The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-04-13

ence WAS triumph, but it moved on over |
the lifeless forms Of tens of thousands
of men who fell at Bunker Hill and
Yorktown and the battles between,
which were the hemorrhages OF
the nation The Kingdom OF God
advances in all the earth, but 1t
must be over the lives OF mis-
sionaries who die Of malaria in the jun
giles or Christian workers who preach
and pray and toll and die in the service.
The Saviour triumphs in all directions
but beauty and strength must be torn
down from the palm trees OF Christian
heroism and conservation and thrown
in his pathway. To what better use
could those palm trees on the southern
shoulder of Mount 0livet and clear
down into the Valley of Gethsemane
put their branches than to surrender
them for the making of Christ's journey
toward Jerusalem the more pictur-
esque, the more memorable and the
more triumphant? And to what better
use could we put our lives than into
the sacrifice for Christ and His cause
and the happiness of our fellow-crea-
lures? Shall we not be willing to be
torn down that righteousness shall have
triumphant way? Christ was torn down
for us. Can we not afford to be torn
down for Him? If Christ could suffer so
much for us, can we not suffer a little
! for Christ? II He can afford on Palm
Sunday to travel to Jerusalem to carry
a cross, can we not afford few leaves
from our branches to make emerald His
way?
The process is going on every moment
in all directions. What makes that
father have such hard work to find the
hymn to-day? He puts on his spectaclcs
and holds the book close up, and then
holds it far off, and is not quite sure
whether the number of the hymn is $50 or
1870, and the fingers with which he turns
the leaves are very clumsy. He stoops
good deal, although once he was
straight as an arrow, and his eyes were
keen as a hawks and the hand he
offered to his bride on the marriage
day was of goodly shape and as
God made it. l will tell you what
is the matter. Forty years ago he re-
solved his family should have no need,
and his children should be well edu-
Gated, and suffer none Of the disadvan-
tages of lack Of schooling from which he
suffered for life time, 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 off from the
palm tree Of his physical 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
INV man in the crowd on
the famous Palm Sunday twisted off
branches from the palm trees on the
.oad from Bethpage toJerusalem. What
makes that mother look so much older
than she really is? You say she ought
not yet 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 hard struggle at the start.
Examine the tips Of the forefnger and
/ thumb of her right hand and they will
, tell you the story Of the needle that was
piled day in and day out. Yea, look al
both her hands and they will tell the
story Of the time when she did her owl
work, her own mending and rubbing
and washing. Yea, look into the
! face and read the story of scar
let fevers and groups and midnight
watchings when none but God and her
self in that house were awake, and theI
/ the burials and the loneliness afterward
which was more exhausting than the
) preceding watching had been, and now
no one TO put TO bed. How fair She
| once was and as graceful as the palm
I tree, but all the branches of her strength
and beauty were long ago torn off anC
thrown into the pathway OF her house
. hold. Alas! that sons and daughters
. themselves so straight and graceful an6
, educated, should ever forget that they
: are walking to-day over the faller
strength of an Industrious and honoret
E parentage little ashamed, are you, a
e their ungrammatical utterance? IL wa
4 through their sacrifices that you learned
4 accuracy Of speech. Do you los'
/ patience with them because they are 1
, little querulous and complaining?
: guess you have forgotten how queru
4 lous and complaining you were wher
q you were getting over the whoopini
e cough or that intermittent fever. 4
I little annoyed, are you, because he
/ hearing is poor and you have to tell he
| something twice? She was not alway
G hard of hearing. When you were tw'
e years old your first call for n drink q
d midnight woke her from sound sleel
4 as quick as anyone will walScn at tn,
|. trumpet call of the resurrection.
" o, my young lady, what is that un
/. der the sole of your fine shoe? 1t is
: palm leaf which was torn off the tire,
n of maternal fidelity. Young merchant
t young lawyer, young journalist, younl
mechanic, with good salary and fin
!, clothes and refined surroundings hav
e you forgotten what time your fathe
n. had that winter, after the summer
e crops had failed through droughts o
i floods or locusts, and how he wore hi
t old coat too long and made his old ha
v do, that he might keep you at school o
collegeP What is that, my young man
d under your fine boot to-day, the boo
4 that 80 well fits your foot, such boot a
e your father never could afford to wear? |
:. must be a leaf from the palm tree q
e your fathers self-sacrifces. Do not b
n ashamed OF him when he comes to town
g and, because his manners are littl