Grandmother's scrap-book, or, The way to do good. Designed to encourage the highest religious attainments within the power of man .. online

source at his command to bear upon it ; he tries
one way, and if that do not succeed, he tries
another ; let that fail, he tries something else,
and very seldom indeed does the earnest man
finally miss success. When a man is not ear-
nest, every little impediment forms an insuper-
able obstacle ; this thing and that thing, which
others make scarcely any account of, he cannot
get over at all ; and this is the reason why so
many Sunday school teachers drop off when
they have tried the work for a little while.



OR, THE WAY TO DO GOOD. 249



THE COLPORTEUll'S TREAT.

A COLPORTEUR ill Southern New York says,
" One stormy clay I drove my horse into a
wagon-house attached to a back country tavern,
and taking my carpet-bag, passed into the bar-
room, which was full. I sat by the fire to warm
and dry my clothes, when I was flapped very
familiarly on the shoulder, tlie friendly salute
being followed by the intimation that I should
' treat,' as it was the rule of that house that
every new-comer should treat the company. I
replied that I would, wlien they all with one
accord rushed to the bar. I hurriedly request-
ed them to wait a little for me. I then drew
out a handful of tracts, and supplied each of
them with one, accompanying it with such coun-
sel as I thought the recipient needed. Tlie re-
sult was, the liquor was untasted, and I was
troubled with no further requests to ' treat.' "



250 grandmother's scrap-book;

INFLUENCE OF THE MESSENGER.

The pastor of a feeble church in Western
New York, says that, chiefly by the efforts of a
benevolent lady, they have been encouraged to
form a library for the use of the people, and
adds, " You are aware that this church has for
two years past paid seventy-five dollars, annu-
ally, into your treasury. Such a thing was
never before done here, and it is the result of
the circulation of the Messenger, and of encour-
aging the people to little exertions, one after
another, until at length, after four years, instead
of receiving aid from the Board of Domestic
Missions to sustain the institutions of the gos-
pel among themselves, they are this year build-
ing a fine new church, and giving about two
hundred dollars to benevolent purposes. We
regard the establishment of this library as an-
other lever applied to the right spot to raise the
people to more enlarged views, and more effi-
cient cooperation in every good work. God's
Spirit is awakening them to take their part in
the evangelization of the world."



251



ONE VOYAGE MORE;

" I WILL make but one voyage more," said
Captain Seymour to his wife, who was urging
him to abandon the perils of the sea, and to
give that attention to the education of his child-
ren, which their age and circumstances re-
quired.

" You have made too many already," replied
Mrs. S. " Your life is of too much conse-
quence to your family to be needlessly put in
peril."

" I am sorry to leave you and the children ;
but as to peril, we are just as safe at sea as on
land."

" A great many are lost at sea."
"• And a great many die on land."
" But they do not die violent deaths."
" Well, I promise you this shall be my last
voyage. I will settle down, and devote myself
to my family."

Why did he not do so at once ? His chil-



252 grandmother's scrap-book ;

dren needed a father's care. lie had sufficient
property to meet his reasonable wants. He
loved his wife and children with an ardent love ;
why did he not remain with them ?

He wislied to add a little more to his prop-
erty, as does almost every one who has made
any. Besides, he loved the excitement of the
sea ; loved to tread tlie quarter-deck as master.

He set out on a voyage, and was never heard
of more. Never, till the sea gives up her dead,
will the fate of the good ship Medusa be known.

This family were not without the means of
support, but they were without a head and di-
rector. The boys soon passed beyond the con-
trol of their gentle motlior, and became wild,
wicked, reckless.

Had their father relinquished the sea when
urged to do so by his wife, his boys might have
been trained ariglit ; for he was a man of rare
energy, and knew how to govern and to influ-
ence.

How many lose their souls by resolving to
make one sinful adventure more ! They will



OR, THE WAY TO DO GOOD. 253

once more indulge in forbidden pleasure ! They
will once more yield to temptation, and then
they will devote themselves to the service of
God !

How many who do not go down to the sea
in ships suffer their families to go to ruin, in
their efforts to make one successful speculation
more !

The temporal and eternal happiness of one's
family is more important than a commercial
adventure. To train one's children aright, is
far more important than to accumulate a for-
tune for them.



A COLPORTEUR in Michigan recently received
a donation of fifty dollars, to be divided between
the Home and Foreign Missionary and the
Tract Societies. It was the balance of one
thousand dollars, which had been consecrated
to the Lord by a gentleman from California,
being one third of his gains.



