The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1891-02-14
cided. The French army marchc

toward Moscow 400, 900 men. What
resist them? Not b~avonets. but
dumb elements overwhelm that host.
Napoleon retreats from Moscow with
about 200, 900 men, a mighty nucleus for
another campaign after he gets back Is
Paris. The morning of October ~,
e they start for home, is bright and
beautiful, The air is tonic, and, al.
though this Russian campaign has been
u failure, Napoleon will try again
in some other direction with his
host of brave surviving Frenchmen.
But a cloud comes on the sky, and
the air gets chill, and one of the soldiers
feels on his cheek a snowflake, and
then there is a multiplication of these
wintry messages, and then all the skies
let loose upon the warriors a hurricane
of snow, and the march becomes diff
cult, and the horses find it hard to pull
the supply train, and the men begin TO
fall under the fatigue. and many not
able to take another step lie down in
the drifts never to rise, and the cavalry
horses stumble and fall, and 1000 of
the army fall, and 10, 900 perish, and
20, 900 go down, and 80, 900 and 100, 900,
and 100, 600 and 1872, 600 die, and the vic
tor of lena and bridge of Lodi, and
Eylau, and Austerlitz where three great
armies, commanded by three Emperors,
surrendered to him, now himself r
renders to the snowfiakes.
Historians do not seem to recognize
that the'tide in that mans life turned
from December 16, 1909, when he BAN
ished by hideous divorce his wife
Josephine from the palace and so chat
lenged the Almighty, and the Lord
charged upon him from the fortresses
of the sky with ammunition of crystal.
Showed under! Billions, trillions, quad
r%illions, quintillions of flakes did the
work. And what a suggestion of ac-
cumulative power, and what a rebuke
to all of us who get discouraged because
we can not do much, and therefore do
nothing.
"Oh," says one, 81 would like to stop
the forces of sin and crime hat are
marching for the conquest of the
nations; but ! am nobody, l have
neither wealth nor eloquence nor social
power. What can l do?" my brother.
how much do you weigh? AS much as
a ~snowfake?" 'Oh, yes" Then do
your share. 1t is an aggregation of
small influences that will yet put this
lost world back into the bosom of u
pardoning God. Alas that there are SO
many men and women who will not use
the one talent because they have not
ten, and will not give a penny because
they can not give n dollar, and will not
speak as we'll as they can because they
are not eloquent, and will not be a
snowflake because they can not be an
avalanche. In earthly wars the Gen.
erals get about all the credit, but in
the war of God and righteousness
and Heaven all the private soldiers will
get crowns of victory unfailing. When
we reach Heaven I do not think we will
be able TO begin the new song right
away, because of the surprise we shall
feel at the comparative rewards given.
Then we shall see a palace, the door
steps Of gold and the windows of agate,
and the tower like the sur for brill
lance, and chariots before the door, and
people who look like Princes and
Princesses going up and down the steps,
and we shall say: what one of the
hei. ar:hs lives here? That must be the
residence of n Paul or n Milton, or some
one whose name resounds through all
the planet from which we have just
assembled" mo, no. says our celestial
dragoman, 'that is the residence of a
soul whom your never heard Of. When
she gave a charity her left hand knew
not what her right hand did. She was
mighty in secret prayer, and no one
but God and her w soul knew 1t. She
Lo1 .,ora @rA,,l1a chan oru h01- IT, oil
the land where she lived, and without
complaining she bore it, and though
her talents were never great what
she had was all consecrated to
God and helping others, and
the Lord is making up for her earthly
privation by especial raptures here
Did you not have in your world below
an old classic which says something
about these are they who came out of
great tribulation, and they shall reign
forever and ever?"
AS we pass up the street I find a good
many on foot and say to the dragoman:
"Who are these?" And when their
name is announced / recognize that
some of them were on earth great poets
and great orators and great merchants
and great warriors, and when l express
ny surprise about their going on foot,
the dragoman says: ''In this country
people are rewarded not according to
the number Of their earthly talents, but
according to the use they made of what
they had"
And then | thought to myself: "Why,
that theory would make n snowflake
that falls cheerfully and in the right
place, and does all the work assigned
it, as honorable as n whole Mont Blanc
OF snowfakes." Eyes, yes" says the
celestial dragoman, many of these
pearls that you see on the forehead OF
the righteous, and many Of the gems in
the Jewel case of Prince and Princess,
are only the petriied snowfakes of
earthly tempest, for God does o forget
his promise made in regard to them:
They shall be mine, said the Lord OF
hosts, in the day when l make up my
Jewels" Accumulated power! All the
prayers and charities and kindnesses
and talents of all the good concentered
and compacted will be the worlds evan
gelization. This thought of the aggre-
CATION of the many smalls into that one
mighty Is another treasure of h snow.
Another treasure Of the snow Is the
suggestion of the usefulness of sorrow.
Absence Of snow last winter made all
nations sick. That snowless winter has
not yet ended its disasters Within a few
weeks it put ten of thousands into
the grave and left others In homes and
hospitals gradually to go down. Called
by a trivial name, the Russian grip"
it was an international plague. Plenty
OF snow means public health. There
Is no medicine that SO Don cures the
worlds malaria as these white pellets
that the clouds administer. Like q
sponge every fake absorbs unhealthy
gases. The tables Of mortality In New
York and Brooklyn Immediately less
ened when the SHOWS of last December
began to fall. The snow Is one OF the
prandest and best of the worlds doc
tors. Yes; 1t Is necessary for the land'a
productiveness. Great nov In winter
are generally followed by great har'
vests next ummer. Scientific analysis
has shown that SNOW contains a larger
percentage of ammonia than the rain.
and hence It's greater power OF enrich
ment. And besides that, 1t is a white
blanket to keep the earth warm. An
examination of snow In Siberia showed
that it was a hundred degrees warmer
under the snow han above the snow.
Alpine plants persisted in the milo
winter of England for lack of enough
snow to keep them warm. Snow strikes
back the rich gases which otherwise