Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-06-12

and he WAS telling the woman how
good a Christian she ought to be and
how she ought to put her trust in God,
OH she said, IL have no God; ]
work from Monday morning until Sat,
urday night and | get no rest, and /,
never hear anything that does my soul
any good; and when Sunday comes !
haven't any bonnet that | can wear to
church, and I have sometimes got
down to pray, and then l got up, say
ing to my husband: MY dear, there's
No use of my praying; l am SO dis
tracted l can't pray; it don't do any
good Oh! sir, it il very hard to work
on as We people do from year to year,
and to see nothing bright ahead, and
to see the poor little child getting thin
ner and thinner, and my man almost
broken down. aud TO DO getting nc
nearer to GOD, but to be getting farther
away from him. Oh, il l were only
ready to die!" May God comfort all
who toll with the needle and the sew
ing machine, and have compassion on
those borne down under the fatigues
of life.
Another great trial is ~privation of
taste and sentiment. There are me-
chanics who have their beautiful
homes, who have their fine wardrobes.
who have all the best fruits and meats
Of the earth brought to their table.
They have their elegant libraries. But
they are the exception.
There are a great many who suffer
not only in the privation Of their taste,
but in the approximations and the OPP
pressive surroundings OF life, that were
we'll described by an English writer.
| He said:
"TO be a poor mans child and look
through the rails of the playground,
and envy richer boys for the sake of
their many books. and yet to be doomed
to ignorance. To be apprenticed to
some harsh stranger and feel forever
banished from a mothers tenderness
and a sisters love. To work when very
weary and work when the heart is sick
and the head is sore. To see a wife or
a darling child wasting away and not
70 be able to get the best advice. To
hope that the better food or purer air
might Set her up again, but that food
you cannot buy, that air you must
never hope to breathe. To be obliged
to let her die. To come home from the
daily task some evening and see her
sinking. TO sit up all night in hope to
catch again those precious words you
might have heard could you have af-
f0rded to stay at home ali day, but
never hear them. To have no mourn
ers at the funeral, and even to have to
carry on your own shoulder through
the merry streets the light deal coffin.
To see huddled into a promiscuous
hole the dust which is SO dear to you,
and not venture to mark the spot by
planted flower or lowliest stone. Some
bitter winter or some costly spring to
barter for food the clock, or the curious
cupboard. or the Henry's Commentaries
on which you prided yourself as the
heirloom of a frugal family. and never
to be able to redeem it. To feel that
you are getting old, nothing laid aside
and present earnings scarce sufficient.
To change the parlor floor for the top
story, and the top story for a single
attic, and wonder what change will be
next"
But / have no time this morning
longer to dwell upon the hardships and
the trials OF those who toll with hand
and foot, for l must GO on to offer some
grand and glorious encOuragements,
for such; and the first encouragement
is, that one of the greatest safeguards
against evil is plenty to do. When
men Sill against the law of their
country, where do the detectives
go to find themp Not amid the dust
OF factories, not among those
who have on their "overalls;" but
among those who stand with their
hands in their pockets around the
doors OF saloons and restaurants and
taverns. Active employment is one of
the greatest sureties for a pure and
upright life. There are but very few
men with character stalwart enough
to endure consecutive idleness. l see
a pool OF water in the country and |
say: Thou Shiny, fetid thing-what
does all this meanP.' "Oh," says the
pool of water, II am just stopping
here" | say to the pool of water:
Didn't see you dance in the show
erP" 80! yes" says the water; 81
came down from God shining like an
angel" l say TO that water: Didn't
you drop like a beautiful gem into a
casket of other gems. as You tumbled
over the rockP" 80! yes" says the
water, 81 sang all the way down from
the cliffs TO the meadow" l say again:
"Didr't | see you playing with those
shuttles and turning that grist millP"
so! yes" says the water; II used to
earn my living" say again: Then
what makes you look so sickP Why
are you covered with this green scump
Why is your breath SO vilep' .'O!"
says the water, II have nothing to do.
| am disguised with shuttles and
wheels. / am going to spend my
whole lifetime here, and while yonder
stream sings on Tvs way down the
mountain side, here I am left TO tester
and die, %accursed of God because |
have nothing to do" Sin is an old
pirate that bears down on vessels
whose sails r tapping IDLY in the
wind. The arrow of sin has hard
work to puncture the leather of an old
working apron. Be encouraged by
tho fact that your shops. your ris-
ing walls, your anvils are fortresses in
which you may hide, and from which
yoo may fight against the temptations
of your life. Morniog, noon and
night, Sundays and weekdays, thank
God for plenty to do.
Another encouragement is the fact
that their families are going to have
the very best opportunity for develop
ment and usefulness. That may sound
STRANGE TO Won. hut the childrer Of for