The Bossier banner., 1891-10-08
Christ, bounded of prosecutors. denied |

hdH nate Smack1ng It's lips IN SatlSfac-
ton after it had been draining His last
drop of blood, the sheeted dead burst
ing from the sepulchers at His cruci-
| tiXion. Tell me, o Gethsemane and Col
| gotha! were there ever darker time than
those? Like the booming of the mid
night sea against the rock, the surges
OF Christ's anguish beat against the
gates of eternity, to be echoed back by
all the thrones of Heaven and all the
dungeons of hell. But the day of reward
comes for Christ; all the pomp and do
minion of this world are to be hung on
His throne, uncrowned heads are to
bow before Him on whose head are
many crowns, and all the celestial wor-
ship is to come up at His feet, like the
humming of the forest, like the rush
ing of the waves, like the laundering
OF the seas, while all Heaven, rising on
their thrones, beat time with their
scepters: ''Hallelujah! hallelujah, the
kingdoms of this world have become
the kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christi"
That song of IoYe now low and far,
Ere long shall swell from star to star;
The goldcn-s spired Apocalypse
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 hear 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-con-
tinued strains of Jubals harp and Ju-
balls organ. 1t seemed to be 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-
mlngham machinery, and the roar and
bang of factories on the Merrimac
Again, l 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 corn 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. l know there is
sickly sentimentality 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 shot him
self! They would not deign to look at
Ruth carrying back the barley on her
way home to her mother-in law, Ma
oml. 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 recon with
disgust and chagrin. They will feel in
their hearts what the poet so severely
when he said:
Folks are so awkward, things so impolftc.
They're elegantly panied from morn till |
night
Nine. de Stael did 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 writ
ten, some one said to her: How do YOU
lind 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 that l have seventeen
trades, by any of which l could make
livelihood if necessary" And if in
secular spheres there is so much to be
done in spiritual work, how vast the
ield! How many dying all around
about us without one word of comfort
We want more Abigails, more Hannahs,
more Rebeccas, more Marys, more De.
Oorahs consecrated-body, mind, soul
% the Lord who bought them.
Once more l learn from nv subject
he value of cleaning. Ruth going into
hat harvest field might have said.
There is straw, and there is straw;
1ut what is straw? / can't get anv
barley for myself or my mother-in-law
nut of these separate straws." Not SO
aid beautiful Ruth. She gathered two
travis, and she put them together, and
aore straws, until she got enough to
make sheaf. Putting that down, she
vent and gathered more straws, until
he had another sheaf, and another and
mother and another, and then she
rought them all togethe :, and she
hreshed them out, and 81 had an
phan of barley, nigh a busheI. Oh.
hat we might all be cleaners.
Elihu Burritt learned many things
7hile toiling in blacksmith's sbop,
-bercrombie, the world-renowed phi-
'sopher, was physician in Scotland.
nd he got his philosophy, or the chief
art of it, while, as physician, he was
'aIting for the door of the sick room
open Yet how many there are in
lis day who say they are so busy thev
ave no time for mental or spiritual i'm i
rovement; the great duties of lie !
'oss the field like stroBg reapers. t
nd carry off all ts.e hours {
nd there is only here and lhere frao-
put left fhot ic | 1