When father and mother are gone, and they soon will be, if they have
not already made exit, the sisterly and fraternal bond will be the
only ligament that will hold the family together. How many reasons for
your deep and unfaltering affection for each other! Rocked in the same
cradle; bent over by the same motherly tenderness; toiled for by the
same father's weary arm and aching brow; with common inheritance of
all the family secrets; and with names given you by parents who
started you with the highest hopes for your happiness and
prosperity--I charge you, be loving and kind and forgiving. If the
sister see that the brother never wants a sympathizer, the brother
will see that the sister never wants an escort.
Oh, if the sisters of a household knew through what terrific and
damning temptations their brother goes in this city life, they would
hardly sleep nights in the anxiety for his salvation! And if you would
make a holy conspiracy of kind words and gentle attentions and earnest
prayers, that would save his soul from death and hide a multitude of
sins. But let the sister dash off in one direction in discipleship of
the world, and the brother flee off in another direction in
dissipation, and it will not be long before they will meet again at
the iron gate of Despair, their blistered feet in the hot ashes of a
consumed lifetime. Alas, that brothers and sisters, though living
together for years, very often do not know each other, and that they
see only the imperfections and none of the virtues!