St. Landry democrat., 1885-10-17

wharf YOU see the long line OF sailors with
shouldered mail bags coming down the
planks carrying as many letters as you
might suppose would be enough for a
years correspondence, and this repeated
again and again during the week. Multi
tudes OF them are letters from home, and
at all the Post-offices of the land people
will 90 to the window and anxiously ask
for them, hundreds of thousands of per-
sons finding that window of foreign mails,
the open window toward Jerusalem. Mes
sages that say: "When are you coming
home to see us? Brother has gone into
the army Sister is dead. Father and
mother are getting very feeble. We are
having a great struggle to get on here.
Would you advise us to come to you, or
will you come to us? All join in love and
hope to meet you, if not in this world,
then in better. Good'bye!"
Yes, yes; in all these cities and amid
the towering Western prairies, and on
the slopes of the Pacific and amid the
Sierras, and on the banks of the lagoon,
and on the ranches of Texas there is an
uncounted multitude who this hour
stand and sit and kneel with their win
dows open toward Jerusalem. Some of
them played on the heather of the Scottish
hills. Some Of them were driven out BY
Irish famine. Some of them in early life
drilled in the German army. Some of
them were accustomed at Lyons or Mar
settles or Paris to see on the street Victor
Hugo and Gambetta. Some chased the
chamots among the Alpine precipices.
Some plucked the ripe clusters from Ital-
ian Vineyards Some lifted their faces
under the midnight sun OF Norway. 1t IS
no dishonor to our land that they remem-
Der the place of their nativity. Miscreants
would they be if, while they have some of
their windows open to take in the free air
of America and the sunlight of an atmos-
phere which no kingly despot has ever
breathed, they forgot sometimes to open
the window toward Jerusalem. No won
der that sometimes when the Swiss is far
away from home, at hearing the National
air Of his own country sung, the malady
of inconsistencies comes on him SO power
fully as to cause his death. You have the
example of the heroic Daniel of my text
for keeping early memories fresh. Forget
not the old folks at home. Write often,
and if you have surplus Of means and
they a deficit, make practical contribution
and rejoice that America is bound to ali
the world by ties of sanguinity as is no
other nation. Who can doubt but that it
is appointed for the. evangelization of all
lands? What stirring, melting, gospel
iztng theory that all the doors of other
nations are open toward us while our win
dows are open toward them!
But, mark you, that good lion-tamer is
not standing at the window, but kneeling
while he looks out. Most photographs
are taken of those in standing or sitting
posture. I now remember but one picture
of man kneeling, and that was David
Livingstone, who, in the cause of God and
civilization, sacrificed himself, and in the
heart of Africa his servant, Majwara,
found him in the tent, by the light
of candle stuck on the top of a
box, his head in his hands upon the
pillow and dead on his knees. But here is
a great lion-tamer living under the dash
of the light and his hair disheyeled by the
breeze, praying. The fact is that man
can see further on his knees than standing
on tip-toe. Jerusalem was about $50 stat
ute miles from Babylon, and the vast Ara
bian desert shifted its sands between
them. Yet through that open window
Daniel saw Jerusalem, saw all between it,
saw beyond, saw time, saw eternity, saw
earth and saw Heaven Would you like
to see the way through your sins to par
don. through your troubles to comfort,
through temptation to rescue, through dire
sickness to immortal health, through night
to day, through things terrest trial to things
You will not see them till you
take Daniels posture. M cap Of bone to
the joints of the fingers, no cap of bone to
the joints of the elbow, but cap of bone to
the knees, made so because the god of the
body was the god Of the soul, an especial
provision for those who want to pray, and
structure joins with spirit
ual necessity in bidding us pray, and pray
and pray. In olden time the Earl of
said he had no need TO pray,
because he had enough pious tenants on
his estate to pray for him; but all the
prayers Of church universal amount to
nothing unless, like Daniel, we pray for
ourselves. o mon and women. bound
ed on one side by shadrach's red
hot furnace and on the other side by
devouring lions. learn the secret of cour.
age and deliverance by looking at that
Babylonish window open toward the
southwest. "0h," you say, ''that is the
direction of the Arabian Desert" Yes;
but on the other side of the desert is God,
is Christ, is Jerusalem, is Heaven. The
Brussels lace is superior to all other lace,
so beautiful, SO lnultiform, so expensive,
400 francs pound. All the world seeks
it. Do you know how it is made? The
spinning is done in dark room, the only
light admitted through small aperture
and that light falling directly on the pat
tern. And the finest specimens Of Chris
tian character have ever seen, or ever
expect to see, are those to be found in
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