The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-02-06


only the glidings of an autumnal sun
set, as though the peal of the trumpet
were only the harmony of an orchestra,
as though the awful voices of the sky
were but a group of friends bursting
through a gateway at eventime with
laughter, and shouting ''Dorcas, the
disciple!' Would God that every Mary
and every Martha would this day sit
down at the feet of Jesus!
Further, we see Dorcas the benefac-
tress. History has told the story of the
crown; the epic poet has sung of the
sword; the pastoral poet, with his verses
full of the redolence of clover tops, and
rustic with the silk of the corn, has
sung the praises of the pillow. tell you
the praises of the needle. From the fig
leaf robe prepared in the garden of
Eden to the last stitch taken on the
garment for the poor, the needle has
wrought wonders of kindness, generos-
1ty and benefaction. 1t adorned the
girdle of the high priest; it fashioned
the curtains in the ancient tabernacle;
1t cushioned the chariotS of King Sol
ONION; it provided the robes of Queen
Elizabeth; and in high places and in
low places, by the fire of the pioneers
back log and under the flash of the
chandelier, everywhere, it has clothed
nakedness. 1t has preached the Cos
pei, 1t has overcome hosts of penury and
want with the war cry of ''Stitch,
stitch, stitch!' The operatives 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 1 set down the conquest is
of the needle. l admit its crimes; l ad-
nit its cruelties. 1t has had more mar
tyrs 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 suffering into crime and
wretchedness and 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 representative of all those women
who make garments for the destitute,
who knit socks for the barefooted, who
prepare bandages for the lacerated, who
Tx 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
beneyolence of this woman and great
deal of the charity of to-day! This wom-
an did not spend her time idly plan
ming how the poor of your city of Joppa
were to be relieved; she took her needle
and relieved them. She was not like
those persons who sympathize with i'm
aginary 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
howlingP The sufferers of the world
want not SO much theology as practice;
not so much tears as dollars; not SO much
kind wishes as loaves of bread; not SO
much GOD bless yous!" as jackets and
frocks. | will put one earnest Chris
tan man, Woodworking, against FIVE
thousand mere theorists on the subject
of charity. There are great many who
have fine ideas about church architect
ure who never in their life helped to
build church. There are men who can
give, you the history of Buddhism and
who never spent a !
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.
am glad that there is not a page of
the worlds history which is not record
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, tho
wife of Louis VIII. of France, hearing
that there were some persons uniustly
in the prisons, went out
amidst the rabble and took a stick and
struck the door as a signal that thew
night all strike it, and down went the
prison door and out came the prisoners.
queen Maud, the wife of Henry T., went
Town amidst the poor and washed their
iores and administered to them cordials.
Mrs. Retson, at Matagorda, appeared on
he battlefield while the missiles of
leath were flying around, and cared
or the wounded. Is there a man or
woman who has ever heard of the civil
var in America who has not heard of
he women of the sanitary and Christian
or the fact that, before the
moke had gone up from Gettysburg and
south Mountain, the women of the North
net the women of the South on the bat
lefeld, forgetting all their animosities
While they bound up the wounded, and
losed the eyes of the slain. Dorcas,
he benefactress.
come now to speak of Doreas the Ia
aented. When death struck down that
God woman, oh, how much sorrow there
7as in this town of Joppa! l suppose
here were women here with larger
OrtuneS: women OerhanS with bood