Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-04-11


of all the people. 3Ilt 70 the palm tree
he saws. BE garden and storehouse and
wardrobe and ropewalk and chandlery
and brea,l ard banquet and manufac-
tory. and then be type of what meant
when | inspired David, my servant, to
saw. The righteous shall flourish like q
palm tree. Oh, Lord God. give US
more palm trees; men ana women made
for nothing but to be useful; dispositions
all abloom; branches of influence laden
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
fulness 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, "Yesl YesF'
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 Peo-
pie who amount to nothing SO far as the
worlds betterment 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 bram-
bic trees; they are willows always
mourning, or wild cherry trees yielding
only the bitter, or crab apple trees pro-
ducing only the sour, while God would
have lis all flourish like the palm tree.
Planted in the Bible that tree always
means usefulness But, how little any
of us OF all OF us accomplish IN that d.
rection We take twenty or thirty
years to get fully ready for Christian
work, and in the after part Of life we
take ten or 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.
ALL THINGS ARE OF USE.
Nearly everything | see around, be-
meath and above, in the natural world
suggests useful service. If there is moth
inc in the Bible that inspires you to use
fitness, go out and study the world
around you this springtime, and learn
the great lesson of usefulness. wv hat
art thou doing up there, little star?
Why not shut thine eye and sleep, for
who cares for thy shining?" "No," saith
the star, 81 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
hone. and the child on her mothers lap
asks in glee whittier | come and what |
do and whence go. To CLEAN and
glitter God set me here. Away! | have
no time to sleep" The snowflake comes
struggling down tFrail, tickle wan
/ derer, why contest thou here?" 81 am
no idle wanderer,'' responds the snow
fake. High up in the air was born,
the child Of the rain and the cold, and
/ at the divine behest come, and am no
j 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 sportsmen more happy
and the ingle fire more bright, come.
Though so light | am that you toss me
from YOUR muffier and crush me under
your foot, am doing my best to fulfill
what was made for Clothed in white
come OF a 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 sun.
'tWhat doest thou, insignificant grass
blade under my feet?" II am doing {
work." says the grass blade, ''as best
can help to make up the soft beauty
of field and lawn | am satisfied if
with millions of others no bigger than
we can give pasture to the focks an(
herds. | am wonderfully made. 81
who feeds the ravens gives me susie
nance from the soil and breath from th'
air, and he who clothes the lilies OF th
field rewards me with this coat of green.
'sFor what, lonely cloud, goest tho'
across the heavens" Through tn
bright air voice drops from afar, say
ing: Cup and down this sapphire floor
pace to teach men that. like me, the.
are passing away. | gather up tn
waters from lake andsysea and then
when the thunders toll. refresh TIL
earth, making the dry ground to laug
with harvests of wheat and fields O
corn. | catch the frown of the storm
and the hues of the rainbow. AT even
tide on the western slopes | wi
pitch my tent, and over me shall das
the saffron and the purple and the fir
of the sunset. A pillar of cloud like III
led the chosen across the desert, and SUI
rounded by such as l the judge c
heaven and earth will at last descend
for Behold he cometh with clouds!
Oh, my friends, if everything in the il
70 would bo II caf111 1Qt 11C ir1rnO7
tai men and women be useful, and
that respect be like the palm tree. BIT
must not be tempted by what Davi
says of that green shaft of Palestine
that living and glorious pillar in til
! eastern gardens, as seen in olden time
the palm tree; | must not be temple