The Russellville Democrat. [volume] (Russellville, Ark.) 1875-1898, 1888-05-31

| exposure 10 which Rnfh was subjected,
every intelligent woman Will find some-
| thing 10 do.
/ know there is sickly sentimentality
| on this subject. In some families there
are persons Of no practical service to tbs
! household or community; and though
| there ars so many woes all around about
| them in the VOL, they spend their time
| lnnguishing over d new pattern, or burst
| ing into tears at midnight over the story
Of some lover who shot himself. They
| would not deign to look at Ruth carrying
back the barley on her way home to her
mother in law, Naomi. All this fastidi-
BUSINESS may seem to do very we'll while
| they are under the shelter of their Ia
| theirs house; but when the sharp winter
OF misfortune comes, what OF these but
| terfies? Persons under indulgent parent
age may get upon themselves habits OF
| Incidence; but when they come ont into
| practical life their soul will recoil with
disgust and chagrin. They will feel in
their hearts what the poet so severely sa-
| tried when he said:
Folks are so awkard, things so impolte,
They're elegantly panied from morning until
/ night.
Through that gate Of Incidence how
many men and women have marched,
useless on earth. TO q destroyed eternity J
| Spinola said to Sir Horace Vere
| "Of what did your brother die?"
| "Of having nothing to do" was the an
swer.
"Ah," said spinola, sithat's enough to
| kill any General OF u.s."
| OH can il be possible in this worla,
where there is so much suffering to be al
| leviated, so much darkness to be en-
| lightened, and so many burdens to be
| carried, that there is any person who can
not find any thing to dos
| Nine de Stael did a world of work in
her time; and, one day, while she was
| seated amid instruments of music, all OF
which she hao mastered, and amid manu-
| script books which she had written, some
one said to her:
GLOW do you find time to attend 10 all
| these things?"
| ooh. she replied, ''these ars not the
things am proud Of My chief boast is
in the fact that | have seventeen trades,
| by any one of which could make II liveh-
| hood If necessary"
| And If in secular spheres tfcra is so
much to be done, in spiritual work how
vast the field! We want more Abigails,
more Hannahs, more Rebeccns, more
Marys, more Deborahs consecrated--
| body, mind, soul--to the Lord who bought
| them.
| Once more: learn from my subject the
| value of gleanings. Ruth going into.t that
| harvest field might have said:
| There is q straw, and there is q straw,
| but what is straw? l can't get any bar
| ley for myself or my mother in law out OF
| these separate straws."
Ma CO eaiJ haut1fifnl Rr1tb She path-
| cred two straws, and put them together,
| ard more straws, until she got enough to
| make a sheaf. Putting that down, she
| went and gathered more straws, until she
| had another sheaf, and another, and an
| other, and another, and then she brought
| them all together, and she threshed them
| out, and she had an ephah of barley,
| nigh bushel. Oh, that we might all be
| cleaners!
| Elihu Burritt learned many things while
| toiling in blacksmith's shop. Aber-
! crombie, the world renowned philosopher,
| was q philosopher in Scotland, and he got
| his philosophy, or the chief part of 1t,
| while, as physician, he was waiting for
| the door of the sick room to open. Yet
| how many there are in this day who say
| they are so busy they have no time for
| mental or spiritual Improvements; the
| great duties of life cross the field like
! strong reapers and carry off all the hours,
| and there is only here and there frag-
ment left that is not worth cleaning. All,
my friends, you could go into the busiest
| day and busiest week of your life and find
| golden opportunities, which, gathered,
might at least make whole sheaf for the
| Lords garner. Itis the stray opportuni-
ties and the stray privileges which, taken
up and bound together and beaten out,
will at last fill you with Astounding joy.
| There are few moments left worth tho
| cleaning. Now, Ruth. to the field! May
each one have u measure full and run
ming over! Oh, you cleaners, to the field
| And if there be in your household an
| aged one or sick relative that is not
| strong enough to come forth and toll in
this field, then let Ruth take home to
| feeble Naomi this sheaf of cleaning:
| He that goeth forth and weepcth, bearing
| precious seed, shall doubtless come again with
| rejoicing, bringing his sheayes with him.
| May the Lord God of Ruth and Naomi
| be our portion forever!
/ . -