The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-02-19

that the fir tee grows in the preato..
profusion and perfection. God haS
made them, it would seem, on purno ss
to adorn and beautify these w pOte
places. l remember once convorS;s
with couple of bright young EneiiaEs
men on the deck of a Hudson B;Tnn-
steamboat, who could hardly be COW
WINGED that the beautiful and shapelv fir
trees that we saw on rocky LEDGE ON
the west bank, not far above Newb1roh
were just as God made them GROW
They supposed that some one had
trimmed and cultivated them. DO Won
not know some people who are like
these fir-some who live in plain homes
whose life is very lowly, who make mo-
noise in the world, whose lot is a hard
one, but who so adorn the humble
home, and cheer and bless the lives that
are being lived around them, that Won
cannot help feeling, somehow, that God
put them where they are for that verv
purpose? They beautify and brighten
what would otherwise be a barren
waste. Remember that however oh
scure your life may be, you can make it
beautiful with the beauty of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and can help to make
some home that would otherwise be bald
and unattractive bright and happy
place.
How many little hands have been
busy this fall gathering the golden, or
russell, or bright red products of the
apple orchards? The apple tree NAV
not be very graceful or grand, but it
has peculiar beauty to our eyas be-
cause of its usefulness. All through
the long winter we rejoice in its fruit.
And l know good many homely peo-
pie, who dress plainly, and who make
no show in the world. but whose kind
ness of heart, and willingness to help
others, and daily endeavor to make
themselves useful, give beauty to their
life which is greatly to be preferred to
the short-lived beauty of pretty face
We forget how plain they are. They
come to look handsome to us. The
beauty of the soul shines out in their
features, and makes the most rugged
face beautiful.
My time is up, fear, but there is one
other tree that | want to speak of. |
mean the oak. What a sturdy, vigor-
Gus tree it is! You can depend upon it.
from the stout trunk down to the small
est branch. The lame man may lean
with confidence upon his staff of oak.
When the oak tree grows, as it often
does, on the bleak hill side, the rude
winds only make it take deeper root.
1t is good representative of type of
manhood that we love to meet. We
speak of men who have ga heart of
oak" We mean those men who can
be depended on, who are true to their
principles, loyal to their convictions of
duty, bold and firm in their defense of
the right, steady and persistent in adj
vocating what they believe to be truth;
men who never desert friend in his
hour of need or prove false to any
trust.
A little English boy was left by his
father at the main entrance to the Bank
of England one morning, with orders to
remain there until his father came out.
But the latter, being detained longer
than he anticipated, forgot his boy and
passed out by another door. He did
not think about him until late in the
afternoon; but he said to friend that
he knew just where to look for the
child. He was sure that the little fel-
low had obeyed orders. And sure
enough. when they got to the entrance
to the bank, there he was, tired and
hungry, and wondering, why father ala
not come, but with no thought of yield
ing to his WEAKNESS and of abandoning
his post. That boy had in him the max
ing of a man with heart of oak.
Which of the trees that have been
spoken of will you take as your repre-
sentative? Will you be like the hollow
hearted elder, the plant willow, the
unsavory ailanthus, the poison upas, or
will you try to be like the modest fir
tree. which gladdens the waste places
OF earth, or the apple, which commends
itself by its fruitfulness, or the oak,
and sturdy, and sound of
John Teal, IN Christian
T197jO17