Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-01-21

our feelings II not with 30 many words,
This life Is frOm God. this warmth is from
God. Or, We have rush Of prosperity
and we say. These successes are from God
What a providentid thing il was bought
that lot Just before the rise Of real estatei
How grateful TO God | am that | made
that investment Why, they have declared
10 per cent dividend What mercy il was
that sold out my shares before that col
lapser Oh. yes; we acknowledge God in
the sunshine OF bright day or the sun.
shine OF a great prosperity. But suppose
the day is dark You have TO light the
gas at noon. The sun does not show him
self all day long. There is nothing but
shadow. How slow we are to realize that
the storm is from God and the darkness
from God and the chill from God Or we
buy the day before the markets retreat. or
we make AN investment that never pays, OF
we purchase goods that we cannot dispose
Of, or crop of grain we sowed is ruined
by drought or freshet. or when we took &C
count Of stock on the LIST Of January we
found ourselves thousands Of dollars worse
OF than we expected. Who under such
circumstances says, "This loss in from God
must have been allowed to go into that
unfortunate enterprise for some good rea.
son; God controls the east wind as well as
the west wind1"
GOD CONTROLS THE SHADOWS.
Ny friends, cannot look for one moment
on that retrograde shadow on Ahaz's dial
without learning that God controls the
( shadows ard that lesson we need all to
learn That he controls the sunshine Is not
80 necessary Il lesson, for anybody can be
happy when things go right. When you
sleep eight hours night and rise with an
appetite that cannot easily wait for break
fast and you 10 over to the store and open
your mail to read more orders than you can
fill, and in the next letter you find divi
dend far larger than you have been prom
ised, and your neighbor comes in to tell
you some flattering thing he has just heard
said about you, and you find that all the
styles of goods in which you deal have ad
vanced Is 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 around the table what more do you want
OF consolationf don't pity you bit. You
feel as if you could boss the world But
for those in just opposite circumstances my
text comes in with an omnpotence of mean,
ing. The shadow Oh, the shadow! Shad.
ow of bereavement! Shadow of sicknessl
Shadow of bankruptcy Shadow of mental
depressionl Shadow Of persecutionl Shad.
ow of DEATH Speak out, oh, sun dial of
Ahaz, and tell all the people that God
manages the shadowl As Hezekiah sat in
his palace window wrapped in invalidism
and surrounded by anodynes and cata-
plasms and looked out upon the black hand
OF the only clock known at that time and
saw it move back ten degrees, he learned
lesson that a majority of the human race
need this hour to learn-that the best friend
man ever had controls the shadow. The
setbacks are sometimes the best things
that can happen. The great German au-
thor, 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 a de-
preston. Robert Chambers lame feet
shut him up from other work, and he be-
came the world renowned publisher, and
helped fashion the best literature of the
ages The painful disorder like that of
Hezekiah called carbuncIe is spelled ex
actly the same as the precious stone called
the carbuncle, and the pang of suffering
may become the jewel of immortal value
Your setback, like that of Ahaz's sundial,
may be recovery and triumph. never had
setback but it turned out to be a set for.
ward. You never would have become
Christian If you had not had Il setback.
The highest thrones in heaven are for the
setbacks. In 1851 the shadow of the sun
dial OF this nation was set back, and all
things seemed going to ruin, and it was set
back further in 1892, and further in 1863,
and still further in 1865. but there is not
an intelligent and we'll balanced man
north or south, east or west-but feels it
was set back toward the sunrise.
HOW THEY MAY BE TURNED BACK.
But promise to show you how the shad-
ows might be turned back First, by going
much among the young people. In most
family circles there are grandchildren. BY
this divine arrangement most of the people |
who have passed the meridian of life can
compass themselves by juvenility. 1t is a
bad thing for an old man or old woman to
sit looking at the vivacity of their grand.
children shouting, stop that racketp
Better join in the fun. Let the eighty
year-old grandfather join the eight-year
young grandson or granddaughter. My |
father and mother lived to see over eighty !
children and grandchildren and great
grandchildren, and more boisterous crew
were never turned out on this subunary
sphere, and they all seemed to cry to the |
old folks, keep young" and they did keep
young. Don't walk with cane unless you |
have to or only rs defense in city afflicted
with too many CANNES. Don't wear glasses
stronger than necessary, putting on mum
Der tens when eighteens will do rs 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. 1t is too much for
my gravity to hear an octogenarian talking
about the shortness of human life. From
all can find out he has always been here
and from present prospects he is always
going to stay Remain young Hang up
your stockings 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 your
sleepless nights will be large dose of
youthful companionship.
SET BACK THE CLOCK.
Set back the clock of human life Make
the shadow of the sundial 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
Matters have been hushed up. Butif you
have ever been in room adjoining room
where some very old people, little deaf,
were talking over old times, you will find
that this age does not monopolize all the
goung rascals. 1t may now be hard to get
young people up early enough in the morn
ing, but their grandparents always had to
De pulled out of bed, 1t is wrong now to
play mischevious tricks on the unsus
pecting, but eighty years ago at
school that now venerable man sat
1own on crooked pin not acciden