254 grandmother's scrap-book ;



THE FAMILY RODS.

Bereavement — this is the bitterest of all
earthly soitows. It is the sharpest arrow in
the quiver of God. To love tenderly and deeply,
and then to part ; to meet together for the last
time on earth ; to bid farewell for time ; to
have all past remembrances of home and kin-
dred broken up ; this is the reality of sorrow.
To look upon that face that shall smile upon us
no more ; to close those eyes that shall see us
no more ; to press those lips that shall speak to
us no more ; to stand by the cold side of father,
mother, brother, sister, friend, yet hear no
sound and receive no greeting ; to carry to the
tomb the beloved of our hearts, and then to re-
turn to a desolate home with a blank in one
region of our souls, which shall never again be
filled till Jesus come with all his saints ; — this
is the bitterness of grief; this is the wormwood
and the gall !

It is the rod which ever and anon God is lay*



OR, THE WAY TO DO GOOD. 255

ing upon us. Nor is there any that we need
more than this. By it, he is making room for
himself in hearts that had been filled with other
objects and engrossed with other loves. He is
jealous of our affection, for he claims it all as
his own ; and every idol he will utterly abolish.
For our sakes as well as for his own he can suf-
fer no rival in the heart. Perhaps the joys of
an earthly home are stealing away our hearts
from the many mansions above. God breaks,
in upon us in mercy, -and turns that home into
a wilderness. Our sin finds us out ; we mourn
over it and seek anew to realize our heavenly
citizenship, and set out anew upon our pilgrim
way ; alone, and yet not alone, for the Father
is with us. Perhaps we are sitting " at ease in
Zion," comfortable and contented, amid the
afflictions of a suffering church and the miser-
ies of 'a world that owns no Saviour and fears
no God. Jehovah speaks and we awake. He
takes to himself some happy saint, or smites to
the dust some wretched sinner. We are trou-
bled at the stroke. We mourn our lethargy.



256 GRANDMOTHER S SCRAP-BOOK ;

While we slept a fellow-saint has gone up to be
wdth Christ, and a fellow-sinner has gone down
to be with the devil and his angels. The death
of the one stirs us up, the death of the other
solemnizes and overawes us.

Thus as saint after saint ascends to God, we
begin to feel that heaven is far more truly the
family home than earth. We have far more
brethren above than we have below. And each
bereavement reminds us of this. It reminds us,
too, that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh,
and makes us look out more wistfully from our
eastern casement for the first streaks of the ris-
ing dawn. It kindles in us strong desires for
the day of happy meeting in our Father's
house, when we shall clasp inseparable hands,
and climb in company the everlasting hills.
Meanwhile it bids us give our hearts to Jesus
only. It does for us what the departure 'of the
two strangers from heaven did to the disciples
on the mount of transfiguration ; — it leaves us
alone with Jesus. It turns into deep experi-
ence that longing for home contained in the



257

apostle's words, " having a desire to depart and
to be with Christ, which is far better."

The more that bereavement transforms earth
into a desert, the more are our desires drawn
up to heaven. Our treasures having been
transferred to heaven, our hearts must follow
them. Earth's hopes are smitten, and we are
taught to look for " that blessed hope, the glo-
rious appearing of the great God and Saviour
Jesus Christ." The night is falhng and the
flowers are folding up ; but as they do so they
bid us look upward and see star after star com-
ing out upon the darkening sky.



A NEW sect has been formed in Wurtemburg
under the name of " Friends of Jerusalem,"
and with the object of reconstructing the Tem-
ple of Jerusalem, so as to fulfil the prophecies.
It has already sent out a commission to under-
take the rebuilding of the Temple of Solomon,
but it has only been able to raise five thousand
four hundred and twenty florins for the purpose.
17



258 grandmother's scrap-book ;



THE MOTHER'S LAST LESSON.

" Will you please teach me my verse, mam-
ma, and then kiss me, and bid me good night ? "
said little Roger L., as he opened the door
and peeped cautiously into the chamber of his
sick mother. " I am very sleepy, but no one
has heard me say my prayers."

