St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-07-28

T hold life u horror, Ceatn Is repOSe. w Hdt
/ have suffered the last twenty days is be-
yond human comprehension"
While, on the other hand, to show how
one may be happy amid the most disad-S'
yantageous circumstances, just after the
Ocean Monarch had been wrecked in the
English channel, steamer was cruising
along in the darkness, when the captain
heard a song, q sweet song, coming over
the water, and he bore down towards that
voice, and found it was Christian woman
on plank Of the wrecked steamer. sing
ing to the tune Of st Martins"
"Jesus lover Of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom Gy.
While the pillows near me roll,
While the tempest still 10 high"
The heart right toward God and man, we
are happy. The heart wrong toward God
and man, we are unhappy. .
Another reason why we should come to
this spirit inculcated in the text is the fact
that all the differences of earthly condition
are transitory. The houses you build, the
land you cultivate, the places in which you
barter, are soon to 60 into other hands:
However hard you may have it now, II yon
are Christial the scene will soon enc
Pain, trial, persecution never knock at the
door of the grave A coffin made out OF
pine boards is just as good resting place
as one made out OF silver mounted ma
hogany or rosewood.
Go down among the resting-places OF the
dead, and you will find that though people
there had great difference of worldly cir
cumstances, now they are all alike uncon-
scious. The hand that greeted the Senator,
and the President, and the King is still as
the hand that hardened on the mechanics
hammer or the manufacturers wheel. 1t
does not make any difference now whether
there is q plain stone above them from
which the traveller pulls aside the weeds
to read the name, or tall shaft springing
into the heavens as though to tell their
virtues to the Skies
In that silent land there are no titles for
great men, and there are no rumblings OF
chariot wheels and there is never heard
the foot of the dance. The Egyptian guano
which is thrown on the fields in the East
for the enrichment of the son is the dust
raked out from the sepulchers of Kings
and Lords and mighty men. Oh, the cha
grin Of those men if they had ever known
that in the after ages of the world they
would have been called Egyptian guano.
OF how much worth now is the crown Of
CDsara Who bids for it? Who cares now
any thing about the Amphictyonic coun-
Gil or the laws Of Lycur.us? Who trembles
now because Xerxes crossed the HelleS-
pent on bridge of boatsl Who fears be-
cause ACKNOWLEDGMENT thunders at the
gates of Jerusalems Who cares now
whether or not Cleopatra marries Antony3
Who crouches before Ferdinand, or Boni-
face, or Alarica Can Cromwell dissolve
the English Parli ment nows Is William,
Prince of Orange, King of the Netherlands
No, no! However much Elizabeth may
love the Russian crown, she must pass it
to Peter, and Peter to Catherine, and
Catherine to Paul, and Paul to Alexander,
and Alexander to Nicholas. Leopold puts
the German scepter into the hand of 10
seph, and Philip comes down of the Span
ish throne to let Ferdinand go on House
of Aragon, house Of Hapsburg, house of
Stuart, house of Bourbon, quarreling
about every thing else, but agreeing in
this: 'fhe fashion of this world passeth
away y
But have all these dignitarles gomez Can
they not be called backa ] have been in
assemblages where ! have heard the roll
called, and many distinguished men have
answered II should call the roll to-day
OF some OF those mighty ones who have
gone wonder if they would not aHswera
the Kings first: Alfred the Great! Will
lam the Censueror! Frederick II. | Louis
XVII No answer. I will call the roll of
the poets. Robert Southeyl Thomas
Campbelll John Keats! George Crabbef
Robert Burnsl Ne answer. call the roll
of artists: Michael Ange1oi Paul Veron-
csc! William Turner! Christopher Wrena
No aRsver. Eyes closed. Ears deaf. Lips
silent. Hands pa.sied. Scepter, pencil,
pen, sword, put down forever. Why
SHOULD we struggle for such baublesa
Another reason why we should culture
this spirit Of cheerfulness is the fact that
God knows what is best for His creatures.
You know what Is best for your child. He
thinks you are not as liberal with him as
you ought to b.. He criticises your dis
c;pline, but you look over the whole field,
and you, loving that child, de what in ysur
deliberate Judgment is best for him. Now,
God is the best of fathers. Sometimes His
children think that He is hasd on them,
and that He is not as liberal with them as
He might be- But children do not know a.
much az father. / can tell you why you
are not largely afnuent, and why you have
not been grandlY successful. It is because
you can not stand the temptation.
II your path had been smooth, you would
have depended upon your own surefooted-
ness; but God roughened that p tn, so you
have to take hold Of His hand. II the
weather had been mild, you would have
ioitered along the water courses, but at
the first howl Of the storm you quickened
your pace Heavenward and wrapped
around you the warm robe Of 9 saviour's
righteousness. What have doneW says
the wheat-sheaf to the farmer, what have
/ done that you beat me SO hard with your
fiailan The farmer makes no answer, but
the rake takes off the straw, and the mill
blows the chaf to the wind, and the golden
grain falls down at the foot Of the wind
mill. After awhile, the straw, looking
down from the NOW upon the golden grain
banked up on either side the floor, under
stands why the farmer beat the wheat
sheaf with the fail
Who are those before the thronea The
answer came. "These are they who, out
Of great tribulation, had their robes
washed and made white in the blood OF the
LIANT" Would to God that we could under
stand that our trials are the very best
thing for u.s. 1--WE had an appreciation Of
that truth, then we should know why it
was that John Noyra, the martyr, in the
very midst of the fame, reached deWn and
picked up one Of tho fagots that was con-
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