The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1889-06-27

ing, and cali her a May queen. or to comb
out the tangled locks OF a waif Of the street
out for the sanctuary-do it, and do it right
away. Whether it be a crown or q yoke. do
not fdget. Everlasting honors upon those
who do their work, and do their whole work,
and are coAtented in the sphere in which God
has put them; while there is only wand eriIg,
and exile, and desolation. and wilderness for
disconnected Hagar ana Ishmael.
Again, l find in this Oriental scene q lesson
ofsympathy with woman when she goes forth
trudging in the desert. What q great change
it a for this Hagar. There was the tent
and all the surroundings ofAbraham' 3 house,
beautiful and luxurious, no doubt. Now she
is going out into the hot sands of the desert.
o, what q changeit was! And in our day we
often seethe wheel of fortune turn. Here is
some one who lived in the very bright home
Of her father. She q everything possible
to administer to her happiness. Plenty ut
the table. Music in the drawing-room. Wei
come at the door. She is led forth into life
dissipated soul comes and takes her out in
the desert. lniquities blot out all the lights
Of that home circle. Harsh words wear out
her spirits. The high hope that shown out
over the marriage altar while the ring was
being set and the VOWS given and the bene-
diction pronounced, have all faded with the
orange blossoms, and there she il to-day,
broken-hearted, thinking of past joy and
present desolation and coming anguish.
Hagar in the wilderness!
Here is q beautiful home. You can not
think of anything that con be added to it.
For years there has not been the suggestion
OF q single trouble. Bright and happy chill
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 1utter. Eyes close. And the
foot whose we'll known step on the door-sill
brought the whole household out at even
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
street in the early light of the morning. pale
with exhausting work. not halt slept out with
the slumbers of last night, tragedies of suffer-
ing written all over her face, her lusterless
eyes looking far ahead as though for the
coming of som other trouble? Her parents
called her Mary, or Bertha. or Agnes on the
day when they held her up to the fount, and
the Christian minister sprinkled on the in
fant's face the washings of holy baptism.
Her name is changed O " l hear it in the
shuttle of the WORKOUT shoes. see it in the
figure of the faded calico. l find it in the
lineaments Of the woe begone countenance.
No Mary, nor Bertha, nor Agnes, but Hagar
in the wilderness. May God have mercy up
on women in her tolls, her struggles, her
hardships, her d~esolation, and may the great
heart of divine sympathy inclose her forever.
Again: I find in this Oriental scene the
fact that every mother leads forth tremend-
GUS destinies. You say: THAT isn't on un-
or, al cnono a nathan loo Iip~ how obs1J hy
the hand" Who is it that she is leading?
Ishmael, you say. Who is Ishmael? A great
nation is to be founded; a nation SO strong
that it is to stand for thousands of years
against all the armies Of the world. Egypt
! and Assyria thundered against it.; but in
army is smitten. Alexander decides upon a
campaign, brings up his hosts and dies. For
a long while hat nation monopolizes 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 that she was leading forth such
destinies. Neither does any mother. You
pass along the street and see boys and girls
who will yet make the earth quake with
their influence. Who is that boy at Sutton
Pool, Plymouth, England, barefooted, wad-
ing down into the slush and slime, until his
bare foot comes upon q piece OF glass and he
lifts it, bleeding and pain struck? That
IL Ul1O lOOOu IN UAdU A0 UC oCucu-
tury in his life, decides that he be q student.
That wound by the glass in the food decides
that he shall be John Kitto, who shall pro-
vide tho best religious encyclopedia the world
has ever had provided, and, with his other
writings as we'll, throwing a light upon the
Word of God such as has come from no 9TH
er man in this century. o mother, mother,
that little hand t~hatwanders over your face
may yet be lifted to hurl thunderbolts of wal
or drop benedictions. That little voice may
blaspheme God in the grog shop or cry "For.
ward!" to the Lords hosts as they go out
for their last victory.
My mind to-day leaps thirty yours ahead,
and ] see q merchant prince of New York.
One stroke OF his pen brings a ship out of
Canton. Another stroke Of his pen brings O
ship into Madras. He is mighty in all the
money markets Of the world. Who is he?
He sits to-day beside you in the Tabernacle.
Ny mind leaps thirty years forward from
citation. A great multitude of Christian
ome have met together for a general pur-
pose. There is one woman in that crowd
who seems to have the confidence of all the
others, and they all look up to her counsel
and for her prayers. Who is she? To-day
the teacher tells her of that Christ who
clothed the naked and fed the hungry and
healed the sick. My mind leaps forward thir.
ty years now, and I find myself in an African
jungle; and there is a missionary at the ross
addressing the natives, and their dusky
countenances are irradiated with the glad
tidings Of great Joy and salvation. Who is
first song of the service? My mind leaps for
ward thirty years from now, and I find my
self looking through the wickets Of prison.
/ see a face SCARED with every crime. His
| chin on his open palm, his elbow on his
| knee-a picture OF despair. As I open the
x,;cl,a% he ~ orko on1 T hnov hso ,hosn oIo,l>
| The Jail keeper tells me that he has been in
there now three times. First for theft, then
tor arson. now for murder. He steps upon
the trap door, the rope is fastened to his
neck, the plank falls, his body swings. into
the air, his soul swings into eternity. Who
on the city commons. Mother. You are to-
day hosting a throne or forging q chain
you are kindling astar or digging q dungeon.
A good many years ago q Christian moth
or sat teaching lessons Of religion to her
child, and he drank in those lessons. She
and establish the Fulton street prayer meet
ing, and by one meeting revolutionize the
devotions of the whole earth and thrill the
eternities with his Christian influence. Lam
phier said it was his mother who brought
him to Jesus Christ. She never had an idea
But, oh, when I see a mother reckless OF her
influence, rafting on toward destruction,
garlanded for the sucri6ce with unseemly
mirth and godlessness, gayly tripping on
down to ruin, taking her children in the
same direction, I can no help but say:
There they. go, there they go--Hagar and
Ishmaell" ! tell you there are wilder deserts
than Beer-sheba in many of the domestic
circles OF this day. Dissipated parents lead
ing ~dissipated children. Avaricious parents
leading avaricious children. Prayerless par
ents leading prayerless children. They go
through every street, up every dark alley, in:
and Ishmaall and while I nrnnounca their