Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-10-23
RUTLAND HERALD.
TT ALL RESULTS In GOOD.

TT ALL RESULTS IN GOOD.
Two wears ago this month the Ameri-
can people were startled by the cry OF
CONSERVATION that went up to heaven,
from the burning city of Chicago, and
Immediately, as soon as steam and lght-
ming could be made available, heavy
trains of food and clothing were hurried
forward to alleviate the suffering OF the
bouseless and destitute people, from all
quarters of the country. 1t was scene
that tonched the heart of the world and
melted the selfish nature of men, ana
what was then regarded as terrible
calamity. has since turned out to be a
blessing in disguise. The desolated city
has arisen from it's ashes, and excels in
grandeur and beauty anything that was
ever hoped for before the fire, and bust
ness prospects and prosperity have been
multiplied many fold by the necessity
for increased vigor and enterprise in the
building up of great city; but the hap
piest results of the disaster were the de-
velopment of Christian sympathy and
practical benevolence that was engen-
dered by the suffering and prospective
desolation of the fire itself. We feel
that instead of the Chicago fire being a
misfortune it has turned out to be an in
centive for greater exertion, higher sue
cess, and better feeling among the
people of the country.
a little more than one year after the
smoke had dissolved from over the burn
ing city of the west, the center of New
England commerce was invaded by the
fire fend, and the massive blocks and
stately architectural grandeur of Boston
melted before the intense heat of q
mammoth conhagration. Again the
food-gates of human sympathy were
opened, and millions of money and I'M
told quantities of food, clothing and nee
essaries, awaited in anxious suspense for
the telegraphic signal to rush to the re-
lief of the destitute people, rendered
homeless by the fire; but the necessity
for relief that was so imperitive in the
case of Chicago did not exist in Boston,
where the work of destruction was con-
fined to business blocks, and the stocks
of merchants and manufacturers. This
calamity like its predecessor in the west,
advanced the kingdom of Christ in the
land by string up the better feelings of
Love, Charity and Friendship, in the
hearts of the people, and giving assur-
ance to all men that selfshness was
buried in human sympathy and Christian
love. And the increased prosperity of
Boston, is slight advance compared
with the improved public sentiment.
This season there has fallen upon the
land a more fearful scourge than fire in
its most terrible form At Shreveport and
and other cities of the South, the angel
of destruction has swept off thou
sands of the inhabitants of those
fated regions. Men can stand up
brayely in the face Of fire, and of the
whirlwind and of floods, but when the
insidious pestilence of yellow fever and
cholera is lurking in their midst, and the
strong and healthy are falling under its
fatal attacks every day without warn
ing, the bravest heart feels misgivings
and the spirit of panic can hardly be re-
sisted, and yet under this terrible vista
ton of Providence, there has arisen a
self-sacrifcing spirit of human sympa-
thy, and unselfish devotion to the I'M
fortunate and the distressed that must
make angels rejoice. The Howard As
ISOLATION of New Orleans have carried
the full fruitions of organized beneyo-
lence to the dying cities of Memphis and
Shreveport, while Christian men and
women in all parts of the land, at the
imminent risk of their own lives, have
carried to the plague infested cities the
comforts and luxuries of wealth, and sat
by the bedside of the sick and assuaged
the raging pain and suffering that other
wise must have given grim death many
additional horrors.
These great opportunities to display
Christian charity and alleviate the dis
tress of humanity, occurring year after
year, have not been lost, and most terri
BILE disasters have all proven to not be
wholly bad. The lives that were lost
can never be replaced, but their death
has made the survivors better and raised
the standard of human charity and ad-
yanced the cause of Christian love. We
are constantly seeing that these great
opportunities are not all there is open
for the exercise of human benevolence
the poor and unfortunate are distributed
all through the land, and we see all
about US an increased activity for the
alleviation of suffering and we rejoice
that it is so. The Kingdom of Christ is
open, and in these acts of brotherly
love and kindness men show their desire
and preparation for entering into that
Kingdom, and we believe the time is
coming when Christian churches will
find broader field for the exercise Of
their benevolence in comforting the
widow and the tatherless, and binding
up the broken-hearted, instead of spend
ing their strength and substance in in
creasing the friction of their organized
machinery, and engendering bad blood
over the formal questions, of baptism,
communion and sectarian distinctions.
BY their fruit shall we know them.