THE PAST what a wonderful thing memory it I 1 elow bow strange a faculty of the mind the resurrecting as it were from years long past of thoughts sots eels incidents to which we were subject or in which we took a par I 1 strange too wat that the earliest memories are the most moat vivid ton ten thousand things since manhood or womanhood have escaped W up they appear to be absolutely forgotten forg otien they never intrude they do not come at our bidding even when they were interesting inter eating and important Dt and would be of great value if remembered but unless some come special train 01 thought conversation or circumstance magician like given them back again they are ours no more at least in this thie probation yet old age is 0 ten garrulous of that for far far past pact we know a blind old lady whose memory is prodigious in ID this thin way over forty years a a journer in the old world and for forty years a denizen of these valleys halt half of which to ie near forgotten yet ask her about the old home the native justive village the he adjoining town and there ts to a perfect torrent of reminiscences which roll roil through the flood floodgates gates of memory to the lc ic qua cious tongue gue let but a breath from the present sweep through the belfry of the past and there comes the musto music of the be sabbath bell the ol 01 i church prayers sul and the me crude versi fl cation by St ernhold Stern huld and hopkins of the wonderful won denul psalms until one after ant another ther Is repeated with all the unction enjoyed in the morning hours of life from the long deserted corridors 0 time iwo come the echoes of a joyous experience peri ence the quiet home the preparation for the sabbath Sabba tb its rigid yet ever sacred acred hours the bliss of youthful worship and the sabbath school what a goodal loving sunny world wat wa that bow when the organ prelude had bad attuned the heart the voice loulu breakout in the juvenile choir with the morning hymn afterward with the chant the litany and the prayers arely surelY heaven beaVen woo was near to that old organ loft surely the lord heard beard those ardent youthful voices and accepted that hearty innocent and earnest earlest praise and prays then think of the red letter days in the calendar that we all well used days growing out of religion and constituting its festivals like christmas day easter sunday and whitsuntide the church decoration of the first the joyous jubilate of the second and the general looking for solemn confirmation of thle the last these involved new bloth clothing irig for both sexes and aad though the heart was young the smile of the opposite sex was never more looked for or more enjoyed than then hy by bashful boys and girls but in sunshine or in winter that fascination was as potent as in later and years often too came what might be called the social side ot of religious life and training when there was less reserve though never boisterous preparations Preparation 8 for und and the consummation of anniversaries were a wonderful time the conning our catechism the scriptures a reading or a recitation then the public presentation of our great 8 rest effort the crowded meeting ir the he grand platform parental prepa ration the whirlwind of applause or the silent eilent tear the chink oh ink of liberal souls 8 aa the collection box went around OL oil I 1 but those were rare old tameo we embalmed embalm ed them and laid them away in the strange chambers of th the heart ebeart burthey but they well up now and again from thence in all their old glory and significance were they not to ab the exhilarating tea party was long looked locked for and always received with strange in some public ball perchance peroba noe or in some gent lemans grounds or park where the old tress trees stood as probably they had done for centuries before beech and walnut or orab arab aeb their ff gnarled darlea trunks and spreading branches aid welcome shade surely and youth and budding manhood and womanhood were full of rare opportunities of glad surp surprises rioe and of sanctified memories mena orle long ere the facilities of modern life gave the seashore seam bore tripe the visit to some ome antiquated ruin or the liberty of a noble mans mang castle and its well preserved comah I 1 secular as aa well as an sabbath schools had their undoubted charm bad their tbell holidays as aa well as their times of intense study and review think of standing anding Bt at the head bond of the claw of the matters approval or that of visitors fancy going up higher 10 the coveted prize new books a now new seat and now new associations think of the conscious new ness of progress of looking forward to apprenticeship to manhood and how bow the vistas of life seemed to reach out under the restless imaginings of those all unclouded hearp we turn to our mental struggles our social chances oha ocee our religious scruples our love episodes to our awakening powers our self selfhood