Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-10-06

beauty. IL is plahtou W n0"'O'S n. :.
is the star of a sunien armament. Is
Ismn watch the Lord kindled. 1t is cord
hy which TO bind whole sheaves OF practleai
suggestion. 1t is poem all whose cSnios
are runc by Divine goodness. Yet we an
make the mistake that Jonah made in regard
TO it aud call il a Weed.
ssThe weeds were wrapped about my head.
All that is the trouble on the land as on the
scal We call those weeds that are Mowers
pitched up on the beach OF society are cnli-
dren without home, without opportunity l0r
ANYTHING but sin, seemingly without 0oo'
They are washed up helpless. They are called
raoa,pufins. They are SPOKEN oil as the
raSjngs of the world. They are Walls. tney
are street arabs. They are hotsam ana le.-
sam OF the social sea. Iaey are sohe'hiu7
TO be- LETT alone, or something y DC sroi On,
or something to give no to decay. Nothlhg
but weeds. They are up the rlckety stars OF
that carret. They ars down in the cellar OF
that tenement house They swelter IN SUM-
mprs when they see not one olade OF green
ora.s. AMI SILVER in winters that allow them
not one warm coat or shawl or shoe.
Such the city missionary found IN one OF
our city rOokeries, and When the poor w -n''il
,y,s asked If sac sent her children to senooi
soe replied No. Sir, never did send EN-
40 school. | know il. they ought TO learn,
Int 7 couldn't. | try 10 shame him. some
tines Cit is nv husband. sir). bu; he drinks
AMI then beats me-loOS at that bruise on
my faoe-and tell him 10 see what is comm
10 his chill iren. There Peggy goes seliin
fruit every night in those cellars IN water
street. and they're hells. sir. She's learnn
an sorts OF bad words there ami don't get
hack Till IL o'clock at night. II It WASH Tor
her earDin' shilln' or two In them places.
I should starve Oh. wish they was out OF
the city. Yes. It is the truth. would rather
IN q all nv children dead than onthe street,
b., [ can't help it.
Another one Of those poor women fount
nv a reiormatory association re;ited her
story OF want and woe and looked up ahd
said. Il felt so hard to lose the children
when they died. but now I'm glad they're
cone" Ask any one OF a thousand such
children on the streets. Where do yOu iive|
and they will answer, Il don't live no.
where" They will sleep tonight In ash bar
res. or under outdoor stairs, or on the
wharf. kicked and bruised and hungry. Who
cares Tor them? Once in while city mis-
s;onary. or a tract distributor, or teacher
of ragged schools will rescue one OF them.
but for most people they are only weeds.
Yet Jonah did not more completely mis-
represent the red alga about his head in the
Mediterranean than most people misludge
these moor and forlorn and dying children of
the street. They are not weeds. They are
immortal flowers. Down in the deep sea OF
woe. but flowers. When society and the
church of God come to appreciate their eter
nal value. there will be more C. L. Braces
and more Van Meters and more angels OF
mercy spending their fortunes and their lives
in the rescue.
Hear it, 0 We philanthropic and Christian
and merciful sous-not weeds, but flowers.
l allure you as the friends OF all news0oys
lodging houses, OF all industrial schools. OF
all homes for friendess girls, and for the
many reformatories and humane assocla-
lions now on foot How much they have AL
ready accomplished Out OF what wretch
edness, into what good homes VI Il ,OOO OF
these picked up out of the streets and sent
into country homes only tweleye children
turned out badly.
In the last thirty years number that 10
mSn can number OF the Migrants have been
lifted into responsibility AMI usefulness and
Christian life. Many OF them have homes
Of their own. Though ragged boys once and
street girls, now at the head OF prosperous
families, honored on earth and TO be glorious
in heaven. Some Of them have been Govern
ors Of States. Some of them are ministers oil
the gospel. In all departments OF life those
VINO were thought to be weeds have turned
out TO be flowers. One OF those rescued lads
saving: II have heard you are studying for
the ministry. So am /.
Ify hearers. implead you for the news
bows OF the streets. many OF them the bright
est children of the city, but with no chance.
Do not step on their bare feet. Do not.
when they steal ride, cut behind. When
the paper is three cents. once in a While give
them a five cent piece and tell them to keep
the change. ike the ring OF the letter the
yVhprn
had been sent to good home, to New
York newsboy's lodging house: Boys. we
should snow ourselves that we are 20 iOOls,
that We can become as respectable as any OF
the countrymen. for Franklin and Webster
and Clay were poor boys once. and even
George Law and Vanderbilt and Astor. And
now, boys, stand up and let them see you
have cot the real stuff in YOU. Come ouI
here and make respectable and honorable
men. so they can say. There, that boy was
once a neTsbOy." Ny hearers, join the
Christian phiianibropis;s VINO are changing
organ grinders and bootOlacks and news
bows and street arabs and cigar girls INTO
those who shall be kings ana queens unto
God forever. 10 is bigh time that JONAH
finds out that that which is about him Is not
weeds. but flowers.
As l examine this rel alga which was
about the recreant prophet down in the
Mediterranean depths, wien. in the words
OF my text. he cried out. "The weeis were
wrapped about my head, and | an led
THEREBY to further examine this submarine
world, an compelled to exelaim. what
wonderful Col we have. / am Slad tnat, by
diving bell. and Brooks deep sen sounding
apparatus" and ever improving machinery,
we are permitted to walk the floor OF tn,
ocean and report the wonders wrought by
the great God.
Study these gardens Of the sea. Easier AMI
easier shall the profounis Of the ocean BE-
come to us. and more AMI more IFS Opu en;0
OF co'or and plant uDrOll, especially as W.
leroy submarine boat has been construct
ed. making it possible 10 navigate under the
sea almost as well as on the surface OF the
sea. and unless God IN His mercy banishes
war from the earth whole fleets OF armed
ships far down under the water move on 10
blow up the argos'es that float the surface.
May such submarine ships be used for laying
open the wonders OF GODS workings in the
great deep and never for human devastation!
oh, the marvels OF the water world These
so-called seaweeds are the pasture fields and
the forage Of the innumerabie animals OF the
deep. Not one species OF them can be spared
from the economy Of nature. Valleys and
mountains and plants miles underneath the
waves are all covered with flora and fauna.
Sunken Alps and Apennines and Himalayss
OF Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A continent
that once connected Europe and America, so
that in the ages past men came on foot
across from where England is to where We
now stand. all sunken and now covered vita
the growths OF the sea rs it once was covered
with grOwths OF the land.
England and Ireland once all ono piece OF
land, but now much of it so far sunksn as to
make n channel, and Ireland has become an
I island. The islands, for the most paft, are
only the foreheads of sunken continents.
The sea conquering the land all along the
coasts and crumbling the hemispheres wider
and wider become the subaqueous DO
minions. Thank Col that Skilled by
drographsrs have mads us maps AMI charts
of the rivers Gnt lakes an seas AMI sloT1
us something o. the work OF the eternal God
in the water world.
Thans God that the great Nirginian. Lieu
tenant Maury. lived 10 give Us "The Physical
Geography OF the Sea- and that men OF
genius nave gone forth 70 study the so-c1llei
weeds that wrapped about Jonah's head and
have found them 10 be cOrOnals OF beauty,
and when the tide recsded these scientists
have walden down and picked up divlnely
pictured leaves o. the ocean. the naturallsts,
pike and Hooper and Walters. gathering