St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-12-26
TAIjMAGE's SERMON.
"The New Scrollof Martyrs" Forms
an Interesting Theme.
The Heroes who Choose a Sphere Far
Higher, Far NobIer Than Those Which
Rely On the Shedding of Human
Blood for Fame and Glory.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage visited Detroit,
Mich, and delivered sermon on the above
subject at the Jefferson Avenue Presbyts-
rian Church, taking for his text:
Thou thereforeendure hardness-tn limo
thy, H., 8.
DR.. Talmage said: Historians are not
slow to acknowledge the merits Of great
military chieftainS. We have the full
length portraits of the Cromwells, the
Washingtons, the Napoleons and the We'll
lingtons of the world. History is not writ
zen in black ink, but with red ink of human
blood. The gods of human ambition do
not drink from bowls made out Of silver or
gold or precious stones, but out Of the
bleaehed skulls OF the fallen. But / am
now to unron before you scroll of heroes
that the world has never acknowledged;
those who faced no guns, blew no bugle-
blast, conquered no cities, chained no cap
tives to their chariob-wheels, and vet in
the great day of eternity will stand higher
than those whose names startled the ma
tions; and seraph and rapt spirits and
archangel win tell their deeds to listen
ing universe. mean the heroes of COM
mon everyday life.
In this roll, in the first place, I find all
the heroes of the sick-room. When Satan
had failed to overcome Job he said to God:
''Put forth thine. hand now, and touch his
bone and his flesh, and he win curse thee
to thy face" Satan had found out what
we have all found out, that sickness is
the greatest test of oue's. character A
man who can stand that can stand
anything-to be shut in room as fast
as though it were a bastile: to be so
nervous you can not endure the tap of a
child's FOOT TO have luxuriant fruit
which tempts the appetite of the robust
and healthy, excite our loathing and dis
gust when it appears on the platter; to
have the rapier of pain strike through the
side or across the temples like razor; or
to put the foot into wise or throw the
whole body into blaze of fever. Yet
there have been men and women, more
women than mon, who have cheer
fully endured this hardness. Through
years of exhausting rheumatism and
excruciating neuralgias they have gone,
and through bodily distresses that rasped
the nerves and tore the muscles, and paled
the cheeks and stopped the shoulders. BY
the dim light of the sick-room taper they
saw on their wall the picture of that land
where the inhabitants are never sick,
Through the dead silence Of the night they
heard the chorus of the angels.
The cancer ate away her life from week
to week, and from day to day, and she
"good night" was feebler than the 'good
night" before: vet never sad. The child
looked up into her face and saw suffering
transformed into a heavenly smile. Those
who suffered on the battle field amid shot
and shell, were not SO much heroes or hero
ines as those who in the field hospital and
i'm the asylum had fevers which no ice
could cool and no surgery could cure. No
shout of comrade to cheer them, but numb
ness and aching and inconsistencies, yet
willing to suffer, conf1denG in God and
hopeful of Heaven. Heroes of rheuma
tism, heroes Of neuralgia, heroes Of spinal
complaint, heroes Of sick-headache, heroes
of long invalidism, heroes and heroines,
they shall reign forever and ever. Harkl
catch just one mote of the eternal ans
them; There shall be no more pain"
Bless God for that! a 81
In this roll also find the heroes of toll,
who do their work uncomplainingly. It is
comparatively easy to lead regiment into
battle, when you know that the whole ma
ton will applaud the victory; it is compar-
lively easy to doctor the sick, when you
know that your skill will be appreciated by
the large company of friends and relatives;
it is comparatively easy to address an
audience, when in the cleaning eyes
and flushed cheeks You know that your
sentiments are adopted; but to do
sewing where you expect that the en-
ployer win come and thrust his thumb
through the work to show how hmperfectit
is, or to have the whole garment thrown
back on you to be done over again; to
build wall and know there viii be no one
to say you did'it well, but only to have
swearing employer bowling across the
scaffold; to work until your eyes are dim,
and your back aches, and your heart faints,
and to know that if you stop before night
your children win starved All, the sword
has not slain so many as the needlel The
great battle fields Of our last war were not
Gettysburg and Shiloh and South Mouh-
tain. The great battle fields of the last
war were in the aFsenals and in the shops,
and in the attics, where women made army
jackets for sixpence. They toi1ed on until
shey died. They had no funeral eulogium;
but, in the name Of my God, this morning,
enroll their names among those of whom
the world was not worthy. Heroes of the
needle, heroes of the sewing machine, he
roes of the attic, heroes of the cellar, heroes
and heroines, bless God for them
In this roll also find the heroes who
have uncomplainingly endured domestic
injustice There are men who for their toll
and anxiety have no sympathy in their
own homes. Exhausting application to
business gets them livelihood, but an un-
frugal wife scatters it. He is fretted at