Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1892-04-16

| Hi dDlOOIQ, branches OF lUlluCHC0 iducIl
with fruit; people good for everything,
as the palm tree. If kind words are
wanted, they are ready to utter them.
If helpful deeds are needed, they are
ready to perform them. If plans of use
fitness are to be laid out. they are ready
to project them If enterprises are to
be forwarded. they are ready to lift
them. People. who say, Yes! YesT
when they are asked for assistance by
word or deed, instead of mo! Nor
Most of the mysteries that bother others
do not bother ME because | adjourn
them, but the mystery that really both
ers ME is why God made so many poo
pie who amount to nothing so far as the
worlds betterlnent is concerned. They
stand in the way. They object. They
discuss hindrances. They suggest pos
sibilities of failure Over the road Of
] life instead of pulling in the traces they
are lying back in the breechings. They
are the everlasting No They are BRAIN
Bile trees: they are willows always
mourning or wild cherry trees yielding
only the bitter, or crab apple trees pro-
ducing only tho sour, while God would
have us all flourish like the palm tree.
Planted in the Bible that tree always
means usefulness. But. how little any
of us or all of MS accomplish in that di-
rection. We take twenty or thirty
years to get fully ready for Christian
work, and in the after part of life we
take ten CT twenty years for the gradual
closing of active work. and that leaves
only so little time between opening and
stopping work that all we accomplish is
so little an angel of God needs TO exert
| himself to see it at all.
ALI. THINGS ARE OF USE.
Nearly everything sec around, be-
Meath and above, in tho natural world
suggests useful service. If there's moth
ing in the Bible that inspires you to use
fulness. 30 ont and study the world
around you this springtime, and learn
the great lesson Of usefulness. What
art thou doing up there, little star:
Why not shut thine eye and sleep, for
who cares for thy shining?" NO" saith
the star. II will not sleep. guide the
sailor on the sea. cheer the traveller
among the mountains. help tip the
dew with light. Through the window
of the poor mans cabin cast IL beam of
hope, ard the child on her mothers lap
asks in gee whittier ! come and what !
do and whence go. TO CLEAN and
glitter. God set NE here Away! have
no time to sleep" Tho snowflake comes
struggling down. .Frail, tickle wan
dercr, why contest thou hcre?" 81 AIN
no idle wandcrer." responds the snow
fake. "High up in the air was born,
the child Of the rain and the cold, and
at the divine behcst come, and Am no
straggler. for God tells me where to put
my crystal heel. To help cover the
roots of the grain and grass, to cleanse
the air, to make sportsmcn more happy
and the ingle Ere more bright, | come.
Though SO light am that you toss lie
from your muller and crush me under
your foot, | AM doing my best to fulfill
what was made for. Clothed in white
| come on heavenly mission, and
when my work is done and God shall
call in morning vapor shall go back,
drawn by the fiery courses of the SUM-
What doest thou, insignificant grass
blade under my feet?" II am doing a
work." says the grass Blade, "as best ]
cam help to make up the soft beauty
of field and lawn. am satisfied If,
with millions of others 20 bigger than |,
we can give pasture to tho flocks and
herds. | am wonderfully made. Hc
who feeds the ravens gives me SUSIE
nance fGom the soil and breath from the
air, and he who clothes the lilies of the
field rewards me with this coat of green.
"For what. lonely cloud, goest thou
across the heavens?' Through the
bright air voice drops from afar, say
ing: up and down this sapphire floor !
pace to teach mcn that. like me, they
are passing away. gather up the
waters from lake and sea and then,
when the thunders toll. refresh the
earth, making the dry ground to laugh
with harvests of wheat and fields of
corn. catch the frown of the storm
and the hues of the rainbow. At even
tide on the western slopes ! will
pitch my tent, and over me shall dash
the saffron and the purple and the fire
of the sunset. A pillar of cloud like me
led the chosen across the desert, and sur
rounded by such as | the judge of
heaven and earth will at last descend.
for Behold he colneth with cloudsr
Oh. my friends, if everything in the in
animate world be useful, let US immor-
tai men and women lie useful, and i'll
that respect be like The palm tree. But
must not be tempted by what David
says of that green shaft of Palestine,
that living and glorious pillar in the
eastern gardens, as seen i'll olden times
the palm tree; must not be tempted
by what the Old Testament says of it to
lessen my emphasis of what John the
Evangelist says OF it in my text.
LAWFUL ROBBERY.
Notice that it was u beautiful and
lawful robbery of the palm tree that
helped make up Christ's triumph on the
road to Jerusalem that Palm Sunday.
The long, broad, green leaves that were
strewn under tho feet of the colt, and in
the way of Christ were torn off from the
trees. What pity, some one might
SLY, that those stately and graceful trees
Should be despoiled. The sup oozed out
at the places where the branches broke.
The glory of the palm tree was appro-
priately sacrificed for the Saviour's tri-
umphal procession. So it always was,
so it always will be in this world-no
worthy triumph of any sort without the
tearing down Of something else. Brook
Ign bridge, the glory of our continent,
must have two architects Frustrated,
the one slain by his tolls and the other
for a lifetime invalided. The greatest
pictures of the world had, in their rich
est coloring, the blood of the artists who
made them. The mightiest oratorios