Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-28

some of those who are in it were out of
it. really think that one-half OF the
, world may be divided into o-9uarters
. those who have not found then
sphere, and those who, having found 1t,
are not willing to stay there. How
many are struggling for position a
little higher than that for which God
; intended them. The bondswoman wants
to be mistress. Hagar keeps crowding
which beautifully went treading its
golden pathway, wants to be the balance
wheel, and the sparrow, with chagrin,
drops into the brook, because it cannot.
like the eagle, cut circle under the
sun. In the Lords army we all want to
be brigadier generals. The sloop says:
More mast more tonnage; more canvas.
o, that were topsail schooner, of q
full rugged brig, or Cunard steamer. y
And so the world is filled with cries of
discomfort, because we are not willing
to stay in the place where God put us
and intended us to be. My friends, be
not proud to do anything God tells you
to do. For the lack of right DISPOSE
ton in this respect the world is strewn
with wandering Hagars and Ishmaels
God has given each one of us work to
do. You carry scuttle of coal up that
dark alley. You distribute that Chris
tian tract. You give ten thousand dol
lars to the missionary cause. You, for
fifteen years sit with chronic rheuma-
tism, displaying the beauty of Christian
submission. Whatever God calls you
to, whether it win kissing or huzza;
whether you walk under triumphal arch
or lift the sot out of the ditch; whether
it be to preach on Pentecost, or tell
some wanderer ofthe street of the mercy
of the Christ of Mary Magdalene;
whether it be tc weave garland for
laughing child on a spring morning,
and call her May queen, or to comb
out the tangled locks of waif of the
street and cut up one ofyour old dresses
and do it right away. Whether it be a
crown or yoke. do not fdget. Ever
lasting honors upon those who do their
work, and do their whole work, and are
contented in the sphere in which God
has put them; while there is only wan
dering. and exile, and desolation, and
Wilderness, for disconnected Hagar and
Ishmael.
Again: l md in this Oriental scene q
lesson of sympathy with woman when
she goes forth trudging in the desert.
| What n great change it was for this
Hagar. There was the tent and all the
surroundings of Abrahams house, beau
| tiful and luxurious no doubt. Now she
| is going out into the hot sands of the
desert. O, what q change it was! And
in our day We often see the wheel of
| fortune turn. Here is some one who
lived in the very bright home OF her
father. She had everything possible to
Administered her happiness. Plenty at
the table. Music in the drawing 10 ON.
Welcome at the door. She is led forth
into life by some one who cannot APP
and takes her out in the desert. Iniqui-
ties. blot out all the lights Of that home
circle. Harsh words wear out her spirits.
| The high hope that shone out over the
marriage altar while the ring was being
set and the VOWS given and the benedic-
ton pronounced, have all faded with
the orange blossoms, and there she is
| to- day, broken hearted, thinking of past
| Joy and present desolation and coming
anguish. Hagar in the wilderness!
Here is o beautiful home. You can
not think of anything that can be added
to it. For years there has not been the
suggestion of single trouble. Bright
and happy children fill the house with
laughter and song. Books to read.
Pictures to look at. Lounges to rest on.
Cup of domestic JOY full and running
over Dark night drops. Pillow hot.
Pulses tiutter. Eyes close. And the
foot whose well-known steps on the
door-sill broug ht the whole household
out at eventide, crying: Fathers COM
ing, will never sound on the door-sill
again. A long, deep grief plowed
through all that lightness of domestic
life. Paradise lost! Widowhood! Hagar
in the wilderness!
How often it is we see the weak arm
of woman conscripted for this battle with
the rough world. Who is she, going
down the street in the early light Of the
morning, pale with exhausting work,
not half slept out with the slumbers of
last night, tragedies of suffering written
all over her face, her lusterless eyes
looking far ahead as though for the
coming of some other trouble? Her
parents called her Mary, or Bertha, or
Agnes on the day when they held her up
to the font. and the Christian minister
sprinkled on the infants face the wash
ings of a holy baptism. Her name is
changed now. 1 hear it in the shuttle of
the worn out shoes. I see it In the
figure of the faded calico. I find it in
the lineaments of the woe begone coun-
tenance. Not Mary, nor Bertha, nor
Agnes, but Hagar in the wilderness.
May God have mercy upon woman in her
tolls. her struggles, her hardships, her
desolation, and may the great heart Of
Divine sympathy inclose her forever.
Again: find in this Oriental scene the
fact that every mother leads forth ire
mendous destinies. You say: THAT
isn't an unusual scene, mother leading
her child by the hand" Who is it that
she is leading? Ishmael, you say. Who
is 1shmael? A g-eat nation is to be
founded; nation so strong that it is to
stand for thousands of years against all
the armies of the world. Egypt and
Assyria thunder against it; but in vain.
Gaulus brings up his army; and his army
is smitten. Alexander decides upon a
campaign, brings up his hosts and dies.
For long while that nation monopo-
Lies the learning Of the world. 1t is
the nation Of the arabs. Who founded
it? Ishmael, the lad that Hagar led into
the wilderness. She had no idea she
was leading forth such destinies.
Neither does any mother. You pass
along the street, and see pass boys and
girls who will yet make the earth quake
with their influence. Who is that boy
at Sutton Pool, Plymouth, England,
barefooted wading down into the slush
Il r1.