Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-12-15


castle Of Fotheringay. The wheel Of for
tune keeps turning, and mansions and huts
exchange, and he who rode the chariot
pushes the barrow, and instead of the glare
of festal lights is the simmering Of the peat
fire, and in the place Of Saul's palace is the
rock-the cold rock, the desolate rock.
But that is the place TO which God comes.
Jacob, with his head on a stone, saw the
shining ladder. Israel in the desert beheld
the marshaling Of the fiery baton. John
on barren Patmos heard trumpeting, and
the clapping of wings, and the stroke of
seraphic fingers on golden harps, and
nothing but heavenly strength nerved Riz-
pah for her appalling mission amid the
scream of wild birds and the stealthy tread
of hungry monsters. The grandest visions
of glory, the most rapturous experiences of
Christian love, the greatest triumphs of
grace have come to the tried, and the hard
pressed, and the betrayed, and the crushed.
God STOPPING down from heaven to comfort
Rizpah on the rock.
THE HEIoIsM OF WOMAN.
Again the tragedy Of the text displays
the courage of woman amid great emer-
gencies. What mother or sister or daugh-
ter would dare to go out to fight the cor
morant and jackal? Rizpah did it. And
so would you If an emergency demanded.
Woman is naturally timid and shrinks
| from exposure and depends on stronger
arms for the achievement of great enter
prises. And she is often troubled lest
there might be occasions demanding forti-
tude when she would fail. Not so. Some
of those who are afraid to look out of door
| ofkar r1trrhtfoI1 ond rx-hn 01olTa IN fha
| darkness at the least uncertain sound, and
who start at the slam Of the door and turn
pale in thunderstorm, If the day of trial
came, would be heroic and invulnerable.
God has arranged it so that woman needs
the trumpet Of some great contest Of prin-
| ciples or affection to rouse up her slumber-
| ing courage. Then she will stand under
the cross fire of opposing hosts at Chalons
| to give wine to the wounded. Then she
will carry into prison and dark lane the
message of salvation. Then she will brave
the pestilence. Deborah goes out to sound
terror into the heart of Gods enemies.
! Abigail throws herself between a raiding
| party of infuriated men and her husbands
vineyards. Rizpah fights back the vul-
lures from the rock.
| Among the Orkney islands an eagle
swooped and lifted child to it's eyrie far
| up on the mountains. With the spring Of
a panther the mother mounts hill above
| hill, crag above crag, height above height
The fire of her own eye outfashes the glare
| of the eagles, and with unmailed hand
stronger than the iron beak and the ter.
rible claw she hurls the wild bird down
the rocks In the French revolution Ca
1 I,.o, %1I Io ,Ha,,
his daughter threw herself on the body OF
her father and said: Strike, barbarians
You cannot reach my father but through
my heartW The crowd parted, and linking
arms father and daughter walked out free.
During the siege of Saragossa Augustine
carried refreshments to the gates. Arriv.
ing at the battery of Portillo she found
that all the garrison had been killed. She
snatched a match from the hand of dead
artilleryman and fired off twenty-si3
FOUNDER, then leaped on it and vowed she
| would not leave it alive. The soldiers
looked in and saw her daring and rushed
up and opened another tremendous fire OIL
the enemy.
The life of James I of Scotland was
threatened. Poets have sung those times
and able pens have fingered upon the story
of manly endurance, but how few to tel
the story of Catharine Douglas, one of tht
queens maids, who ran to bolt the door
but found the bar had been taken away 81
as to facilitate the entrance of the assassin
She thrust her arm into the staple. Th'
murderers rushing against it, her arm wa.
shattered. Yet how many have since livet
and died who never heard the touching
l sale canriHoinrr harnso cfn of Got o,,ty,
Douglas and her poor shattered arm.
You know how calmly Nine. Rolant
went to execution, and how cheerfully 10
anna of Naples walked to the castle O
Muro, and how fearlessly Mime. Grimald
listened to her condemnation, and how
Charlotte Corday smiled upon the franti,
mob that pursued her to the guillotine
And there would be no end to the recital i
attempted to present all the historical in
cidents which show that woman's courag,
will rouse itself for great emergency.
THE WILD BEASTS OF WANT AND POVERTY
But Ineed not go so far. You have known
some one who was considered mere but
terfly in society. Her hand had known nj
toll; her eye had wept no tear over mis-
fortune. She moved among obsequiou!
admirers as careless as an insect in fielt
of blossoming buckwheat. But in eighteeI
hundred and siXty-seven financial tempes
struck the husbands estate. Before he hat
time to reef sail and make things snug tn,
ship capsized and went down. Enemie
cheered at the misfortune and wondered
what would become of the butterfly. Goot
men pitied and said she would die Of
broken heart.
| SCha xuin xuprl- ~ thau EEnpI oh.
is too proud to beg" But the prophecies
have failed. Disaster has transformed tn
shining sluggard into practical worker
Happy as princess, though compelled tt
hush her own child to sleep, and spreae
her own table, and answer the ringing O
her own doorbell. Her arm had been mus
cled for the conflict against misfortune
Hunger and poverty and want and all tn,
other jackals Rizpah scares from the rock
1 saw one in desolate home. Her mer
ciless companion had pawned even tn,
children's shoes for rum. From honorable
ancestry she had come down to this. TIL,
cruise OF oil was empty and the last candl,
gone out. Her faded frock was patched
with fragments of antique silk that sht
had worn on the bright marriage day
Confident in God, she had strong hear
to which her children ran when they trem
bled at the staggering step and quailed un
der fathers curse Though the heaven
were filled with fierce wings, and tn,
thickCts gnashed with rage, Rizpal
watched faithfully day after day and yea
after year, and wolf and cormorant by he
God strengthened arm were hurled dowr
the rock.
You pass day by day along the streets
where there are heroines greater than JoaI
of Arc. Upon that cellar floor there art
conflicts as fierce as Sedan, and heaven ant
hell mingle in the fight. Lifted in thai
garrett there are tribunals where more for
titude is demanded than was exhibited b
Lady Jane Grey or Mary, queen of Scots.
THE CHRISTIAN HEROINE.
Now ask, if mere natural courage ca
| do CO y,poh 1ubot yoav yua pCt nynapt r