The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1892-01-22

verse waits upon God and suns. moons
and stars are not very big things 70
Him, and He can with His little finger
turn back an entire world as easily as
you could set back the hour-hand or
minute-hand of your clock or watch
Ny friends, can not look for one
moment on that retrograde shadow on
Ahaz's dial without learning that God
controls the shadows, and that lesson
we all need to learn. That He controls
the sunshine is not SO necessary a les
son. for anybody can be happy when
things go right When you sleep eight
hours a night and rise with an appetite
thSt can not easily wait for breakfast,
and you go over to the store and open
your mail and read more orders than
You can fill. and in the next letter you
find a dividend far larger titan you
have been promised, and your neighbor
comes in to tell you some hattering
thing he has just heard said about you,
and you find all the styles of goods in
which you deal have advanced fifteen
per cent. in value, and on your way
home you meet your children in full
romp and there are roses on the center
of the tea-table and roses of health in
cheeks all round the table. what more
do you want Of consolation? i don't
pity you a bit. You feel as if you
could boss the world. But for
those in just opposite circumstances
my text comes in with an om-
impotence of meaning. The shadow
Oh, the shadow Shadow of bereave-
mentl Shadow of sickness! Shadow
of bankruptcy! Shadow of mental de-
pressionI Shadow of persecution
Shadow of death! Speak out, Oh, sun
dial of Ahaz, and tell all the people
that God manages the shadow. As
Hezekiah sat in his palace window
wrapped in invalidism and surrounded
by anodynes and cataplasms and looked
out upon the black hand of the only
clock known at that time and saw it
move back ten degrees, he learned a
lesson that a majority of the human
race need this hour to learn-that the
! best friend a man ever had controls the
shadow. The set-backs are sometimes
the best things that can happen. The
great German author Schiller could not
work unless he had in his room the
scent Of rotten apples, and the decay
of the fruits of earthly prosperity may
become an inspiration instead of de-
preston. Robert Chambers lame feet
shut him up from other work, and he
became the world-renowned publisher,
and helped fashion the best literature
of the ages. The painful disorder like
that of Hezekiab called a carbuncle is
spelled exactly the same as the pre-
cious stone called the carbuncle, and
the pang of suffering may become the
jewel of immoral value. Your set back
like that of Ahaz's sun-dial may be re-
covery and triumph. / never had set
back but it turned out to be a set for
ward You never would have become
a Christian If you had not had a set
back The highest thrones in Heaven
are for the set-backs. In 1861 the
shadow of the suI.-dial of this nation
was set back, ami all things seemed
going to ruin, and it was set back
further III 1852, and further in 1868, and
still further in 1865, but there is not an
intelligent and well-balanced man,
north or south, east or west, but feels
it was set back toward the sunrise.
But promised to show you how the
shadows might be turned back. First,
by going much among the young peo-
pie. In most family circles there are
grandchildren. By this Divine arrange
ment most of the peple who have passed
the meridian of life can compass them
selves by juvenility. 1t is bad thing
for an old man or old woman to sit
looking at the vivacity of the grand
children shouting: stop that racketr'
Better join in the fun. Let the eighty
years-old grandfather join the eight
year-old young grandson or grand
daughter. My father and mother lived
TO see over eighty children and
grandchildren and great-grandchil-
dren, and more boisterous
crew were never turned out on
this sublunary sphere, and they
all seemed to cry to the old
folks, "keep young" and they did keep
young. Don't walk with a cane unless
you have to, or only as defense in city
afflicted with too many CANNES. Don't
wear glasses stronger than necessary,
putting on mum Der tens when eighteens
will do as well. Don't go into the
company of those who are always
talking about rheumatism and lumbago
and shortness of breath and the brevity
of human life. It is too much for my
gravity to hear an octogenarian talk
about the shortness of human life.
From all that ] can find out he has
always been here, and from present
prospects he is always going to stay.
Remain young. Hang up your stock
ings in Christmas time. Help the boys
fly the kite. Teach the girls how to
dress their dolls. Better than arnica
for your stiff joints and catnip tea for
Fyour sleepless nights will be large
dose of youthful companionship.
Set back the clock of human life.
Make the shadow of the sun-dial of
Ahaz retreat ten degrees. People
make themselves old by always talking
about being old and wishing for the
good old days, which were never as
good as these days. From all / can
hear, the grandchildren are not half
as bad as the grandparents were. Mat
tiers have been hushed up. But il you
have ever been in a room adjoining a
room where some very old people lit
tie deaf were talking over old times you
will find that this age does not monop-
Ollie all the young rascals- 1t may now
be hard to get young people up early
enough in the morning, but their
grandparents always had to be pulled
out of bed. 1t is wrong now to play
miscellaneous tricks on the unsuspecting,
but eighty years ago at school that now
venerable man sat down on a crooked
| min not accidentally placed there and