Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-11-04
Kleklng agaIn.t PrIcL..

The world is full of things that prick. There
are nettles and burdocks and thstles, and
rose bushes and raspberry bushes, and black
berry vines, which every child knows by sight.
Then in the South, and out in the far West,
where live at the foot of the Rocky Noun
tains, there are in addition to all these more
than dozen different kinds of cactus which
prick more than anything else in the world /;
and there is plant called Yucca, which has
long leaves almost as narrow as grass blade,
pointed at the end and as stiff as q knife.
Sometimes this is called Spanish bayonet, be-
cause its leaves are as sharp as the point of
bayonet They could run a long way into
the flesh if they were used as weapons. l
presume there are great many things that
prick that / never heard Of Probably no
country is without them; / am sure we have
enough of them in America
How carefully we move about where such
things growing How closely we look
where we step! Everybody knows nettles,
and will not go near nettle-bed if he can
help it. In picking raspberries and blackber-
ries, how sharply We look out not to get
scratched by the thorns; how often we see
beautiful purple thistles and say to ourselves,
"Oh, dear if thistles hadn't such sharp
thorns on them, l would pick one." Aud as
for roses, it has passed into a proverb about
them, mo rose without thorn, " which means
that hardly anybody ever picked rose in his
life without pricking his fingers The only
way to handle any of these things safely is to
wear very thick gloves or else to take pair
of scissors and cut off all the thorns before
you touch the stems This is great deal of
trouble, but not so much trouble as TO have
to pick thorns out of your flesh, and to bear
the pain of their pricking. Some thorns are
poisonous, and the pain lasts a long time.
knew lady in Colorado who carelessly step
ped on prickly-pear plant-that is kind of
cactus it has fiat, round leaves about as
large as the palm of your hand, and is shaped
something like mitten with the thumb left
off. These leaves are a quarter of an inch
thick, aud are covered all over with little
pricking points as fine as the finest needles;
these points are called spines; they are so fine
you can hardly see one alone by itself, and it
is almost impossible to get one out of your
flesh If it has once sunk in. This lady step
ped on some of these leaves, and the spines
ran through her boot and her stocking, and
went SO far into her foot that she could not
pull them out. Her foot swelled, and her
whole leg swelled for two weeks she had to
sit with her leg resting ON a chair, and suffer
ed great pain all that time. Don't you believe
she was always careful, after that, when she
walked on the plains where the cactus grew
And now what do you suppose is the reason
am saying all these things about different sorts
of plants that prick? I'll tell you. This is
little sermon, and all this first part about the
plants that prick is the text to it.
Now comes the sermon itself, and you see
If it doesn't ''stick to its text" better than
some sermons do.
There are hundreds of things in life that
are just like these thorny leaves and stems
that prick. Every day we come across them,
or they come across us. Some of them are
like the nettles and burdocks, Just mere tor
ments, to get away from if we can. Ugly
tempered people, and stupid, tiresome people
are like nettles; how they do sting us and
make us smart! And the stupid, tiresome
people are like burdocks; how they do stick
to us when we want to shake them off But
most of the things in life which prick us are
like the roses, and the raspberries and the
blackberries; good things which we want,
beautiful things which we like TO see, and
wholesome things which it is best for us to
have; but they all have thorns, and if we
don't take care of them the right way, we
shall surely get prieked. l will mention one
of the things | mean, and you will think of
dozens yourselves.
Sleep is one. Once l asked a little girl
what she disliked most of all things in this
world, and she answered me- without stop
ping TO think minute:
Bedtime! bedtime is the thing hate
worst! Bedtime is the meanest thing in all
the world!"
didn't wonder much, for l remember
very well how 1 used to hate to go to bed
when was a child. But if had only known
them as know now, that every hour spent
in sleep was helping to make me a strong,
healthy woman, and giving my body
chance to grow to its full size, wouldn't
have hated it SO. No, indeed; would have
gone to bed early every night, of my own ac-
cord, without anybody having to coax or to
drive me. / should have known that the
more hours l spent sleeping while / was a
little child, the better time l should have
when l grew up.
But little children cannot possibly under
stand this They cannot believe it when
their fathers and mothers tell them. So they
have to be made to 90 to bed early, no mat
ter how much they dislike it. Almost every
day see some child being dragged off 10 bed,
by nurse or mother and when hear it
crying, and screaming, and holding back, 1
say "Oh you foolish child, you are kicking
against the pricks How much harder you