The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1888-09-13

she succeeded. Coming TO the foot of
the hill she knelt David, with his army
of sworn men, came down over tie cliffs,
and when he saw her kneeling at the foot
of the hill he cried Hiatt" to his men,
and the caves echoed it .eHalt,
halt!' That one beautiful woman
knceling at the foot of the cliff
had arrested all those armed troops. 4
dew drop dashed back Niagara The
Bible sets before us the portraits of Sarah
and Rebecca, and Abishas, Absalom'A +
sister, and Jobs daughters, and SAYS:
They were fair to look upon" BY
out door exercise and by skillful ar
rangement of apparel, let women make
themselves attractive. The sloven has
only one mission, and that to excite our
loathing and disgust. But alas! for those
who depend upon personal charms for
their happiness. Beauty is such subtle
thing, 1t does not seem to depend upon
facial proportions, OF upon the sparkle of
the eye, OF upon the flush of the cheek.
You sometimes find it among irregular
features. 1t is the soul shining through
the face that makes one beautiful. But
alas! for those who depend upon mere
personal charms. They will come to dis
appointment and to q great fret. There
are SO many different opinions about
what are personal charms; and then sick
ness, and trouble, and age, do make such
ravages. The poorest god that a woman
ever worships is her own face. The sad
dest sight in all the world is 4 woman
who has built everything Oh good looks,
when the charms begin to vanish. Oh,
how they try to cover the wrinkles and
hide the ravages of time. When Time,
with iron shod feet, steps on a face, the
hoof marks remain, and you cannot hide
them. 1t is silly to try to hide them. I
think the must repulsive fool i'll all the
world is an old fool!
Why. my friends, should YOU be
! ashamed to be getting old? 1t is q sign
it is prima facie evidence that you have
behaved tolerably we'll or you would not
have lived to this time. The grandest
thing, think, is eternity. and that is
made up Of countless years. When the
Bible would set forth the attractiveness
Of Jesus Christ, it says: His hair was
white as snow But when the color
goes from The check, and the llster from
| the eye. and the spring from the step,
| and the gracefulness from the gait,
alas! for those who have built their
time and their eternity upon
| good looks. But all the passage
of years cannot take out of ones face
benignity and kindness, and compassion
and faith Culture your heart and you
culture your face. The brightest glory
that ever bcamcd from Il woman's face is
the religion of Jesus Christ. In the last
war two hundred wounded soldiers came
to Philadelphia one night, and CAME ull-
heralded, and they had to extemporize a
| hospital for them. and the Christia
women of my church and of other
churches went out that night to take care
of the poor wounded fellows. That
night I saw a Christian woman go
through the wards of the hospital, her
sleeves rolled up ready for hard work
her hair dishevelcd in the excitement
of the hour. Her face was plain, very
plain; but after the wounds were
washed and the new bandages were
put round the splintered limbs, and
the exhausted boy fell off into his first
pleasant sleep. she put her hand on his
brow, and he started in his dream and
said: ''Oh, | thought an angel touched
me- There may have been no classic
elegance in the features of Mrs. Harris.
who came into the hospital after the
Seven Days awful fight. as she sat
down by wounded drummer boy and
heard him soliloquize: "A ball through
my body, and my poor mother will never
again see her boy. What pity it is!
Ard she leaned over him and said
'.Shall | be your mother and comfort
you:" And he looked up and said
Yes, I'll try to think she's here. Please
to write a long letter to her and
tell her all about it, and send
But would like to have you tell her how
much sutfered-yes. would like you
to do that. for she would feel so for me.
Hold my hand while die. There may
have been no classic elegance in hc1
features, but all the hospitals of Harri
son s Landing and Fortress Monroe would
have agreed that she was beautiful: and
if any rough man in ell that ward had
insulted her. some wounded soldier
would have leaped from lis couch on hi:
best foot and struck him dead with g
crutch.
| Again: | advise you not to dc pend fol
happiness upon the batteries of mon. L
is a poor compliment to your sex that St
many men feel Obliged in your presence
to offer unmeaning compliments. MeT
capable of elegant and elaborate conver
sation elsewhere, sometimes feel called
upon at the door of the drawing room tt
drop their common sense and to dole on
sickening batteries. They say thing
about your dress, and about your ap
u l-To0 ov,1 %Int
are false. They say you are an angel
You know YOU are not. Determined Il
tell the truth in office, and store ant
shop. they consider it honorable to lie Il
q woman. The same thing that the,
told you on this side of the drawing
room three minutes ago they said to SOM
one on the other side of the drawing
room. Oh, let no one trample on you
self respect. The meanest thing Oh
which a woman can build her happineS
IS the batteries of men.
Again: charge you not to depend 70
happiness upon the discipleship OF world
illness. | have seen men aS vain of thei
oldfashioned and their eccentric hat a
your brainless fop is proud of his dang
ling fooleries. Fashion sometimes make
a reasonable demand Of us, and then w
ought to weld to il. The daisies Of tn
field have their fashion of color and leaf
, the honeysuckles have their fashion O
car drop; and the snow1akes flung on
Of the winter heavens have their fashicl
, of exquisiteness. After the summe
shower the sky weds the earth with rim
: of rainbow And | do not think W
have i RIGHT 70 de~~jse the ele----ncie=s 2n