The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1891-08-14

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field of Boaz? Yet all ages, all genera
tions, have an interest in the fact
hat she was to become an
ancestress of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and all nations and kingdoms must
look at hat one little incident with q
thrill of unspeakable and eternal salts
faction So it is in your history and in
mine; events hat you thought of no
Importance at all have been of veY-
great moment. That casual CONVERSE
ton, that accidental meeting-you did
not think of it for a long while; bun
how it changed all the current of your
life.
1t seemed to be Of no importance that
Jubal invented rude instruments in mu-
sic, calling them harp and organ, but
they were the introduction of all the
worlds minstrelsy; and as you heal the
vibration of a stringed instrument, even
after the fingers have been taken away
from it, SO all music now of lutte and
drum and cornet is only the long-cen-
tinued strains of Jubal's harp and in,
balls organ. 1t seemed to be a matter
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 Bir-
mingham machinery, and the roar and
bang of factories on the Merrimac.
Again, / see in my subject an illustra-
ton of the beauty of female industry.
Behold Ruth toiling in the harvest field
under the hot sun, or at noon taking
plain bread with the reapers, or eating
the parched corr which Boaz handed to
her. The customs of society, of course,
have changed, and without the hard
ships and exposure to which Ruth was
subjected, every intelligent woman will
find something to do. / know there is a
sickly sentiInentality on this subject.
In some families there are persons Of
no practical service to the household
or community, and although there
are SO many woes all around about
them in the world, they spend their
time languishing over a new pattern,
or bursting into tears at midnight over
the story of some lover who hot him
self! They would not deign to look at
Ruth carrying back the barley on her
way home to her mother-in-law, MAJ
omi. 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 butterflies? Per-
sons under indulgent ~parentage may
get upon themselves habits of indul-
gence; 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
satirized when he said:
Folks are SO awkward, things SO impolIte,
They're elegantly panied from morn till
night.
Thr ough that gate of Incidence how
many men and women have marched,
useless ON earth, to a destroyed eter-
nifty. Spinola said to Sir Horace We're:
"Of what did your brother die?" 'tOf
having nothing to do" was the an
swer. ''Ah!" said Spinola, that's
enough To kill any general of u.s." Oh!
can it be possible in this world, where
there is so much suffering to be allie
Waited, so much darkness to be enlight-
ened, and so many burdens to be light
ened, that there is any person who a
not find anything to do?
Mime. de Stael did a world of work in
nCI JiAA1Cs dhNA Jill OdJs HI do
seated amid instruments of music, all
of which she had mastered, and amid
manuscript books which she had writ
ten, some one said to her: How do you
find time to attend to all these things?"
'Oh," she replied, ''these are not the
things | am proud of. My chief boast
is in the fact hat / nave seventeen
trades, by any of which / could make a
livelihood if necessary" And if in
secular spheres there is SO much to be
done in spiritual work, how vast this
field! How many dying all around
about us without one word of comfort
want more Abigails, more Hannahs,
more Rebeccas, more Marys, more De.
borahs consecrated-body, mind, soul
to the Lord who bought them.
Once more / learn from my subject
the value of cleaning. Ruth going into
There is a straw. and there is a straw;
but what is a straw? / can't get any
barley for myself OF 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
went and gaShered more straws, until
she had another sheaf, and another and
another and another, and then she
brought them all together, and she
threshed them out, and she had an
ephan of barley, nigh a bushel. Oh,
that we might all be cleaners.
Elihu Burritt learned many things
while toiling IN a blacksmith's shop.
Abercrombie, the world-renowed phi
losopher, was a physician in Scotland,
and he got his philosophy, or the chief
part of it. while, as a physician. he was
waiting for the door of the sick oom
to open. Yet how many there are in
this day who say they are SO busy they
have no time for mental or spiritual inn
provement; the great duties of life
cross the field like strong reapers
Inc carry off all the hours
and there is only here and there a frag-
ment left. hat is not worth cleaning.
All, my friends, you could go into the
busiest day of the busiest week of youp
life and find golden opportunities,
which, gathered, might at last maze a
whole sheaf for the Lords garner. 1t
is the stray opportunities and the ssray
privileges which. taken up and bollnd
together and beaten out, will at last fill
you with much Joy.
There are a few moments left WORTH
the cleaning. Now, Ruth, TO the field'
Nav each M have a measure full and
running overI Oh, you cleaners, to h
field And if there be in your household
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