, 1886-03-21

- ~ N8t 'A'ka1 aF AtAta 80
otherwise, II saved at all from the
PUSHES OF the Nile, no would have
been only one more Of the God-defying
Pharaohs, for Princess Thermutis of the
bathing house would have inherited the
crown OF Egypt, and as she had no child OF
her own, this adopted child would have como
TO coronation. Had there been no Miriam
there would have been no Moses. What a
garland for faithful sisterhoodi For how
many a lawgiver, and how many a hero,
and how many a deliverer, and how many a
saint are the world and the church indebted
10 a watchful, loving, faithful, godly Sisteri
Come up, out OF the farm housesl Come
up out OF the -inconspicuous homesi
Come up from the banks OF the
Hudson and the Penobscot and the
Savannah and the Mobil and the Mississippi
and all the other Miles OF America, and let
us sec you, the Miriams who watched and
protected the leaders in law and medicine
and merchandise and art and agriculture and
mechanics and ~religionl II l should ask all
these physicians and attorneys and merchants
and ministers Of religion and successful men
OF all professions and rad who are indebted
TO an elder sister for good influences and
perhaps for an education or a prosperous
start, to rise, they would rise by the hundreds.
God knows how many Of our Greek lexicons
and how much Of our schooling was paid for
by money that would otherwise have gone
for the replenishing OF a sisters wardrobe.
While the brother sailed of for a resounding
sphere the sister watched him from the banks
of self denial
Miriam was the Oldest Of the family, Moses
and Aaron, her brothers, and younger. Oh,
the power Of the elder sister TO help decide
the brothers charactS for usefulness and for
heavenl She can keep off from her brother
more evils than Miriam could have driven
back waterfowl or crocodile from the ark OF
bulrushes. The older sister decides the direc-
tion in which the cradleboat shall sail By
gentleness, by good sense, by Christian princi-
pie she can turn 1t toward the palace, not of
a wicked Pharaoh, but OF "a holy God; and a
brighter princess than Thermutis shall lift
him out Of peril, even religion, whose ways
are ways Of pleasantness, and all her paths
are peace. The older sister, how much the
world owes heri Born while yet the family
was in limited circumstances she had to hold
and take care OF her younger brothers. And
II there is anything that excites my sympathy,
1t is a little girl Juggling round a great fat
child, and getting her ears boxed because she
cannot keep him quiet By the time she
gets to young w~omanhood, she is pale
and worn out, and her attractive
ness has been sacrificed on tho altar
atNI 1880 haS ~ 1AA' ~
celibacy, and society calls her by an ungal-
liant name; but in heaven they call her
Miriam. In most families the two most I'M
desirable places in the record of births are
the first and the last-the first, because she is
worn out with the cares of a home that can
not afford to hire help, and the last. because
she is spoiled as a pet Among the grandest
~equipages that sweep through the streets of
heaven will be those occupied by sisters who
sacrificed themselves for brothers. They
will have the finest of tho Apocalyptic white
horses, and many who on earth looked down
upon them will ave to turn out to let them
pass.
Let sisters not begrudge the time and care
bestowed on a brother. 1t is hard to believe
that any boy that you know so well as your
brother can ever turn out anything very use
full Well, he may not be a Moses. There is
only one Of that kim needed for 5000 years.
But l tell you what your brother will be-
either a blessing or a curse to society and .
candidate for happiness or wretchedness- He
will, like Moses, have the choice between
rubies and living Goals, and your Influence
will have much to do with his decision.
He may not, like Moses, be the deliverer of a
nation, but he may, after your father and
mother are gone, be the d~eliverer OF a house
hold. What thousands of homes to-day are
piloted by brothersi There are properties
now well invested and yielding income for
the support Of sisters and Younger brothers,
because the older brother rose to the leader
ship from the day the father laid down
TO die. Whatever you do for your brother
will come back TO you again. II you
set him an ill-natured, censorious, unac-
commodating example, it. will recoil
upon you from his own irritated and de
spoiled nature. II you, by patience with all
his infirmities and by nobility of character,
dwell with him, in the few years of your
co~mpanionship, you will have your ~counsels
reflected back upon you some day by his
splendor OF behavior in some crisis where he
would have failed but for you.
Don't snub him. Don't depreciate his
ability. Don't talk discouragingly about his
future. Don't let Miriam get down off the
bank Of the Nile and wnde out and upset the
ark Of bulrushes. Don't tease him. Brothers
and sisters do not consider it any harm 10
tease. That spirit abroad in the family is one
Of the meanest and most devilish- There is a
teasing that is pleasurable and is only
another form OF innocent railery, but
that which p~rovokes and ~irritates and
makes the eye flush with anger Is
to be reprohended. Ii would be less
blaneworthy TO take a bunch Of thorns and
draw them across your sisters cheek, or to
take a knife and draw its sharp edge across
your brothers hand till the blood spurts, for
that would damage only the body but teas
ing Is the thorn and the knife scratching and
lacerating the disposition and the soul. Il is
the curse OF innumerahle households that the
brothers tease the sisters and the sisters the
brothers. Sometimes II is the color OF the
hair, or the shape Of the features, or an affair
OF the heart Sometimes It is by revealing a
secret or by n suggestive look, or n guffaw,
or An -Aheml" Teasel teasei teasel For
Gods sake quit it. Christ says. HE that
hateth his brother is a murderer Now,
when You, by teasing, make your brother or
sister hate, you turn him or her into a muir
derer or murderess.
Don't let jealousy ever touch a sisters soul,
as it 50 often does, because her brother gets
more honor or more means. Even Miriam,
the heroine Of the text, was struck by that
evil passion OF jealousy. She had POSSESSED
unlimited influence over Moses, and now he
uarries, and not only 80, but marries a black
Woman from Ethiopia, and Miriam is 10 dis
gusted and outraged at Moses, frt because
he had married Mt all, and next, because he
had practiced miscegenation, that she is
drawn into a frenzy and then begins 10 turn
white, and gets white as a corpse, and then
whittier than a corpse Her complexion is
like chalk; the fact is, she has the
Egyptian leprosy. And now the brother,
whom she had defended on the Nile, comes To
her rescue, in prayer that brings her rcstora-
ton. Let there be no room in all your house
for Jealousy either TO sit or stand Il Is a
leprous Accumulation. Your brothers. sue
Cess, o sisters, is your success. His victories
will be your victories. For, while Moses, the
brother, led the vocal music after the cross
ing OF the Red sea, Miriam, the sister, with
-. 80