The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1889-12-05

garden OF Eden 10 the last stitch taken on
the garment for the poor, the needle has
wrought wonders of kindness, gener-
osity and benefaction. It adorned
the girdle of the high priest; it fash
ioned the curtains In the ancient taber-
nacle; 1t cushioned the chariots of
King Solomon; it provided the robes
of Queen Elizabeth; and in high places
and i'll low places, by the fire of the
pioneers back log and under the flash
of the chandelier, everywhere, it has
clothed nakedness, it has preached the
Gospel, it has overcome hosts of pen
ury and want with the war cry of
Stitch, stitch, stitchP' The opera
tives have found livelihood by it.
and through it the mansions OF the
employer have been constructed.
Amidst the greatest triumphs in all
ages and lands, | set down the con-
quests of the needle. / admit its
crimes; l admit its cruelties. 1t has
had more martyrs than the fire; it has
punctured the eye; it has pierced the
side; it has struck weakness into the
lungs; it has sent madness into the
brain; it has filled the potter's field; it
has pitched whole armies of the suffer-
woe. But now that | am talking of
Dorcas and her ministries TO the poor.
shall speak only of the charities of
the needle
This woman was a representative of
all those women who make garments
for the destitute. who knit socks for
the barefooted, who prepsne bandages
for the lacerated, who FIX up boxes of
clothing for missionaries, who go
into the asylums of the suffering and
destitute bearing that Gospel which is
sight for the blind, and hearing for the
deaf, and which makes the lame man
leap like hart, and brings the dead
to life, immortal health bounding in
their pulses. What contrast between
the practical benevolence of this
woman and a great deal of the charity
of this day This woman did not spend
her time idly planning how the poor
of your city of Joppa were to be re-
lieved; she took her needle and re-
lieved them. She was not like those
persons who sympathize with imagi-
nary sorrows, and go out in the street
and laugh at the boy who has upset
his basket of cold victuals, or like that
charity which makes rousing speech
on the benevolent platform, and goes
out to kick the beggar from the step,
crying: Hush your miserable howl
ingW The sufferers of the world want
not SO much theory as practice; not so
much tears as dollars; not so much
kind wishes as loaves of bread not SO
much smiles as shoes; not so much
God bless yous /" as jackets and frocks.
l will put one earnest Christian man,
hard working, against five thousand
mere theorists on the subject of char
lty. There are great many who have
fine ideas about church architecture
who never in their life helped to build
q church. There are men who can
give you the history of Buddhism and
Mohammedanism, who never sent
farthing for their evangelization.
There are women who talk beautifully
about the suffering of the world, who
never had the courage like Dorcas to
take the needle and assault it.
DISCIPLES OF DoRCAs
am glad that there is not page of
the worlds history which is not rec
ord of female benevolence. God says
to all lands and people, Come now and
hear the widows mite rattle down into
the poor box. The princess of Cont
sold all her jewels that she might help
the famine stricken. Queen Blanche,
the wife of Louis VIII, of France,
hearing that there were some persons
unjustly incarcerated in the prisons,
went out amidst the rabble and took q
stick and struck the door as signal
that they might all strike it, and down .
went the prison door and out came
the prisoners. Queen Maud, the wife
of Henry l, went down amidst the
poor and washed their sores and ad-
ministered to them cordials. Mrs.
Retson, at Matagorda, appeared ON the
battlefield while the missiles of death
We're flying around, and cared for the
wounded. Is there man or woman
who has ever heard of the civil war in
| America who has not heard of the
women of the Sanitary and Chris
| tan commissions, or the fact that,
before the smoke had gone up
from Gettysburg and South Noun
tain, the women of the north
met the women of the south on the
battlefield, forgetting all their animos-
| tiles while they bound up the wound
| ed, and closed the eyes of the slain9
| Dorcas the benefactress
| come now to speak of Dorcas the
| lamented. When death struck down
! that good woman, oh, how much sor-
row there was in this town of Joppai
suppose there were women here with
| larger fortunes; women, perhaps,
with handsomer faces; but there was
no grief at their departure like this at
| the death of Dorcas. There was not
more turmoil and upturning in the
Mediterranean sea, dashing against
were surgings TO and fro of grief be-
cause Dorcas was dead. There are a
great many who go out of life and are
1nmissed. There may be very large
| funeral; there may be great many
| carriages and piumed hearse; there
may be high sounding eulogiums; the
| bell may toll at the cemetery gate;
there may be very fine marble shaft
reared over the resting place; but the
whole thing may be falsehood and
| sham. The church of God has lost
nothing, the world has lost nothing.
| 1t is only nuisance abated, it is only
a grumbler ceasing to find fault; it is
| only an idler stopped yawning; it is
| a
from his wine cellar; while, ON the
/ other hand, no useful Christian leaves
this world without being missed. The
| church of God cries out like the
| prophet: Howl, fir tree, for the cedar
! has fallen" Widowhood comes and
shows the garments which the departed
had made Orphans are lifted up to
look into the calm face of the sleep
ing benefactreSs. Reclaimed vagrancy
| comes and kisses the cold brow of her
! who charmed it away from sin, and
all through the streets of Joppa there
is mourning-mournin because Dor
| cas- is dead
THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM.
when Josephine of France was car
rice out To her grave, there were a
great many men and women OF pomp
and pride and position that went out
after her; but | am most affected by
the story of history that ON that day
there were ten thousand of the poor OF
France who followed her coffin, weep
ing and wailing until the air rang
agaia, because, when they lost Joseph
inc, they lost their last earthly friend.
Oh, who would not rather have such
obseauies than all-the tears that were
ever poured in the lachrymals that
have been exhumed from ancient cit
les. There may be no mass for the
dead; there may be no costly sarcopha-
gus; there may be no elaborate mauso-
ieum; but in the damp cellars of the
city, and through the lonely huts OF
4 ~ L.