Mrs. L. was very ill ; indeed, her attend-
ants believed her to be dying. She sat
propped up with pillows, and struggling for
breath ; her lips were white ; her eyes were
growing dull and glazed, and the purple blood
was settling at the ends of her cold, attenuated
fingers. She was a widow, and little Roger
was her only, her darling child. Every night
he had been in the habit of coming into her
room and sitting upon her lap, or kneeling by
her side, while she repeated to him passages
from God's Holy Word, or related to him stories
of the wise and good men spoken of in its
pages. She had been in delicate health for



OR, THE WAY TO DO GOOD. 259

many years, but never too ill to learn little
Roger his verse and hear his prayers.

" Hush I hush ! " said a lady, who was watch-
ing beside her couch, " your dear mamma is
too ill to hear you say your prayers to-night. I
will put you in bed ; " and as she said this, she
came forward and laid her hand gently upon
his arm, as though she would have led him
from the room. Roger began to sob as if his
little heart would break.

*' I cannot go to bed without saying my pray-
ers — indeed, I cannot ! "

The ear of the dying mother caught the
sound. Although she had been nearly insen-
sible to every thing transpiring around her, the
sound of her darling's sobs aroused her from
her stupor, and turning to a friend, she desired
her to bring him to her couch and lay him on
her bosom. Her request was granted, and the
child's rosy cheek and golden head nestled be-
side the pale cold face of his dying mother.
Alas, poor fellow ! how little did he realize
then the irreparable loss which he was soon to
sustain !



260 grandmother's scrap-book ;

" Roger, my son, my darling child," said the
dying mother, " repeat this verse after me, and
never, never forget it : ' WJisn my father and my
mother forsake me, then the Lord ivill take me
np.'' " The child repeated it distinctly, and
said his little prayer. He then kissed the cold,
almost rigid lips before him, and went quietly
to his little couch.

When he arose in the morning, he sought, as
usual, his mother's room, but he found her cold
and still ! — wrapped in her winding sheet !
That was her last lesson ! He has never for-
gotten it ! — he probably never will ! He has
grown to be a man, — a good man, — and now
occupies a post of much honor and distinction
in Massachusetts. I never could look upon
him without thinking about the faith so beauti-
fully exhibited by his dying mother. It was
not misiDlaced. The Lord has taken her dar-
ling up.

If you have God for your friend, you need
never fear ; father and mother may forsake you
— the world may seem to you like a dreary



261



waste, full of pit-falls and thorns — but he can
bring you safely through trials, and give you at
last a golden harp and snowy robe, like those
the purified wear in heaven. He can even sur-
round your death-bed by angel visitants. He is
all-powerful — an ever-present help in time of
trouble. Will you not, then, seek his friend-
ship and keep his commandments ?



Destitution IN New York. — A colporteur
in Northern New York writes, " I visited a
family in a log hut that had no Bible, or any
religious books or tracts, until I supplied them.
The woman said that her husband had been to
meeting twice in three years. She had kept
house nine years. Another told me she had
not been to a meeting in three years ; and an-
other, that she had only been to meeting twice
in four years, and that she had no Bible or
religious books. Many similar facts I might



262 GRANDMOTHER'S SCRAP-BOOK



POWER OF RELIGION.

The following anecdote, selected from an
English paper, is said to have been related by
a clergyman who was acquainted with the
facts : —

Lord was a man of the world. His

pleasures were drawn from his riches, his hon-
ors, and his friends. His daughter was the idol
of his heart. Much had been expended for her
education ; and well did she repay, in her intel-
lectual endowments, the solicitude of her par-
ents. She was highly accomplished, amiable
in her disposition, and winning in her manners.
They were both strangers to God.

At length Miss attended a Dissenter's

meeting in London ; was deeply awakened,
and soon happily converted. Now she was de-
lighted in the service of the sanctuary and so-
cial meetings. To her the charms of Christian-
ity were overflowing. She frequented those
places where she met with congenial minds,
animated with similar hopes.



OR, THE WAY TO DO GOOD. 263

The change was marked by her fond father
with painful solicitude. To see his lovely
daughter thus infatuated, was to him an occa-
sion of deep grief; and he resolved to correct
her erroneous notions on the subject of the real
pleasure and business of life. He placed at her
disposal large sums of money, hoping she would
â– be induced to go into the fashions and extrav-
agances of others of her birth, and leave the
meetings. But she maintained her integrity.
He took her long journeys, and conducted in
the most engaging manner, in order to divert
her mind from religion ; but she still delighted
in the Saviour.

