Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-04-16

end groans of thu composers who wore their
lives out in writing the harmony. American
independence was triumphant, but it moved
on over the lifeless forms Of tens OF thou
sands of men who fell at Bunker Hill and
! Yorktown and the battles between which
were the hemorraages of the nation.
The kingdom OF God advances in all the
earth. but it must be over the lives OF mis-
sionaries who die OF malaria in the iungIes
or Christian workers who pTeaca an pray
ami toll and die in the service. The Saviour
triumphs in all dirsctions-but beauty and
strength must be torn down from the palm
trees of Christian heroism and conservation
I and thrown in His pathway.
10 what better use could those palm trees
on the southern shoulder of Mount Oiivet
an1 Gear down into ths Valley of Geta-
semane put their branches than to surrender
them for the making OF Christ's journey
/ toward Jerusalem the more picturesque, the
more memorable and toe more thu nphant2
And to what better uss could we put our
/ lives than into the sacrifice for Christ AMI
4 His cause and the happiness OF
i our fellow creatures? Shall we not be
/ willing to be torn down that right
/ eousness shall have triumphant way? Christ
/ TO be torn down for Him? 1t Christ could
/ suffer SO much for u.s. can we not suffer a
4 little for Christ? II He can afford ON Palm
/ Sunday to travel to Jerusalem to carry
I cross can we not afford a few leaves from
/ our branches to make emerald His way?
The process is going on every moment in
1 all directions. What makes that father
have such hard work to find the hymn to-
day? He puts on his spectacies and holds
/ the book close up, and then holds it far off.
aud is not quite sure whether the number of
the hymn is $50 OF 100, and the fingers with
which he turns the leaves are very clumsy.
He stoops good deal, although once he was
as hawks, and the hand he Offered to his
bride on ths marriage day was of goodly
| shape and as God madeit.
I will tall you what is the matter. Forty
/ years ago he resolved his family should have
/ no need and his children should be well edu-
| Gated and suffer none Of the disadvantages
of lack of schooling from which he had
suffered for lifetime, and that the wolf OF
hunger should never put its paw on his door
sill, and for forty or fifty years he has been
| tearing OF from the palm tree OF his physi-
! cal strength and manly form branches to
throw in the pathway of his household. 1t
has cost him muscle and brain and health
and eyesight, and there have been twisted
off more years from his life than any man
in the crowd on the famous Palm Sunday
twisted off branches from the palm trees on
the road from Bethpage to Jerusalem.
What makes that mother LOOK so much
older than she really is? You say she ought
not vet TO have one gray line in her hair.
! The truth is the family was not always as
well off as now. The married pair had a
hard struggle at the start Examine the
tips of the forefinger and thumb of her right
hand, and they will tell you the story of the
needle that was piled day in aud day out.
Yea, look at both her hands, aud they will
tell the story oe the time when she did her
own work, her own mending and scrubbing
and washing.
Yea, look into the face and read the story
of scarlet fevers and groups and midnight
watchings, then none but God and herself in
that house were awake. and then the burials
and the loneliness afterward, which was
mora exhausting than the preceding watch
ing had been, and no one now to put to bed.
How fair she once was, and as fair as the
palm tree, but all tho branches of her
strength aud beauty were long ago torn of
and thrown into the pathway of her house
hold.
Aas that sons and daughters themselves
80 straight and graceful and educated,
should ever forget that they are walking TO-
day over the fallen strength of an indus
trious and houored parentage. A little
ashamed are you, at their ungrammaticat
utterances? II was through their sacrifices
that you learned accuracy of speech Ilo
yoa lose patience with them because they
are little querulous aud complaining.
guess you have forgotten how querulous
and complaining YOU were when you were
getting over that whooping cough or that
intermittent fever. A little annoyed, ara
you, because her hearing is poor and you
have to tell her something twice? She was
not always hard of hearing. When you
were two years Old your first call for a
drink at midnight woke her from sound
sleep as quick as any one will waken at the
trumpet call of the resurrection.
Oh, my Young lady what is that under
the sole of your fine shoes? It is palm leaf
which was torn off the tree of maternal
fidelity. Young merchant, young lawyer,
young journalist, young mechanic, with
good salary ant fine clothes and refined sur
roun1ings, have you forgotten what r time
your father had that winter. after the sum.
mer's crops had failed through droughts or
floods or locust, AMI how he wore his old
coat too long and made his old hat do, tdat
he might keep you at school or college?
What is that, my young man, under your
fine boot to-day, the boot that SO well fits
your foot, such boot as your father could
never afford to wear?
1t must be leaf from the palm tree of
your fathers self-sacrtfices. Do not be
ashamed of him when he comes to town, and
because his manners are little old fashioned
try to smuggle him in aud smuggls him out,
but call in your best friends aud take him to
the house OF God and introduce him to your
pastor. and say; This is my father" If he
had kept for himself the advantages which
he gave you he would be as well educated
and as well gotten up as you When in the
English Parliament a menber was making
a great speech that was uuanswerable
Lord derisively erie 4 out, Il remember you
when you blackened my fathers boots.
YES" replied the man, land did not do 1t
wellg' Never be ashamed of your early
surroundings. Yea, yes. all the green leaves
we walk over were torn off some palm tree.
/ have cultivated ths habit of forgetting
the unpleasant things of life, an chiefly
remember tue smooth things, aud as far as
remember now my life hls for the most
part moved over a road soft with green
leaves. They were torn off two palm trees
that stool at the start of thu road. The
prayers, the Christian example, the good
advice, the hard work of my father aud
mother. How they toiled! Their fingers
were klotted with hard work. Their fore
heads were wrinklsd with many cares.
Their backs stoope1 from carrying our
burdens
They long ago went into siumber among
their kindred and friends on the banks OF
the Raritan, but the influences they threw in
the way Of their children are yet green as
leaves the moment they are plucked from a
palm tree, and we feel them on our brow
and under our feet, and they will strew all
the way until we lie down in the same SUM
Der. Self sacrifice What thrilling word
Glad am l that our world has so many
specimens of it. The sailor boy on ship
board was derided because he would not
fight or gamble, aud they called him cow
ard. But when child fell overheard and
no one elsa was ready to help, the derided
sailor leapsd into the sea, aud, though the
waves were rough. the sailor, swimming
with one arm, carried the child ON the other
arm till rescued and rescuer were lifted into
safety, and the cry of coward ceased and all
huzzaed at the scene of daring aud self
sacrifice. -.
When recently Captain Burton, the great
author, died, he left scientific book in
manuscript which he ex pectad would be his
wife's fortune. He often told her so. He
said, This will make you independent and
affluent after l am gone" He suddenly
died, and it was expected that the wife would
publish the book One publisher told her
But it was q book which, though written
with pure scientific design. she felt would
do Unreasonable damage to public morals
With the two large volumes, which had
cost her husband the work of years, she sat
down on the floor before the fire and said to
herself. There is fortune for me in this
book and although my husband wrote it
with the right motive and scientific people
might be helped By it, to the vast ma iority
OF people it would be harmful, and | know
it would damage the world" Then she
took apart the u manuscript sheet after sheet
and put it INTO the fire. until the last line
was consumed Bravo She flung her
livelihood, her home, her chief worldly
re sources under the best moral and religious
interests OF the world.