Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-08-06
net hammered to alight on that field

al ClrISU, dlO ill lIpuiOho ulu King
doms must look at that one little Incl.
dent with thrill of unspeakabe and
eternal satisfaction. So 1T is in your
history and in mine: events that you
thought of no Importance at all haya
been of very great moment That
casual conversation, that accidental meet.
ing-you did not think OF it again for
long while: but how it changed all the
current of your life!
Ii 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 q 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
continued strains Of JubaFS harp and
Jubars organ. 1t seemed to be matter
of very little Importance that Tuba
Cain learned the uses OF copper and iron
but that rude foundry Of ancient DAYS
has it's echo in the rattle OF Birmingham
machinery and the roar and bang of
factories on the Merrimac.
Again, see in my subject an illus
tration of the beauty of female industry
Behold Ruth toiling il 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 q
sickly sentimentality on this subject
In some families there are persons of no
practical service to household or com.
munity; and though 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 himself 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 shell
ter of their fathers house; but when the
sharp winter of misfortune comes. what
OF these butterflies? Persons under in.
dulgent parentage may get upon them
selves habits of lndOlence; 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
Through that gate OF Incidence how
many men and women have marched,
useless on earth, to destroyed eternity
Spinola said to Sir Horace We're, "0f
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 in
this world, where there is so much SUI
fering to be alleviated, so much darkness
to be enlightened, and SO many burdens
to be carried, that there is any person
who cannot find anything to do?
Madame 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 mana
script 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 | an
proud of. My chief boast is the fact
that / have seventeen trades, by any one
of which 1 could make a livelihood it,
necessary" And if in secular spheres
there is so much TO be done, in spiritual
work how vast the field! How many dy'
ing all around about us without one word
of comfort! We want more AbigailS
more Hannahs, more Rebeccas, more
Marys, more Deborahs consecrated-
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 straw, but what
is straw? l can't get any barley for
myself Or my mother-in-law out of these
separate straws." Not SO said the beau
tiful Ruth. She gathered two straw
and she put them together, and more
straws, until she got enough to make
sheaf. Putting that down she went and
gathered more strawS, until she had an
other sheaf, and another, and another
and another, and then she brought them
all together, and she threshed them out
and she had an ephah Of barley, nigh
bushel. Oh, that we might all be
cleaners!
Elihu Burrtt learned many things
while toiling in blacksmith's shop
Abercrombie, the world renowned phil
osopher was physician in Scotland
aud he got his philosophy, or the chicI
part of it, while, as physician, he was
waiting for the sickroom to open. Yet
how many there are in this day who Sa!
they are so busy they have no time for
mental or spiritual improvement; the
great duties of life cross tho field like
strong reapers and carry off all the
hours, and there is only here and there's
fragment left that is not worth cleaning
All, my friends, you could go into the
busiest day and busiest week OF your Iit
and find golden opportunities, whCI
gathered might at last make who'll
sheaf for the Lords garner. 1t is TN
stray opportunities and the stray priv
ileges which, taken up and bound to
gether and beaten out, will at last I'll
you with much joy.
There are few moments left wort
the cleaning. Now, Ruth, to the field
May each one have measure full an