The Penn's Grove record., 1892-04-15

u hcdts AZ h5lF OF t1o IDDEs, Uu6
grain and grass, to cleanse the air, to mae
sportsmeu more happy and the ingle fir:
more bright, l come. Though SO light | an
that you toss me from your mufiar and
crush me under your foot, | am dong my
best to fulfil what | was made for. CLOTHED
In white | come on a heavenly mission, AMI,
when my WORK is done and God shall call ia
morning vspor | shall go back, draw n By
the fiery courses of the sun"
"Wha doest thou, insignificant grass
blade under my feet?' II am dong a worb,. VI
says the grass blade, "as BEST / can. | heip
TO make up the soft beauty OF field an
lawn. I am satisfied, il, with millions o.
others no bigger than 1, wa can give pasture
to ilocks AMI herds. | am wonderfully mace.
He who fee Is the ravens gives me substance
from the soil and breath IRON the air, AMI
He who clothes the lilies of the field rewards
ne with this coat of green"
"For what, lonely cloud, goest thou across
the heavensg' Through the bright air a
voice drops from afar, saying: up and
down this sapphire floor | pace to teach men
that like me they are passing away. / gather
up the waters from lake and sea, an1 then,
when the thuuders toll, | refresh the earth.
making the dry ground to laugh with bar.
vests OF wheat and fields of corn. Icatch
the frown of the storm md the hues of the
rainbow. At evening tide on the western
slopes l will pitch my tent, and over me
~ u WV rhAANAf oht Az Fut pNc, III
the fire of the sunset. A pillar OF cloud like
me led the chosen across the desert, and sur
rounded by such as I the Judge Of Heaven
and Earth will at last descend, for "Behold
de cometh with clou1sp
Oh, my friends, if anything in the imam.
innate world be useful, let US immortal men
and women be useful, and in that respect be
like the palm tree. But I must not be
tempted by what aviG says of that green
shaft of Palestine, that living aud glorious
| pillar of the eastern gardens, as seen In 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 evan.
gelist, says of 1t in my text.
Notice that it was a 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 the feet of the
colt AMI in the way OF Christ were torn off
from the trees. What a pity, some one
might say, that those stately and grace. ul
trees should be despoiled. The sap oozet out
at the places where the branches broke.
Tn glory Of the palm tree was appropriately
sacrificed for the Saviour'S triumphal pro.
| ~cessiop. 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.
Brooklyn Bridge, the glory of our CONT
hCAtN Ia ANH WV " o
the one slain by his tolls and the other for a
| lifetime invaded. The greatest pictures Of
the world had, in their richest coloring, the
blood OF the artists who made them. The
mightiest ~oratories that ever rolled through
the churches had in their pathos, the signs
and groans Of the 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 n
| Yorktown and the battles between which
were the hemorrhages 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 jungles
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 winat better use couid those palm tree,
Oh the southern shoulder of Mount Olivet
and clear down into the Valley of Geth-
semans put their branches than to surrender
them for the making of Christs journey
toward Jerusalem the more picturesque, the
more memorable and the more ~tiumphant2
And to what better use could We put our
lives thar into the sacrifice for Christ and
His cause and the happiness Of
our fellow creatures? Shall we not be
"llilue " bc WIN ao"h thht AikuI-
eousness shall nave triumphant way? Christ
was torn down for us. Can we not afford
to be torn down for Him? IL Christ could
suffer so much for US, can we not suffer a
little for Christi II He can afford on Palm
Sunday to travel to Jerusalem to carry a
cross, can we not afford a rev leaves from
our branches to make emerald His wayP
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 spectacles and holds
the book close up, and then holds it far off.
and is not quite sure whethss the number Of
the hymn is $50 Or $50, and the fingers with
which he turns t. 8 leaves are very clumsy.
He stoops a good deal. although once he was
straight as an arrow, and his eyes were keen
as hawks, and the hand he offered to his
bride on the marriage day was of goodly
shape anda as God madeit.
Twill tell you what is the matter. Forty
years ago he resolved his family should have
no need and his children should be we'll du-
Gated and suffer none of the disadvantages
of lack OF schooling from which he had
suffered for a 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 off 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 aud brain and hsalth
anu eNeSlRuI, hlu hhFo oSVh t"AobOo
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? o say she ought
not yet to ave one gray line in her hair.
The truth is the family was not always as
we'll off as now. The married pair had a
hard struggle at the start. Examine the
tips of the foreflnger and thumb of her right
band, and they will tell you the story OF the
needle tina was piled day in and day out.
Yea, look at both her hands, and they will
tell the story of the time when she did her
own work, her own mending and %ssrubbing
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 tho burials
and the loneliness after ward, which was
more exhausting than the preceding watch
ing had been, and no one now to put to bed.
How fair she once was, ana as AR as the
palm tree, but all the branches OF her
strength and beauty were long ago torn off
and thrown into the pathway of her house
hold,
Alasi that sons and daughters, themselves
so straight n graceful and educated,
should ever forget that they are walking to-
day over the fallen strength OF an indus
ITlOus anu uOuOICu paichba5c' nus
ashamed, are you, at their ungrammatical
~utterancesY IL was through their sacrifices
that you learned accuracy of speech. DO
yoa lose patience with them because they
are a little queruious and complaining.
guess you have forgotten how querulou
and complaining you were when you wer-
getting over that whooping cough or thai
intermittent fever. A little annoyed, art
you, because her hearing is poor and yua
have to tell her something twice: She wa
not always hard of hearing. Whrn you
were two years old your first cal Tor y
drink at midnight woke her from a sonn
sleep as quick as any one will wal.en at tn
trumpet call of the ,surrectlon.
Oh, my Young lady, what is that under
the sole of your fine shoss1 1t is a palmleat
which was torn off the tres OF maternal
fidelity. Young merchant, young lawyer,
young journalist, young mechanic, with
goo salary and fine clothes n rehnet sur
rouniings, have you forgotten what a time
YOUR father had that winter, after the sum
mer's crops had failed through droughts or
foods or locust, and how he wore his old
coat too long and made his old hat do, that
he might keep you at school or collegei
What is that, my young man, under your