Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-11-27

|
through May. June. July. August, Septem- 1
| Der and October What vigil! Painters
have tried to put upon canvas the scene !
aud they succeeded in sketchiDg the hawks |
| in the sky and the panthers crawling out |
| from the jungle, but they fail to give the |
| wanness, the earnestness. the supernatural |
| courage. the infinite self sacrifice of Riz- !
| pah. the mother. A mother in the quiet |
home watching by the casket OF dead
| child for one night eXerts the artist to his |
utmost, but who is sufficient to put upon |
canvas n mother FOR six months OF mid |
| nights guarding her whole family, dead and
gibbetcd. upon the mountains? Go home, |
Kizpah! You must be awfully tired. You
are sacrificing your reason and your life
| for those whom you can never bring back
| again to your bosom. AS l say that,
from the darkest midnight OF the century
| Rizpah turns upon me and cries: GLOW
| dare you tell me to go home? l am "a
mother. am not tired You might as
we'll expect God to get tired as for a mother
to get tired. l cared for those boys when
they lay upon my breast in infancy and l
will not forsake them now that they are
| dead. Interrupt me not. There Stops an
eagle that l must drive back with my
agonized cry. There is panther l must
beat back with my club
Do you know what that scene by our
roadside in Palestine makes me think of?
1t is no unusual scene. Right here in these
three cities by the American sea coast,
there are n thousand cases this moment
worse than that, Mothers watching boys
that the rum saloon. that annex OF hell, has
gibheted In living death. Boys hung in
chains Of evil habit they cannot break
The father may so to sleep after waiting
until twelve clock at night for the ruined
boy to come home and giving it up, he may
say: "Mothcr come TO bed; there's no use
sitting up any longer" But mother will
morning. 1t is hat-past one. 1t
is two o'clock. 1t is half-past
two when he comes staggering through the
hall. DO you say that young man IS yet
alive? No; he is dead. Dead to his fathers
entreaties. Dead to his mothers prayers.
Dead to tho family altar where 10 was
reared. Dead to all the noble ambitions
that once inspired him. Twice dead. Only
corpse of what he once was. Gibbeted
before God and man. and angels and
devils. Chained in 4 death that will not
loosen Its cold grasp. His father is asleep,
his brothers are asleep. his sisters are
asleep but his mother Is watching him,
, watching him in the night. After he has
gone up to bed and fallen into u drunken
SLEEP. his mother will go up to his room
and see that he Is properly covered. and be-
fore she turns out the light. will put Il kiss
upon his bloated lips. "Mother. why don't
you go to bed:" ''Ah" she sisys, IL can
, not go TO bed I am Rizpah watching the
, | slain"
And what are the political parties OF this
country doing for such cases? They arc
taking care not to hurt the feelings OF the
jackals and the buzzards that roost on the
shelves OF the groS shops and hoot
, above the dead l often
asked to what political party be-
, long, and l now declare my opinion Of the
political parties today. Each one is
worse than the other, and the only consola-
ton in regard to them Is that they have
putrcied until they have no more power to
rot. Oh. that comparatively tame scene
upon which Rizpah looked She looked
. upon only seven OF the slain. American
motherhood and American wifchood this
moment are looking upon seventy OF the
slain. upon seven hundred of the slain,
upon seventy thousand OF the slain. Woe!
Woe! Woe! My only consolation on this
subject is that foreign capitalists are buy
ing up the American breweries. The
, present owners see that the doom OF that
, business is coming as surely as that God is
, not dead. They are unloading upon foreign
capitalists, and when we can get these
breweries into the hands OF peo-
pie living on the other side
, OF the sea, our political parties
, will cease to be afraid Of the liquor traffic,
\ and at their conventions nominating
t presidential candidates, will put in their
: platform Il plank as big as the biggest
| plank of the biggest ocean steamer, say
3 Ing: Resolved unanimously that We al
1 ways have been. and always will be OPP
= | posed to alcoholism"
But must spur on our Arab steed, and
, here We come in sight OF Beeroth said to be
v the place where Joseph and Mary missed
r the boy Jesus on the way from Jerusalem
t to Nazareth. going home now from q great
= national festival. where is my child,
i Jesus?' says Mary, 'Where is my child,
: Jesus?" says Joseph. Among the thousands
O that are returning from Jerusalem. they
= thought that certainly He was walking on
d in the crowd. They described Him. saying
= "He Is twelve years old, and OF light COM
: plexion and blue eyes. lost child!'
Great excitement in all the crowd. Moth
y ing SO stirs folks as the news that child is
t lost. l shall not forget the scene when in q
s great out door meeting, 1 was preaching
= and some one stepped on tho platform and
/ said that child was lost. We went on
, with the religious service. but all our
W minds were on the lost child. After a
}, while a man brought on the platform q
q beautiful little tot that looked like q piece
q of heaven dropped down. and said: "Here
/, Is that child" And forgot all that was
It preaching about. and lifted the child to my
! shoulder and said "Here is the lost child.
9 and the mother will come and get her right
n to my own BROOD" And some cried and
9 some shouted. and amid all that crowd 1
= instantly detected the mother. Everybody
@ had to get out of her way or be walked
d over. Hats were nothing. and shoulders
;, were nothing, and heads were nothing in
IS her pathway, and I realized something OF
It what must have been Mary's anxiety when
2. she lost Jesus. and what her gladness when
= she found her boy in the Temple of Jerusu-
J, lem, talking with those old ministers OF
4. religion Shammai, Hillel and Betirah.
!. 1bear down on you today with mighty
II comfort Mary and Joseph said: "Where Il
= our Jesus?" and you say. where is John2
n or where is Henry. or where is GcOrge?'
J, Well, should not wonder II you found him
n after awhile. Where? In tho sane place
N where Joseph and Mary found their boy-ir
q the temple. What do l mean by that?
10 mean, you do your duty toward God and
: toward your child. and you will find him
10 after awhile in the Kingdom of Christ. Will
j. You say."I do not have any way of infuenc.
}, ing my child" ! answer you have the mos
q tremendous line OF influence open right be
,, fore you. AS you write a letter and Their
d arc two or three routes by which it may 60
:. but you want it to go the quickest route
b and you put on it 'via Southampton" O.
10 ''via San Francisco" or i'via Marseilles.
" nut on your wishes about your child ..Yi,