News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-08-06

thought of no Importance at all have
been of very great moment. That
casual conversation, that accidental
meeting-you did not think of it again
for a long while; but how it changed
all the current of your lifel
THE BEGINNING OF MINSTRELSY.
1t seemed to be of no importance
that Jubal invented rude instruments
of music, calling them harp and organ,
but they were the introduction of all
the worlds minstrelsy. And as you
hear the vibration of a stringed instru-
ment, even after the fingers have been
taken away from it, so all music now of
lutte and drum and cornet is only the long
continued strains of Jubals harp and
Jubars organ. 1t seemed to be a mat
ter of very little Importance that Tubal
Cain learned the uses of copper and
iron, but that rude foundry of ancient
days has its echo in the rattle of Biz
mingham machinery and the roar and
bang of factories on the Merrimac.
Again, see in my subject an illus
tration of the beauty of female indus
try. Behold Ruth toiling in the har-
vest field under the hot sun, or at noon
taking plain bread with the reapers or
eating the parched corn which Boaz
handed to her. The customs of So
ciety, of course, have changed, and
without the hardships and exposure to
which Ruth was subjected every intel
ligent woman will find something to do.
know there is a sickly sentimentality
on this subject. In some families there
are persons of no practical service to
household or community; and though
there are so many woB all around
about them in the world they spend
their time languishing over q new pat
tern or bursting into tears at midnight
over the story of some lover who shot
hiInselfl They would not deign to
look at Ruth carrying back the barley
on her way home to her mother-in-law,
Naomi.
All this fastidiousness may seem to
do very well while they are under the
shelter of their fathers house; but
when the sharp winter of misfortune
comes, what of these butterfiies9 Per
sons under indulgent parentage may
get upon themselves habits of Incidence;
but when they come out into practical
life their soul will recoil with disgust
and chagrin. They will feel in their
hearts what the poet SO severely satir-
lied when he said:
Folks are 80 awkward, things SO impolite.
They're elegantly panied from morn till nlcht.
Through that gate of Incidence how
many men and women have marched,
Useless on earth, to destroyed eterni-
tyl Spinola said to Sir Horace We're,
"Of what did your brother die" "Of
having nothing to do, was the answer.
"Ah," said Spinola, that's enough to
kill any general of u.s." Oh, can it be
possible III this world, where there is so
much suffering to be alleviated, so
much darkness to be enlightened, and
so many burdens to be carried, that
there is any person who cannot find
to do9
Madame de Stael did a world of
work in her time, and one day, while
she was seated amid instruments of
music, all of which she had mastered,
and amid manuscript books which she
had written, some one said to her,
How do you find time to attend to all
these things" ooh" she replied,
these are not the things | am proud
of My chief boast is in the fact that
have seventeen trades, by any one of
which | could make a livelihood if
necessary" And if in secular spheres
here is SO much to be done, in spiritual
work how vast the field! How many
lying all around about us without one
word of confortl We want more Abb
gals, more Hannahs, more Rebeccas,
more Marys, more Deborahs conse-
crated-body, mind, soul-to the Lord
who bought them.
Once more | learn from my subject
the value of cleaning Ruth going
into that harvest field might have said
There is a straw, and there is a straw,
barley for myself or my mother-in-law
out of these separate straws" Not so
said beautiful Ruth. She gathered two
straws and she put them together and
more straws, until she got enough to
make a sheaf. Putting that down she
vent and gathered more straws, until
he had another sheaf, and another, and
mother, and another, and then she
brought them all together, and she
hreshed them out, and she had an
'phah of barley, nigh bushel. Oh,
hat we might all be gleanersl
WE ARE ALL CLEANERS.
Elihu Burritt learned many things
while toiling in a blacksmith's shop.
Abercrombie, the world renowned phil
'sopher, was a physician in Scotland,
md he got his philosopy, or the chief
BART oft, while, as a physician, he was
waiting for the door of the sickroom
o open. Yet how many there are in
his day who say they are so busy they
lave no tine for mental or spiritual i'm
the great duties of life
ross the field like strong reapers and
AIRY off all the hours, and there is
'nly here and there a fragment left
hat is not worth cleaning. All, my
riends, you could go into the busiest
lay and busiest week of your life and
ind golden opportunities, which gath
red might at last make whole sheaf |
or the Lords garner. 1t is the stray
and the stray privileges
which, taken up and bound together
ind beaten out, will at last fill you
With much Joy.
There are a few moments left worth |
he cleaning. Now, Ruth, to the field!
Nay each one have q measure full and !
'unning Overt Oh, you cleaners, to
he field And if there be in your
an aged one or a sick rela-
i've that is not strong enough to come
orth and toll in this field, then let |
Ruth take home to feeble Naomi this |
'heaf of cleaning, HE that goeth forth
md weepeth, bearing precious seed,
hall doubtless come again with reioic-
ng, bringing his sheaves with him." |
Nay the Lord God of Ruth and Naomi |
De our portion foreverl