Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-12-09

ing at the battery OF Portillo she foun that
ali the garrison had been killed She snatclel
match from the hand Of a dead artillery
man and fired of a twenty-six FOUNDER, then
leaped on it and vowed she would not leave
it alive. The soldiers looked in aud saw her
daring and rushe up AMI opened another
tremendous fire on the enemy.
The life OF James |. Of Scotland was
threatened Poets havs sung those times
and able pens have fingered upon the story
of manly endurance, but how few ID tell the
story OF Catharine Douglas one OF the
/ ousen's maids. who ran 10 bolt the door, but
found the bar had been taken away so as TO
facilitate the entrances of the assassin! Sac
thrust her arm into tina staple TIE MUIR
derers rushing against it her arm was snat,
tered. Yet how many have since liyei ana
died who never heard the uchlng, SELF
sacrificing, heroic story OF Catharlne Doug
las and her poor, shattered arm
You know how calmly Mme Roland went
to execution and how chesriully Joanna OF
Naples walked to the castle OF Mura, and
how fearlessly Nine. Grimaldi listensi TO
her condemnation, and how Charlotte Cor
dav smiled upon the frantic mob that pur-
sued her TO the eullotine. AMI there
would be no end TO the recital II attemptei
to present all the historical incidents wnlcl
show that woman's courage wouii rouse IT,
self for great emergency.
But [ need not go so far. You nave
known some one who was considered mere
butterfly in society. Her hand had known
no toll. Her eye hal wept no tear over
misfortune. She moved among obssquiOus
admirers as careless as an insect in a field OF
poisoning buckwheat. But in 1861 tiuln-
cial tempest struck the husbands estate.
Before he had time TO reef sail aud make
things snug the ship capslzet aud went
down. Enemies cheered at the misfortune
AMI wondered what would become OF the
butterfly. Cool men pitiod AMI said she
would die of a broken heart
"She will not WORK. say they, 'aud she
is too proud to beg" But the prophecies
have failed. Disaster has TRANSFORMED the
shining sluggard into practical worker
happy as princes, though compelled to
hush her own child to sleep and spread her
own table aud answer the ringing OF her
Lwn doorbel. Her arm hal been nusclet
for the conflict against misfortune, hunger
and poverty an 1 want, and all tae other
jackals Rizpah scares from the rock.
saw one in a desolate home. Her mer-
cless companion had pawne1 even the
chlidrens shoes for rum. From honorable
ancestry she had come down to this The
cruise OF oil was empty and the last candle
gone out. Her faded frock was patcde1 with
fragments of antique silk that she had worn
on the bright marriage day. Confident in
God. she had a strong heart, ID which her
children ran when they trsmblet at the
staggering step and quailed under fathers
curse Though the heavens were filed with
fierce wings AMI the thicSets gnashe with
rage. Riz Jah watche faithfully day after
day and year after year, and wolf and con-
oraut by her God strengthened arm were
hurled down the rocks.
You pass day by day along streets where
there are heroines greater than Joan OF Arc.
Upon that cellar floor there are conflicts as
fercs as Sedan, and heaven aud hell min.
gle in the light. Lifted in that garrett there
are tribunals where more fortltu1s is de-
manded than was exhibited by Lady Jane
Grey or Mary, Queen of Scots
Now ask. il mere natural courage can
do so much. what may we not expect OF wo-
men who have gazsd on the great sacrifice,
and who are urged forward by all the voices
OF grace that sound from the Bible AMI al
the notes Of victory that speak from thesSy'
Many years ago the Foriarshire steamer
started from Hull bounl for Dlniee. After
the vessel had been out a little while thu
winds began 10 rave an pillows ris9 until
temnest was upon them. The vessel leaked,
and the fires went out and though the sails
we're hnisted fore and aft she went speeding
toward the breakers Sho struck with her
bows foremost on the rock. The vessel
parted. Amid the whir.win1 and the DARK
ness all were lost but nine. These clunS 10
the wreck on the beach.
Sleeping that night in Lonystone light
house was a girl of gentle spirit and c)mely
countanance. As the morning dawns see
that girl standing amid the spray and tun-
ut of conten ling elements looking throu{h
n glass upon the wrec AMI the nine wretch
ha a
take boat aud put out across the wild sea 70
rescue them. The father says: 1T cannot
ba donei Just look at the tunbllng SURF
But she persisted and with her father
bounds into the boat. Though never accuE.
TONED to ply.ng the oar. she takes one AMI
her father the other. Steady now. ful
away. Pull away
The sea tossei 10 the boat as thouyh it
were a bubble. bus anil the foam and the
wrath of the sea the wreck was reached
the exhausted people picked up aud savst
Humane societies rendered their thanks
Wealth poured into the lap OF the poor girl.
Visitors from all lands came to look on her
sweet face, and when soon after shs
launched forth on a dark sea, and Death
was the oarsnan, dukes and duchesses aud
mighty men sat down in tears in Alnwicx
castle TO think they never again might see
the face Of Grace Darling.
No such deeds of daring will probably be
asked OF you, but hear you not the howl OF
that awful storm o. trouble and SIN that
hath tossed ten thousand shivered hulks into
the breakers Know you not that the whole
earth Is strewn with the shipwrecket-that
there are wounds 70 be healed and broken
hearts 10 be bound and drowning souls T.
be rescuedf Some have gone down, and you
come too late, but others are c!inglng o the
wreck. are shivering with the cold. arr
strangling in the wave, are crying TO you fol
deliverance. Will you not, oar in hand, put
out to-day from the Lighthouse!
When the last ships timber shall have
been rent and the last Longstone beacon
shall have been thundere1 down in the hurr-
cane, and the last tempest shall have folded
its wings, and the sea itself shall have been
licked up by the tongue OF all consuming
fire, the crowns Of eternal reward shall be
kindling into brighter glory on the brow OF
the faithful. AMI Clrlst pointing to the
inebriate that you reforme1 ard the dying
sinner whom you taught to pray and the
outcast whom Won pointed 10 God for shell
tor. will say: lyon did it TO them! You
did it to Me-
Again, the scene OF the text imDresses up
on Us the strength Of maternal attachment.
Not many men would have had courage or
endurance for the awful mission OF Rizpah.
TO dare the rage OF Wild beasts and SIT from
Nay TO October unsheterei. aud to watch
the corpses OF unshetered children. was
work that nothing but the maternal heart
could have accomplished. II needed more
strength than to stand before opened batter
les or to walk in calmness the deck OF
laundering steamer.
There is no emotion 80 completely unset
fish as maternal affection. Coniugal love
expects the return Of many kindnesses and
attentions. Filial love expects paternal care
or is helped by the memory OF past watch
funess But tho strength OF mothers love
is entirely independent Of the past aud the
future, and is. Of all emotions the purest.
The child has done nothing in the past to
earn kindness ami in the future 1t may
grow I'D to maltreat its parent, but stu
from the mothers heart there goes forth
inconsumabe affection.
Abuse cannot offend II: neglect cannot
chill 1t; time cannot efface it; death cannot
destroy il. For harsh words 1t has gentle
chiding; for the blow it has benehcent MIN
istry; for neglect il has increasing watch
fulness. It weeps at the prison door over the
incarcerated prodigal, and pleads for parton
at the governors feet, and is forced away
nv compassionats friends from witnessing
the struggles of the gallows. Other Ignts
- xvffhOut pItluC1lSl-