The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-04-08
AUSTIN LETTER.

4 sweet EulOgY ON RECOMMENDATION "h" ~"
sacrIhce-A Neritable Exposition OF that
Divine IpIuuction of the saviour, 'ivNe
Thy Neighbour ~ Thy-elf!"
Au.nS. April Sunday Herald
"softly and nolsle,sly some feet tread
Iifes ways on earth without leaving amatk-
They move with the living they lass To the
dead
Assam as the CLEAN of star thru the dark.
sweet lives those
IN ih-.r strange gtp1sc'
Among the records not KEEP by man are
single pages, wArn with the touch OF angel
fingers. aud bright with a brightness that
only a shaft OF light falling straight down
from the Divine hand can lmpart.
These live in faithful, tender outlines oi
renunciations. Of sacrifices, Oh duties Wen
done for duty's sake, OF burdens ofayely
borne and meekly carried, Of patent
watChings and tender forbeariueS, OF hope
IN the midst Of despair, faith in sea OF
doubt, and charity Ia a world OF sin,
Above each page is written name.
Standing out strong and clear are the names
Of many women and not a few men. But
tho.e that seem 20 shine strongest and
c,earest, and with the stead(ast 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 crownng act OF their lives
is Remuneration. They give up the 'pur-
pie and fair linen So dear to every iemi'
nine heart, and clothe themselves in the
dreary serge, They put away the dream
OF individual love and are content to MI
a small place in the hearts Of the many.
They separate themselves from the tender
protection that every womauly nature
Graves, aud 20 alone in the midst Of danger,
disease and crime, with but one hand 10
guide and one arm TO shield
When you thOughttully define the
word rcnOuuco you feel that il
means more than q giving up Of some
trivial bit OF happiness or tue breaking
away of some growing habit.
IL means the delicate Offering up in sac
rllCc OF some of the most cherished dreams
of ones lile-the SCATTERING of more than
one lovely and lovahle idol, and the burial
OF more than one fond hope.
Think how purified the heart must be and
now full OF ardor the soul before the mini
is capable Of comprehending sacrifice. and
the body of fulfilling it,
But these tears from the eyes will often
wash away guilt from the heart, and, while
prayers rise aud penitential drops tall, the
spirit OF the Creator illumes the darkness,
ami the spirit OF the creature is made
ready.
Ofall those to whom These heavenly
messengers come, with their "s0lt and
noisless tread " TO mono perhaps are they
more welcome than to the sick and dying.
AT the bedside Of pain the courage and de-
yotiOn Of their lives finds fullest expires.
sion. How many a poor, suffering soul
has not caught ITS glimpse OF heaven in
that tender, pitllul face, crowned with its
snowy bonnet, and SO sweet in its strange
reposel' Ana how many an errng heart
has been brought PROSTATE before its
Maker through the influence Of that gentle
teaching that is IA part of their ministry, for
they bring comfort TO the soul as well as
healing 70 the body.
| No disease so loathsome no wound 50
sickening but they find strength to bear
with it, and, undannted, unworying, watch
where stroug men flee.
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 mid the living and pass &c
the dead bending over friend and foe
closing the dying eyes, relieving the
angulShed bodies and forgetting pitlul sci
in the grand cause of glorious humanity.
IN times ot terror and disease, when death
stalks triumphant over the lani the first
to goto he home of the strickened are thost
women OF obscure lives, asking no reward
and seeking no compensation.
Untiring in their deyotions, exhaustles,
IN their sympathy, they work nobly anc
faithfully TO the last, and all too otter
crown. their labors with the sacrifices o
their lives.
Ihat this living apart from the world and
subdulng 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 oi
TINS world to find, A brow as calm and
uhrufied as child's, eyes soft aud I'm.
troubled, with that deep, resttul look that
comes only from heart at peace with itself
a bearing so gentle and dignilled that every
mhn lnStlnCtlveIy hits his hat "a she zoe,
by, and feels that he has breathed for n mo
ment II purer atmosphere.
To follow them into their cool, dim clois
tiers is to feel your burdens and cares. you
worries and .veXatiOns cease, your gloom
and sorrow vanish, and great cloud o.
stiffness, repose aud 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. Ii is easy
to do noble deed when we know the NOR
row will find us famous. But TO work il
obscurity, in loneliness, and sometimes il
want, often unmarked by any eve bu
uod's, not even leaving one s name to beai
witness TO the acts of ones life, is to ho
christian IN deed and IN truth, "and max,
OF me anu death and the great forever on
grand, sweet song"