The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-01-14

makes TO cake part In the analrS OF NE.
The shouts Of the chill Iren in the park op-
posite are heard as thouG far of, the light
falls through the gorgeous windows in a
eoftened glory, and everything within in
spires devotion.
And who are the people who come TO this
empty church to ''rest and prayT' They are
the young and active, me old and weary,
the rich with their concealed cankers the
iowly with their cross of penury, the hope
full and the spending. They ara the same
people we meet everywhere wearing the
armor OF courage or the mask Of br vadO,
exulting in their strength or laugl ming at the
weakness of others; but here they lay
down pretense and acknowledge their own
insigni1cance.
You would imagine that moro women
would come than men. Not so. Men, the
worlds men, they who are known to be the
cunningest foxes in financial matters or the
sternest foemen in lies rude encounters,
stop and rest, if they do not pray, as
though even the sweet silence of the church
was CRATE. III after the roar they lad just
left. But they sem to pray.
Who is so strong, so self-suff1cient that he
does not, at times, feel the need of uttering
himself in prayer, of calling or strength
from higher source2 And who is so faith
less that an honest appeal to thu invisible
agencies of good do not help him! Man is
only infatuated with his own greatness when
all goes we'll Remove his props and in-
stinctively he turns to something above him
for help.
One woman 1 saw in St. Georges many
times. Young and well dressed, evidently
par Rara6 "a
forts go, she was Enthusiastically troubled and
sad. She would sit motionless in prayerful
attitude long at time, and her eyes were al
ways looking into futurity. noticed thatshs
gazed much in thoughtful way at a fan. a
light, gilded paper thing, sprawled over
with japanese figures. One day passed in
as she passed out, and by accident seated
myself in the pew she had just vacated.
There lay the fan, forgotten. picked it
up. and written across the gayest side of it
were these words:
''With steady mind thy course of duty run,
God never does, nor suffe to be done,
Aught but myself wouldst do. couldst
thou foresee
The end Of all events so well as He."
From this noble text she had tried to
draw spiritual support in some trying ext
gency of her life, with what success cannot
tell. as I never saw her again. The wor
swallowed her. Distance hid her, or death
claimed her.
Many printed line, even a scrapof paper,
plays an important part in the direction of
life There is help in words il they are
not empty. If they are vehicles of noble
thought by keeping them in our mind we
build up noble qualities in ourselves An
blind ray men understand this, and when
they rear churches and temples they fill
them with carven or gilded texts, which
being often read finally become ever
present TO the minds of the readers and act
as sentinels against evil.
Over the pointed windows of st. Georges
are texts in letters of gold on blue ground
noticed that one young man who was fire.
quently there when was. always sat oppO-
site this text, and kept his eyes fixed upon it,
"Whoso followeth me shall not walk in dark
ness " Who knows what temptations were
driven away by that single line.
Isaw one man there few times who
seemed to be walking under the weight OF s.
heavy conscience. The phantom of regret
stalked so boldly in his heart that it looked
appealingly out of his eyes.
Even the rabbIe have greater considera-
ton for things that are held sacred than
they are supposed to have. The books are
all left in their racks in the pews and never
one has been molested, though men an wo-
men in rags wander in there and are as well
come as those clad in satins.
the sexton hovers about in the morning,
and in the afternoon IA neat little old woman
in a black dress is always there. She sits
silent in corner pew, as much a part OF
the church as its great organ or its cush-
toned seatSp Some women, no matter how
silently they sat, would disturb the grand
repose of this sacred interior scene. Not this
one. Gentle and soft spoken by nature, she
has lived in the empty church until SIC has
become sLirituaIizad and blends with Its
solemn atmosphere like one from anothsr
world. She loves the church. 1t is, indeed,
her home. Half of every day spent there
endears it to her. She has peasant words
for all who speak to her and frowns Tor
none.
Don't you get lonely here sometimes"
asked
mo, miss, never / like to stay in the
church. Can bring my sewing or q news
paper to keep myself company; but never
feel alone here, not even wnen there's no
human being in sight"
Then asked If she ever had any trouble
with the people who entered the church; If
tramps or thieves annoyed her.
Never she said. mo one has ever
given me disagreeable word. All kinds Of
people come here, yes, the beggars and all,
but none have ever taken a cents worth OF
anything, or in any way misbehaved Once
poor old beggar lay down in one of the
pews and told him he must get up, and he
did so without a word. Ispeak to them soft
Iy, and they are never angry. They do
what tell them"
thought of the soft answer which turn
eth away wrath" and of the patient polite
ness often found among what are called
common people,"
"Of course there are some," she continued,
s'who would make it den OF thieves, but I
watch them and speak to them in time and
they go eYav psacsablY."