Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-10-09
,ut that also was a failure Then he saws;

|
or blandishment ought to make you step
over it. Suppose man has been brought
up in Christian household and taught
sacredly to observe the Sabbath. Sunday
comes; you want fresh air. Temptation
says, Sunday is just like other days: now
don't be bigoted; we will ride forth among
the works of God; the whole earth is his
temple; we will not go into any dissIpatiops;
come, now, Ihave the carriage engaged
and we shall be back soon enough to go to
church in the evening; don't yield to Puri-
tanic notions; you will be no worse for a
ride in the country; the blossoms are out
and they say everything is looking glo-
rious." "Well, i will go to please you, is
the response. Ard out they go over the
stree&scoDscience drowned in the clatter of
the swift hoofs aud the rush of the resouud-
ing wheels. The tempted man may have
had moral character enough to break the
greeu withes of ten thousand Philistine
allurements, but he has been overcome by
coaxing.
Two young men passing down this street
come opposite a drinking saloon with a red
lantern hung out from the door to light
men to perdition. ''Let us go ip," says
one. mo, WON'T" says the other; 81
never go to such places" "Now you don't
say you are as weak as that. Why, have
been going there for two years and it hasn't
hurt me. Come, come now, be man. If
you can't stand anything stronger, take a
little sherry. You need to see the world as
il is. I don't believe in intemperance any
more than you. l can stop drinking just
when l want to. You shall go. Now, come
right along" Persuasion has conquered
Samson yields to the coaxing and there is
carnival in hell that night among the Phil
istines and they shout, "Ha! ha! We've got
him. Those who have the kindest and
most sympathetic natures are the most IN
danger. Your very disposition to please
Others will be the very trap they set. If
you were cold and harsh and severe Q in your
nature you would not be tampered with.
People never fondle hedgehog. The
most sentimental Greclander never kisses
an iceberg. The warmth and susceptibility
of your nature will encourage the siren
Though strong as giant, look out for
Deliah's scissors. Samson, the strongest
man who ever lived, was overcome by coax.
ing.
Again this narrative teaches us the power
Of an ill disposed woman. To the portrait
gallery of Bible queens we find Abigail and
Ruth and Miriam and Vashti and Deborah,
but in the rogues' gallery of a police sta
ton you find the pictures of women as we'll
as men. Delilah's cture belongs to the
rogues' gallery, but she had more power
than all Philistia armed with sword and
spear. She could carry off the iron gates
of Samson's resolution as easily as he
shouldered the gates of GAIA. The force
ethat had killed the lion which one day
plunged out fierce from the thicket utterly
succumbs to the silken net which Delilah
weaves for the giant. He who had driven
| N r,,,ry in, riotouo rotrAat uith ha h1oo oh
ed jaw bone, shifting them hip and thigh
with great slaughter, now falls captive at
the feet of an unworthy woman. Delilah
in the Bible stands in the memorable COM
pany of Adah, and Zillah, and Bathsheba,
and JezebeI, and Athaliab, and Herodias.
How deplorable the influence of such In
contrast with Rebecca and Phebe and HUI
dab and Tryphona and Jephtha's daughter
and Mary, the mother of Jesus. While the
latter glitter in the armament of Gods
word like considerations with steady, cheer
full, holy light, the former shoot like baleful
meteors across the terrified heavens. omi
nous of war, disaster and death. If there
is divine power in the good mother, her
face bright with purity, an unselfish love
beaming from her eye, gentleness that
by pangs and sufferings and holy anxieties
has been mellowing and softening for many
year, uttering itself in every syllable, a
dignity that cannot be dethroned united
with the playfulness that will not be check
ed, her hand the charm that will Instantly
take pain out of the child's worst wound
her presence perpetual beuediction, her
name our defence when we are tempted,
her memory an Outgushing we'll of tears
and congratulation and thanksgiving, her
heaven a palm waving and coronal; then
there is just as great an irfluence in the op.
posite direction in the bad mother, her
brow beclouded with ungoverned passion,
her eye flashing with unsanctified fire, her
lips the fountain OF fretfulness and de-
pravity, her example mildew and a blast
ing, her name disgrace to coming geuera-
tions, her memory signal for bltterest
anathema, her eternity whirlwind and
suffocation and darkness. One wrong
headed, wrong-t earted mother may ruin
one child, and that one child, grown up,
may destroy hundred people and the hun
dred blast thousand, and the thousand a
million. The wife's sphere is a realm of
honor aud power almost Unlimited. What
blessing was Sarah to Abraham, was De-
borah to Lapidoth, was Zipporah to Moses
was Huldah to Shallum.
There are multitudes of men in the marts
of trade whose fortunes have been the re-
suit of wife's frugality. Four hands have
been achieving that estate, two at the store,
two at the home. The burdens of life are
comparatively light when there are other
hands to help us lift them. The greatest
difficulties have often slunk away because
there were four eyes to look them out of
countenance. What care you for the hard
knocks in the world as long as you have a
bright domestic circle for harbor! One
cheerful word in the evening tide as you
come in has silenced the clamor of unpaid
notes aud the disappointment of poor in
vestments. Your table may bs quite fru
gally spread, but it seems more beautiful to
you than many tables that smoke with ven-
ison and blush with Burgundy. Peace
meets you at the door, sits beside you at the
table, lights up the evening stand, aud
sings il the nursery. You have seen an
aged couple who FOR scores of years have
helped each other on in life's pilgrimage,
going down the steep of years. Long asso-
citation has made them much alike. They
rejolced at the same advent, they bent over
the some cradle, they wept at the same
grave. In the evening they sit quietly
thinking of the past-mother knitting at
the stand, father in his arm chair at the
| fire.
| Now and then grandchild comes and
they look at him with affection untold and
come well nigh spelling him with kindness.
The life currents beat feebly in their pulses
and their work will soon be done and the
Master will call. A few short days may
separate them, but, not far apart in time of
departure, they join each other on the other
side the flood. Side by side let Jacob and
Rachel be buried. Let one willow overarch
their graves. Let their tombstone stand
alike marked with the same Scripture.
s ~ Ill =,
| the spring time to bring flowers. The pa
triarchs of the town will come and drop a
tear over departed worth. Side by side at
the marriage altar. Side by side in the
long journey. Side by side in their graves.
After life's fitful fever they slept well.
But there are. as my subject suggests, do
mestic scenes not SO tranquil. What a
curse to Job and Potiphar were their COM
pauions, to Ahab was Jezebel, to Jehoram
was Athaliah, to John Wesley, was Mrs,
Wesley, to Samson was Delilah. While