The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-12-31

the ice la your pitcher before you can
wash. Yes; it has been showing and
drifting again last night, and we will
have to break the roads" Ell
The boys educational advantages,
long, oak plank without any back to 1t,
in country school-house, and stove
throwing out more smoke than heat.
Pressing on from one hardship to an.
other. After while position on salary
or wages small enough to keep life, but
keep it at its lowest ebb. Starting in
occupation or business with prosperous
men trying to fight you back at every
step. But after good while, fairly on
your feet, and your opportunities widen
ing, and then by some sudden turn you
are triumphant. You are master of the
situation, and defiant of all earth and
hell.
While in Punishment Xenophon
wrote his "Anabasis" and Thucydides
his History of the Peloponnesian War"
and Victor Hugo must be exiled for
many years to the island of Guernsey
before he can come to that height in
the affections of his countrymen that
crowd Champs Elysees and the adjoining
boulevards with one million mourners
as his hearse rolls down to the church
Of the Madeleine. Oh, it is tough old
world, and it will keep you back, and
keep you down, and keep you under az
long as it can. Hail, sons and daugh-
lers Of the fire!
Thirty years from now the foremost
men in all occupations and professions
will be those who are this hour in awful
struggle Of early life, many Of them
without S. to their name. So in
spiritual life it takes a course of be-
reavements, prosecutions. sicknesses
and losses to develop stalwart Christian
character. got a letter few days ago
saying: II have hardly seen a we'll day
since was born, and l could not write
my own name until was fifty years Of
age and l am very poor, but I am, by the
grace of God, the happiest man in Chi
cago." The Bible speaks of the SHOWS
of Lebanon, and at this season of the
year the SHOWS there must be tremend-
GUS. The deepest snow ever seen in
America would be insignificant COM
pared with the mildest winter Of SHOWS
on the Lebanon mountains. The
cedars catch that skyfull of crys-
tails on their brow and on their long
arms Piled up in great hefts are those
SHOWS, enough to crush other trees t.
the ground, splitting the branches from
the trunk and leaving them rent and
torn never to rise. But what do these
cedars care for these SHOWS on Lebanon?
They look up at the winter skies and
say: "Snow on! Empty the white
heavens upon US, and when the storm is
passed let other professions Of tempest
try to bury us in their fury. We have
for 500 winters been accustomed to this
and for the next 500 winters we will
cheerfully take all you have to send, for
that is the way we develop our strength.
and that is the way we serve God and
teach all ages how to endure and con.
quer." So say: Good cheer to all peo-
pie who are showed under. Put your
faith in God and you will come out glori.
ously. Others may be stunted Rrowths,
or weak jumpers on the lower levels Of
spirituality, but you are going to be
Lebanon cedars At last it will be said
of such as you, "These are they who
came out Of great tribulation and had
their robes washed white in the blood OF
the Lamb"
But while crossing over these mount
aims Of Lebanon l bethink myself OF
what an exciting scene it must be when
one of the cedars does fall 1t does no,
90 down like other trees with slight
crackle that hardly makes the woods
man look up or hawk flutter from a
neighboring bough. When cedar falls
it is the great event in the calendar Of
the mountains. The axemen fly. The
wild beasts stink to their dens. The
cartridges swoop to the valley for es
cape. The neighboring trees go dowr
} under the awful weight of the descend
ing monarch. The rocks are moved Out
: of their places and the earth tremble:
as from miles around all ravines sent
back their sympathetic echoes. Crash
Crash! Crash! So when the great ce
dars Of worldly or Christian influence
fall it is something terrific. Within
the past few years how many mighty
and overlapping men have gone down
: There seems now to be an epidemic o
moral disaster. The moral world, tn,
religious world, the political world, tn,
commercial world are quaking with thu
, fall of Lebanon cedars. 1t is awful
We are compelled to cry out with Zach
3 ariah the prophet: Howl fr-trees, 70
. the cedar is fallen" Some of tn
, smaller trees are glad of it. When SOM
Q great dealer in stocks goes down, tn
4 small dealers clap their hands and say
Good for him!" When great polit
4 ical leader goes down the small poll
0 ticians clap their hands and say: 'Jus
a as Iexpectedw When great ministe
I Of religion falls, many little minister
t laugh up their sleeves and thing them
Q selves somehow advantaged. All, be
4 loved brethren, no one makes any thin
d out of moral shipwrecks. Not willo,
: by the rivers of Damascus, not syca
0 more on the plains of Jericho, not a,
r olive tree in all Palestine is helped b.
o the fall Of Leanon cedar. Better wee
n and pray and tremble and listen t
: Paul's advice to the Galatians wheu h
n says: Considering myself lest tho
i also be tempted" No man is safe unit
g he is dead, unless he be divinely pre-
: tected. A greater thinker than Lor
II Francis Bacon the world never saw, an
l. he challenged the worlds mode of think
N l ~ Al. IA