Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-02-10
TIE VEIL OF MODESTY.
The Pleasures Renowned by Queen
Vashti for a Principle More
Regal than Kings,
Driven Forth In Poverty and Ruin, and
Yet TO Receive the Applause OF
Future Generations.
The Names of The Wives of Kings Die with
Them; q Great Mans Wife's Name
Lives Always.

inst taken place, and the rental exceeds
Sl previous years. For the best pews
$500, 5000, 500 and $500 were paid.
But parts of the house are kept free, so
that no one can truthtully say he cannot
attend church here for lack Of means.
If this immense structure we're twice
as large it would not contain all who de-
sire 70 worship here. By the time the
service begins the streets are blocked
with people going away.
The Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, D. D.,
the pastor, preached this morning the
fifth Of "Series Of Sermons to the
Women Of America, with Important
HINTS to Men" His subject was: "The
Veil Of Modesty," and his text: Esther
j., u: "The Queen, Vsshti, r'tused TO
come"
If YOU will accept my arm will escort
YOU into 9 thr0ne-room. In this fifth
sermon Of the series OF sermons there
are certain womsnly excelleucies which l
wish TO commend, but instead of putting
them in dry abstraction, l present you
their impersonStion in one who seldom,
if ever, gets sermonic recognition.
We stand amid the palaces OF Saushan.
The pinnacles are sfame with the morn
ing light. The columns rise fashioned
and Wresthed, the wealth OF empires
flashing from the grooves; the ceilings
adorned with images of bird and beast,
and scenes of proWess and conquests. The
walls are hung with shields, and en-
bIszoned until it geems that the whole
round Of splendors is exhausted. Each
srch is a mighty leap Of architectural
achievement. Golden stars, shin
ing down on glowing erSbes-
que. Hangings of embroidered work
in which mingle the blueness
of the sky, the greenness OF the grass,
and the Whiteness of the seafoam. Tapes
tries hung on silver rings, wedding to-
gether the pillars of marble. Pavilions
reach out in every direction. These lof
repose, filed with luxuriant couches, in
which weary limbs sink until al fatigue
is submerged. These for c2roussl, where
kings drink down kindom at one sWsl-
low. Amazing spectacle! Light OF
silver dripping down over stairs OF ivory
on shields Of gold. Floors Of stained
marble, sunset red and night black, and
inlsid with cleaning pGsrl. Why, 1t
seems as If q heavenly vision Of amethyst,
and iscinth, ard topaz, and chrysoprssus
hsd descended and slighted upon Shus-
hau. 1t seems as If billow Of celestial
glory had dashed clesr over
heavens battlements upon this
metropolis of Persia. In con-
nection with this palace there is gar
den, where the mighty men of foreign
lands are seated st ) banquet. Under
the spread of oak and linden and acacia
the tables are arranged.
THE BREATH OF HCNEYsUCKLE
6lIu air Fountains
lesD up into the light, the sprsy struck
through with rsinbows falling in crystal
line baptism upon towering shrubs-then
rolling down through channels Of marble,
aud widening out here and there into
pools sWirliug with the tnny
tribes OF foreign aquayiums,
bordered with scarlet anemonies
hTpericums, and many colored rsnuncu-
lus. Meats Of the rarest bird and beast
smoking up amid wresths OF sromstics.
The vases filed with Gpricots snd al
monds. The baskets piled up with spri-
cots, and dates, and figs, and oranges,
and pomegrAnsGes. Melons tastetully
twined with Leaves Of acacia.
The bright waters OF Eulacus filing the
urns, sud sweating outside the rim in
flashing beads amid the tTAceries. Wine
from the royal watts Of Ispahan and
ShirEz, in bottles Of tinged shell,
and llly-shsped cups of sill
yer, and f4gons and tsnkards OF
solid gold. The music rises higher, and
the reVelrY breaks out into wilder trans
port, Sud the wine has flushed the cheek
and touched the brain, and louder than
Sll other voices ere the h!cSough of the
inebriStes, the gable of fools, and the
song Of the drunkards.
In another part Of the palace Queen
Vashu is entertaining the princesses OF
Persia at banquet. Drunken Ahasuerus
says to his servants: "You go out
and fetch VAshti from that banquet with
the women, and bring her to this ban.
quet with the men, and let me displsy he1
beauty" The servants Immediately
start 10 obey the Kings command; but
there WAS a rule in Oriental society that
no woman might appear in public with
out having her face yelled. Yet here was
s mandate that no one dare dispute, de.
handing thut Veshti come In unveiled
before the multitude. However, there
was in Vssht's soul a priuciple
more regal than Ahasuerus,
more brilliant than the gold
of ShushGn, of more wealth than herealm
Cf Persia, which commanded her to DISC
hey this order of theIKing; and so all the
righteousness, and holiness, and modesty
of her nature rises up into one sublime
refusal. She says: "I will not go into
the banquet unveiled" or course, Aha
sueIus was infuriate, and Vashti, robbed
Of her position and her estate, is driven
forth in poverty and ruin to suffer the
scorn Of a nation, and yet to receive the
applause Of after generations who shall
rise up to admire this
MARTYR TO KINGLY NsoLRNCE.
Well, the last vestige of that feast is
gone; the last garland hss faded; the last
arch has fallen; the last taDkard has been
destroyed, and Shushan is q ruin; but as
long as the world stands there will be
muliitudes Of men and women, familiar
with the Bible, who will come into this
picture gallery OF God and admire the
Divine portrait OF Vsshh the queen,
Vashu the yelled, Ysshti the sacrifice,
Vsshti the silent.
In the first place, l wasn't you to look
upob Ysshii the Queen. A blue ribbon,
rsyed with white, drawn around her fore
head, indicated her queenly position. II
WAS no small honor 10 be Queen in such q
realm as that. Hark to the rustic of her
robesl See the blaze Of her jewels! And
vet, my friends, it is not necessary to
have palace snd regal robe in order to be
queenly. When I see q woman with
stout faith in God, putting her foot
upon all mesnness, and selfshness,
and goddess display. going right