The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1883-04-12
AUSTIN LETTER.

A Tender, Thoughtful. Feeling Community
OF the Soul with the Good and beautiful
A sweet Euiogy ON Remuneration hnd soil
sncriilcs-A ysrItsble Exposition Of that
Divine Ipinnction Of tho saviour, Glove
thy Nelghbor rs Thyself"
AusnN, April 4 o. Sunday Herald
"sof,ly and noslessy some feet tread
Lie. WAYS on earth, without leaving hmark-
They move with the living, they pass 10 inc
Asstill as the CLEAN of o star thro the dark
sweet lives those
In thrir strange lepose'
Among the records not kept by man are
single pages. warm with the touch of angel
fingers, and bright with u brightness that
only = shaft OF light falling straight down
from the Divine hand can impart.
These live in faithful tender outlines OF
renunciations, of sacrifices, OF duties well
done for duty's sake, OF burdens bravely
borne and meekly carried, OF patient
watchings and tender forbearings, OF hope
in the midst of despair, faith in sea OF
doubt and charity in world OF sin,
Above each page is written name.
Standing out strong and clear are the names
of many women and not few men. But
those that seem to shine strongest ana
clearest and with the steadfast ray, belong
10 the gentle Sisters of Mercy, who seem to
follow. indeed, step by step, in the ready
footprints OF the Master.
The first and browning act of their lives
is remuneration. They give up the ''.pur-
pie and fair linen" so dear to every feml-
nine heart, and cothe themselves in the
dreury serge. They put away the dream
of individual love and are contentto fill
small place in the hearts of the many.
They separate themselves from the tender
protection that every womanly nature
Graves, and 60 alone in the midst OF danger,
disease and crime, with but one hand to
guide and one arm to shield.
When you thoughtfully ,define the
word renounce you feel that IL
means more than q giving up OF some
trivial bit Of happiness or the breaking
away of some growing habit.
1t means the delicate Offering up in sac
rifce of some of the most cherished dreams
of ones life-the SCATTERING of more than
one lovely and loveble idol, and the burial
of more than one fond hope.
Think how purified the heart must be and
how full of ardor the soul before the mini
is capa BILE Of comprehending sacrlhce, and
the body Of fulfilling it..
But these tears from the eyes will often
wash away gait from the heart, and, while
PRAYERS rise and penitential drops fall, the
spirit of the Creator illumes the darkness,
and the spirit of the creature Is made
ready.
Ofall those to whom these heavenly
messengers come, with their soft and
noisless tread )" to none perhaps are they
more welcome than to the sick and dying.
At the bedside of pain the courage and de-
votion of their lives finds fullest express
sion. How many poor, suffering soul
has not caught Its glimpse OF heaven IN
that tender, pitiful face, crowned with its
snowy bonnet, and so sweet III It's strange
repose?" And how many an errlng heart
has been brought PROSTATE before its
Maker through the influence Of that gentle
teaching that ia part of their ministry, for
they bring comfort TO the soul as well as
healing TO the body.
No disease SO loathsome, no wound so
sickening but they find strength to bear
with it, aud. undaunted, unworying, watch
where strong men lice.
Bloody backgrounds have been robbed
of their gloom and changed from scenes o;
hatred's clamor into fields of loves minis
try by their benign presence.
They move 'inid the living and pass 10
the dead" bending over friend and foe.
closing the dying eyes, relieving the
anguished bodies, and forgetting pitiiul self
in the grand cause of glorious humanity.
In times of terror and disease, when death
stalks triumphant over the land, the hrst
to 20 to he home of the strickened are these
women OF obscure lives, asking no reward
and seeking no compensation.
Untiring in their devotions, exhanstless
in their sympathy, they work nobly and
faithfully to the last, and all too often
crown their lsbors with the sacrifices OF
their lives.
That this living apart from the world and
subduing the meaner instincts to the foster
ing of all that is noble and grand 10 our
natures brings peace-we need but 10 lock
into the face of our, the Sister Clotiedes OF
this world to find. A brow as calm and
unrufiled as q child's, eyes soft and I'M
troubled, with that deep, restful look that
comes only from heart at peace with itself;
a bearing so gentle and dgniiied that every
man instinctive!y hits his hat "a she goes
by, and.feels that he has breathed for mo-
ment q purer atmosphere.
To follow them into their cool, dim clois-
tiers is to feel your burdens and cares, your
worries and vexations cease, your gloom
and sorrow vanish, and a great cloud OF
stiffness, repose and sweet rest settles over
you and envelopes you, mind and body,
heart and soul.
These quiet lives are made beautiful by
what we read between the lines. 1t is easy
to do noble deed when we know the NOR
row will find us famous. But to work in
obscurity, in loneliness, aud sometimes in
want, often unmarked by any eye but
Gods, not even leaving ones name to bear
witness to the acts of ones life, is TO be
Christian in deed and IN truth, land make
of lie and death and the great forever our
grand, sweet song"