bood and our day dreams creams of prospective happiness anti ano enjoyment as it seemed of eternal youth lilies sun soared to a matchless zen zenith tb and none would have dared suggest the possibility tf if change to say nothing of disaster trial or failure of promises unfulfilled yet change was in the very atmosphere even then kaleidoscopic combinations bi were forming under more than human agency and preparing prepare prepa D 9 a destiny to affect the earth until UM time shall be no moro more PP beautiful and irr descent the past baj bad been scarce a cloud had flecked the he limited horizon of a semi rural life but the voice oi 01 a new idea saluted a not unwilling ear and the pictured experiences and memories of a priceless past sunk to almost insignificance noy nay for the moment faded near away the tocsin of a new gospel from the herald of a new dispensation had the power of a soporific as an to the past and an intoxicant as to the future thoughts tt earies dreams cherished in quietude and trepidation became surcharged with a positive spirit life tingled in veins vein deemed bloodless and as belonging to the vagaries of calm 11 1 enthusiastic youth to bear was to listen to listen was to believe to believe was to obey the barren idea in a fruitful soil watered by the dews of inspiration budded with tropical luxuriance and even now the glance backward deema those first impressions as aa neither more nor less than a recovered memory a subtle restoration of things once already understood reproduced by conti contact act with a simple fint thought which was the key to the ever unfolding philosophy of the heaven just as thousands tests and enjoy again the memories of a distant youth forgetting a thousand intermediate things so BO the soul remembers the gospel lessons of its primary school life oo on the other side ide while principles problems and experienced experienc en of a mature condition wait in silence hence the suggestive buggee tons of inspiration and revelation when the advanced principles would become as clear and certain of a re to truth as aa is prepared humanity to the falness ot of the gospel as a received if human nature could be as aa free from aln as waa be immaculate Naz nazarene arorie if it bad the spirit an aa he had bad it without measure P memory quickened would be able to restore breatore the she capt if not to the extent of saying father glorify thou me with the glory I 1 had with thee before the world was wa at least to the solution of many problems which now provoke query and bs be me ale the wisdom of the highest spiritual manhood in god gods goda a israel of today toay quite likely the associations of memory in our posterity will be less leaa brilliant and entrancing than was ours no such pleasant beautiful and enduring memories may be theirs their for the stern facts of subsistence and colonza colonization tion were impressed upon their passive boub nevertheless as the generations pass pan as homes are founded and culture sows bows its fecund seed so i will the susceptible of zion become 61 dreamers ot of dreams amr amp the ideals of time and eternity etero ity will be imprinted upon a plastic organization and these will be reproduced the spirit dwells and then prevails doubtless there are homen in alon now where the spirit of god and peace to is felt and loved howee homes where parental virtues and untainted tinted affections mold the character and ers enlarge large the soul no doubt there are memories being stored today as precious as our experience ever shrines shri ned and where there to Is no to ettive ideal of surroundings the young heart may glorify all that was just as the missionary in a foreign land forgets the crudities and sacrifices the worries and trials now all left behl behind nd through the of distance and ot of deprivation the log cabin becomes a palace its rude rode our surroundings roun dings a paradise of beauty his paltry acres a grand domain and his hl little family his household godf god Yes memory has its witcheries wit cheries and its it preference mind forgets its ito sorrows and its struggles glop the commonplace becomes illumed by fancy fano yand and a return to old surroundings may be all that to 1 needed to dissipate the radiant dreams dreame we have known a shade of this yet we cling to that beauty I 1 sunshine peace of early years as if life were one of perennial glory and its skies without a cloud yet this perchance hath no place yet on this ever rolling earth the illusions of 0 youth and the fancies of age precious and sunny though they be are but realized fully as to one home and one condition that from rom whence we came and to which we shall yet return we have partly forgotten that the veil of flesh hides its undoubted gran grandeur dourand and beauty yet when we think of heaven and heavenly thida things i out our hearts instinctively turn to happy childhood and the ibe blue bine skies of a far off land jand that shat was heaven 1 |