After failing in many projects, which he
fondly anticipated would be effectual, he intro-
duced her into company under circumstances
that she must either join in the recreation of
the party or give offence. Hope lighted up in
the countenance of this affectionate but mis-
guided father, as he saw his snare about to en-
tangle the object of his solicitude. It had been
arranged among his friends that several young



264

ladies, on the approaching festive occasion,
should give a song, accompanied by the piano-
forte.

The hour arrived ; the party assembled.
Several had performed their parts to the great
delight of the party, which was in high spirits.

Miss was now called on for a song, and

many hearts now beat high in hopes of victory.
Should she decline, she was disgraced ; should
she comply, their triumph was complete. This
was the moment to seal her fate ! With perfect
self-possession, she took her seat at the piano-
forte, and run her fingers over its keys, and
commenced playing and singing, in a sweet air,
the following words : —

«' No room for mirth or trifling here,
For worldly hope or worldly fear,

If life so soon is gone ;
If now the Judge is at the door,
And all mankind must stand before
Th' inexorable throne !

♦« No matter which my thoughts employ,
A moment's misery or joy ;



OR, THE WAY TO DO GOOD. 265

But O ! when both shall end,
Where shall I find my destined place ?
Shall I my everlasting days,

"With fiends or angels spend ? "

She arose from her seat. The whole party
was subdued. Not a word was spoken. One
by one left the house. Her father wept aloud.
Lord never rested until he became a Chris-
tian. He lived an example of Christian benev-
olence, having given to benevolent Christian
enterprises, before his death, nearly half a million
of dollars.



Procrastination. — Near the close of his life,
Patrick Henry laid his hand on the Bible, and
said to a friend, " Here is a book worth more
than all others ; yet it is my misfortune never
to have read it with proper attention until
lately." William Pitt, when he came to die,
said, " I fear that I have, like many others,
neglected my religious duties too much to have
any ground to hope that they can be efficacious
on my (Jeath-bed."



266 grandmother's scrap-book;



WORDS FITLY SPOKEN.

During a revival in a New England female
seminary some years ago, one pupil was singled
out as an especial subject of prayer. She was
not only indifferent, but an open scoffer. No
appeals moved her, no entreaties softened her.
The faith of some praying hearts wavered ; not
that of the godly principal of the school.

God's ways are not our ways, thought she,
and #ent on striving and praying. One morn-
ing, during the precious season, she chose for
her devotional exercises the fifth chapter of first
Peter. " The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh
about seeking whom he may devour," fell from
her lips with solemn emphasis. God sped the
arrow. The words smote that sinful girl's
heart, and she was brought to the feet of Jesus.



Family expenses and annual subscriptions
are like revolutions. They never go backwards.



OE, THE WAY TO DO GOOD. 267



PRIDE.

" The pride of life is not of the Father, but
is of the world." — 1 John ii. 16.

" Pride is a double traitor, and betrayetli
itself to entrap thee, making thee vain of thy
self-knowledge, and proud of thy discoveries of
pride." — Tupper,

" As cankers breed in the sweetest roses, so
pride may arise out of the sweetest duties." —
Mason,

" If at any time you have enlargement in
prayer, and are favored with access to the
throne of grace, do not go away satisfied and
self-complacent. Pride says, ' I have done very
well now ; God will accept this.' You, perhaps,
discover that this is the suggestion of pride ;
it then takes a new turn. Another would not
have discovered it to be pride ; I must be very



268 grandmother's scrap-book ;

humble to see it thus. Thus, if you continue
the search, you will find pride like the different
coats of an onion, lurking one beneath another
to the very centre." — Pay son.

" A man's lawful pride includes humility." —
Young-, .'

'* Though various foes against the truth combine,
Pride, above all, opposes her design ;
Pride of a growth superior to the rest.
The subtlest serpent, with the loftiest crest,
Swells at the thought, and, kindling into rage.
Would hiss the cherub Mercy from the stage." — Cowper,

" Blessed is the man that respecteth not the
proud." — Psalms xl. 4.

" How poor a thing is Pride ! when all, as slaves
Differ but in their fetters, not their graves." — Daniel,

" Jesus was humble, and angels are humble ;
only devils and fallen men are proud." — Pike,



269

" Pride is the worst viper that is in the
human heart, the greatest disturber of the
soul's peace and of sweet communion with
Christ. It was the first sin committed, and lies
lowest in the foundation of Satan's whole build-
ing, and is with greatest difficulty rooted out ;
and is the most hidden, secret, and deceitful of
all lusts, and often creeps insensibly into the
midst of religion, even, sometimes, under the
disguise of humility itself." — Jonathan Ed-
wards,

" Pride, self-adoring pride, was primal cause
Of all sin past, all pain, all woe to come." — Pollok.

