New Oregon Plaindealer

The Family Altar!
The family altar! Cherished associations cluster around it! There are hearts which swell with gratitude as memory recalls the time when brothers and sisters listened to the earnest believing prayers that morn and eve arose from it. All powerful and undying was its influence for good upon that band that have since gone out from the sanctuary of home to meet the temptations and conflicts of life. Theirs was a stronger protection and a richer possession than earthly wealth. Often has the weary spirit, crushed almost beneath its load of care and sorrow, been cheered and nerved for duty and trial, by the remembrance that the prayer of faith was still offered upon the dear home altar for the absent ones. The votary of pleasure, lured by her syren voice, seemed for a time unmindful of his early teachings; but they were not forgotten, and their influence, aided by the spirit's power, won the wanderer back to duty and true happiness. No longer an unbroken band gather around the old hearthstone at seasons of reunion; some have gone home to rest, while others toil on, their life mission unaccomplished. The voices that have so often been employed in prayers and blessings are faltering: eyes that have beamed with affection and tenderness are becoming dim with age; but faith is still firm, and hope sweetly whispers of a reunion beyond the grave, where the home circle shall be complete.--Zion's Herald.