Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-09-14

But are you waiting and hoping for
some one 10 be bankrupted or exposed,
or discounted, or In some way over
thrown, then kindness has not taker
possession Of your nature. You are
wrecked on a Malta where there are NJ
oranges. You are entertaining gues
so unlike kindness that kindness will
not come and dwell under the same
roof. The most exhausting and IN
healthy and ruinous feeling on earth IL
revengeful spirit or retaliating spirit,
as l know by experience, for 1 have
| tried 1t for FIVE or ten minutes at time
When some mean thing has been done
me or said about me, have felt "1wtll
pay him In his own coin. will show
him up. The migrated! the traitor! The
llar! The William But five or ten
minutes of the feeling has been so IN
nerving and exhausting l have aban
! doned 10, and / cannot understand how
people can go about torturing themselves
five or ten or twenty years, trying to
get even with somebody. The only way
you will ever triumph over your enemies
is by forgiving them and wishing
them all good and no evil. As malevo'
lenee is the most uneasy and prottless
and dangerous feeling, kindness Is the
most healthful and delightful. And
this is not an abstraction. As have
tried little OF the retallatory feelings,
so have tried little Of the forgiving.
I do not want to leave this world until
1 have taken vengeance upon every
man that ever did me wrong, by doing
him kindness. In most of such cases
I have already succeeded, but there are
a few malignants whom am yet pur-
suing, and shall not be content until
have in some wise helped them or
benefited them or blessed them. Let
US all pray for this spirit Of kindness.
1t will settle thousand questions. II
will change the phase Of everything.
1t will mellow through and through
our entire nature. 1t will transform a
lifetime. 1t is not a feeling gotten up
for occasions, but perennial. That is
the reason l like petunias bet
ter than morning glories. They
look very much alike, and il / should
put in your hand a petunia and morn
ing-glory you could hardly tell which is
the petunia and which the morning
glory; but the morning-glory blooms
only few hours and then shuts up for
the day, while the petunia is in as wide
spread a glow at II o'clock at noon and
six o'clock in the evening as at sunrise.
And this grace Of kindness is not spas
modic, is not intermittent, Ia not for
little while, but 1t irradiateS the whole
nature, all through and clear on till the
sunset OF our earthly existence. Kind
nessl 1 am resolved to get it. Are you
resolved to get It? Ii does not come by
hap-hazard, but through culture under
the Divine help. Thistles grow without
culture. Rocky Mountain rage grass
grows without culture. Mullen stalks
grow without culture. But that great
red rose In the conservatory, It's leaves
packed on leaves, deep-dyed as though
1t had been obliged to fight for it's
beauty and it were still reeking with
the carnage Of the battle, that rose
needed to be cultured and through long
years It's floral ancestors were cultured,
Oh, God! implant kindness in all our
souls and then give US grace to watch
it, to enrich It, to develop itl
The King of Prussia had presented to
him by the Empress of Russia the root
of rare flower, and it was put In the
royal gardens on al island, and the head
gardener, Herr Fintelmann, was told to
watch 1t. And one day 1t put forth It's
glory Three days of every week the
people were admitted to these gardens,
aud young man, probably not realizing
what a wrong thing he was doing, pluck
ed this flower and put it in his bottom
hole, and the gardener arrested him as
he was crossing at the ferry, and asked
the king to throw open no more his gar
dens to the public. The king replied
"Shall deny TO the thousands OF good
people of my country the privilege OF
seeing this garden because one visitor
has done wrong? No, let them come
and see the beautiful grounds" And
when the gardener wished to give the
King the name of the offender who had
taken the royal flower, he said, "No, my
memory is very tenacious and do not
want to have In my mind the name OF
the offender, lest it should hinder me
granting him favor some other time"
Now, want you to know that kindness
is royal flower, and blessed be God, the
King of mercy and grace, that by d.
vine gift and not by purlolning, we may
pluck this royal flower and not wear it
on the outside Of our nature, but wear
It on our soul and wear 1t forever, It's
radiance and aroma not more wonderful
for time than wonderful for eternity.
Still further, 1 must speak Of kind
ness of word. When you meet anyone
do you say a pleasant thing or an I'M
pleasant? Do you tell him of agreeable
things you have heard about him, or the
dlsagreeable? When he leaves you,
does he feel better or does he feel
worseP Oh. the power of the tongue
for the production Of happiness or mis-
cry! One would think from the way
the tongue is Gagged In we might take
the hint that 1t has dangerous power.
First it is chained to the back
part OF the mouth by strong
muscles. Then 1t is surrounded by the
teeth Of the lower jaw, so many ivory
bars; and then by the teeth Of the up
per jaw, more ivory bars. Then out
side of all are the two lips with the
power of compression and arrest. And
vet Notwithstanding these four impris-
onments or limitations, how many take
no hint In regard TO the dangerous
power OF the tongue, and the results
are liberation, scarifcation, and dam
nation. There are those II they know
good thing about you and bad thing,
will mention the bad thing and act as
though they had never heard the good
thing. Now there are two sides to
almost every ones character, and we
have the choice of overhauling the vir-
tue or the vice. We can greet Paul
and the ships crew as they come
ND the beach of Malta, with the
words, "What a sorry looking set you
arel How little Of navigation you