Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-01-17
Parables and SimiIitudes of the
Christian Life.
THE VILLAGE FOUNTAIN,

In hollow, on the hillside, spring
of water bubbled from the bosom of the
earth, amid basin of shining pebbles.
The hart's tongue and the lady fern grew
near it, with the wild rose and the honey
suckle; and many bank of mosses and
stretch of pasture land owed their bright
ness to its streams when they became a
rivulet and went whipping down the
glen. In the winter it was icy cold. but
with the first burst of sunshine it flashed
forth like long-lost gem. Yet its
greatest glory was in the summer time;
when all the fields were parched, and
the earth was bare and brown from the
long continued drought, it's fullness never
failed; and where it's waters flowed, a
line of emerald verdure wound through
the valley.
Not far from this spring was village,
and to the spring went most of the vii
layers for the water they required.
Thither the maiden ran and dipped her
pitcher in the pebbly basin; and thither
the aged, with tottering steps, had been
used for years to walk to obtain the cool
ing water. But at length change took
place. A cottager, who had not long
dweft in the village, had a suggestion to
make. The spring, he said, was SO far
off that it was difficult to reach it, and
it was very hard that the people could
not have a stream of water close to their
homes. He therefore proposed that they
should build a fountain, something which
would be ornamental as well as useful,
under the elm tree on the village green !;
and then, he continued, they would be
able to get whatever water they wanted
without walking to the spring. ~ 7ll
Most of the people welcomed the sug-
gestion with delight, and every one won
dered that they had not thought of such
thing before. The fountain was built,
and the water laid on; and, during the
winter and summer there was good
supply. But in the hottest days of sum-
mer the stream that should have spouted
through the lions mouth was gone, the
rivulets that supplied it were dry, and in
wonder and in dread the villagers met
beside the empty trough and asked what
was to be done.
After little time, one of them re-
membered the hillside spring that used
to supply their wants and he also recol-
lected that it was never dry, even in the
warmest month of summer. And when
they sought the hollow once more they
found that though the fields were burnt
and brown all around, the pebbly basin
was still brimming over with water !;
and, till the drought had passed away,
there was more than to supply the wants
of all the cottagers. "Now, cannot we
make it run into the fountain :" asked
the man at whose suggestion the foun-
tain had been built. But it was found
to be impossible, since the valley through
which it wound as rivulet was on the
opposite hill from the village.
Like these villagers, we of the world
have too often forsaken the well of liv-
ing water to make for ourselves cis-
terms that dry up in the day of our
greatest need.
THE VINES AND ELMS.
A traveller was wandering about in
the sunny South, learning parallels from
scenes of nature, and the vineyard taught
him this:
He saw that the vines were supported
by the elms and oaks; and so, though
weak in themselves, they ripened their
fruit and added beauty to their protec-
tors. This, they seemed to say, is like
your spirits, which are but half alive as
long as they lie upon the earth, but be-
come fruitful as soon as they repose on
God.
THE VINEYARD.
He was taught another parable.
He saw the vines growing up from
the earth, but raised aloft and placed to
blossom on frame of trellis-work; yet
some of their branches dropped towards
the ground, seeking the earth again; and
these bore no fruit.
Thus it is, they seem to say, with the
heart of man. He too grows on earth,
and should bloom above it yet many OF
his affections, even if they be lifted up.
seek the earth once more, and SO are
fruitless.-S. S. Treasury.
The New York Euen;ng Post and the
Journal Of Commerce are reported to
have cleared $175,000 and $150,000 re.
spectively last year.
MRS. SENATOR SPRAGUE has resumed
her Saturday afternoon receptions in
Washington, which were SO popular last
year.
"ENoCH ARDEN" Latinized, is adver.
tised in London paper thus: "Enocl
Arden, Poema Tennysonianum, latina
reditum."