" A high look and a proud heart is sin." —
Proverbs xxi. 4.



Never stay away from meeting without an
excuse that will stand the test at the judgment-
day.



270 grandmother's scrap-book;

THE NOVEL READER.

All day long Marcia sat in the corner of the
family-room reading a novel. So absorbed was
she, it was hard to lay it down to take her
meals even. Her mother was obliged to speak
more than once if she wished her assistance in
any thing, and if at last she succeeded by an
exercise of authority in making her do what
she was at first requested to, she went to the
work with a sullen tragic air, as if she was the
fancied heroine of her story, enduring all man-
ner of persecutions and fanciful distresses.

Aunt Anne, who was but a visitor in the
house, took note of all this, but wisely said
that it was useless to comment, until the hero-
ine was fairly brought out of all her tribula-
tions and desirably settled in life ; then Marcia
might be willing to hear something besides her
story. It was ended, at last, and with a dis-
satisfied air the young lady put it aside and
came down to every-day life again. Never did



271

the stocking-basket, with its overflowing con-
tents, look so distasteful to her as after her just
taking her departure from such enchanting
scenes, fragrant with orange buds, and flutter-
ing with gossamer robes and bridal veils.

" Do you feel that your time has been profit-
ably spent to-day ? " asked practical aunt
Annie, " and does novel reading make you any
happier, Marcia ? "

" I'm sure it makes me a great deal happier
while I am reading it. Aunt Annie, and there
are a great many lovely sentiments in this
book, and real religious truth is inculcated at
times. I think it is a real good book, and you
would think so too, if you would read it, I feel
sure."

" What would you think of a miller, Marcia,
who would look over handful by handful a
bushel of chaff for a few grains of wheat which
might possibly be scattered among it, when
there were great golden granaries at his hand
which were quite free to him. Where there is
such a world of real, elevating, excellent liter-



272 grandmother's scrap-book;

ature, which will help to refine you, to fit you
for a high intellectual position, and fit your
soul for eternity, what a waste it seems to
spend your hours over what unfits you for all
this — over reading which weakens your mind,
which, if long continued, will make you a silly
sentimentalist, instead of a woman of culture
and sound judgment, whose opinions are re-
ceived with respect and confidence.

" Above all, my dear girl, such reading har-
dens the heart. The more we weep over
imaginary sorrows, the less we shall sympathize
with real ones. It deadens the soul, too. The
habitual novel reader cannot be also a Bible
reader — cannot be a prayerful Christian. Is
this enjoyment worth the loss of the soul,
Marcia ? "



Never be proud. " God gives grace to the
liumble, but knows the proud afar off."



273



FASHIONABLE CALL.

Enter Miss Lucy, nearly out of breath with
the exertion of walking from her papa's car-
riage in the street to the door of her friend.

Lucy. — "0 Marie ! how do you do ? How
delighted I am to see jou ! How have you been
since you were at the ball last Thursday even-
ing ? 0, wasn't the appearance of that tall
girl in pink perfectly frightful ? Is this your
shawl on the piano ? Beautiful sliawl ! Father
says he is ^oing to send to Paris to get me a
shawl in the spriug. I can't bear homemade
shawls I How do you like Monsieur Esprey ?
Beautiful man, ain't he ? Now, don't laugh,
Marie, for I am sure I don't care any thing
about him ! 0, my ! I must be going ! It's
a beautiful day, isn't it ? Marie, when are you
coming up to see me ? O, dear ! what a beau-
tiful pin ! That pin was given to you ; now I
know it was, Marie ; don't deny it. Harry is
coming up to see me this evening, but I hate
)\8



274 grandmother's scrap-book ;



him — I do really ; but he has a beautiful
juustache, hasn't he, Marie ? 0, dear, it's very
warm. Good morning, Marie ! Don't speak
of Harry in connection with my name to any
one ; for I am sure it will never amount to
any thing, but I hate him awfully — I'm sure I
do. Adieu."



How TO ASCERTAIN THE HEALTH OF THE

Lungs. — Draw in as much breath as possible ;
then count without drawing in more, till the
lungs are exhausted. In consumption, the
time does not exceed ten, and is frequently
less than six seconds. In pleurisy and pneu-