Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-05-26

lows 0pJccteu 20 the SICK ones having
any of the spoils. The objectors said,
"These men did not fight" David,
with a magnanimous heart, replies,
'As his part is that goeth down to ths
battle, so shall his part be that tarrietb
by tho stuff"
liking In Ashcsi
This subject is practically suggestive
to me. Thank God. in these times 0
man a go off on a journey and be
gone weeks and months and come back
and sec his house untouched Of incen.
diary and have his family on the step
to greet him il by telegram he has fore
told tho moment of his coming. But
there arc Amalckitish disasters, there
are Amalekitish diseases that some
times come down upon ones home,
making as devastating work as the
day when Ziklag took fire. There are
families you represent broken up. Nc
battering ram smote in the door, nc
iconoclast crumbled the statues, nc
flame leaped amid the curtains, but SO
far as all the joy and merriment that
once belonged to that house are con
cerned the home has departed.
Armed diseases came down upon the
quietness of the scene-scarlet feyers OF
pleurisics or c~onsumptions or underlined
disorders came and seized upon some
members of that family and carried
them away. Ziklag in ashes! And you
go about, sometimes weeping and some.
times enraged, wanting to get back your
loved ones as much as David and his
men wanted to reconstruct their de-
spoiled households. Ziklag in ashes!
counted the days of your absence. Every
day seemed as long as a week. Oh, how
glad you were when the time came for
you to go aboard the steamboat or rail
car and start for homel You arrived.
You went up the street where your
dwelling was, and in the night you put
your hand on the doorbell, and, behold!
it was wrapped with the signal of be-
reavement, and you found that Amale-
kitish death, which has devastated q
thousand other households, had blasted
yours. You go about weeping amid
the desolation of your once happy home,
thinking Of the bright eyes closed, and
the noble hearts stopped, and the gentle
hands folded, and you weep until you
have no more power to weep. Ziklag in
ashesl
A gentleman went to a friend of mine
in the city of Washington and asked
that through him he might get a con-
sulship to some foreign port. My friend
said to him, What do you want to 90
away from yeur beautiful home for into
a foreign port?'' "Oh, he replied, my
home is gonel My six children are dead.
l must get away, sir. l can't stand it in
this country any longer" Ziklag in
ashesl
Shadows of Bereavement.
Why these long shadows of bereave.
ment across this audience? Why is il
that in almost every assemblage black
is the predominant color of the apparel:
Is it because you do not like saffron OF
brown or violet? Oh, no! You say, "The
world is not so bright to us as once il
was" and there is. q story of silent
voices, and of still feet, and of loved
ones gone, and when you look over the
hills expecting only beauty and lowell
ness you find only devastation and woe.
Ziklag in ashesi
One day, in Ulster county, N. Y, the
village church was decorated until the
fragrance of the flowers was almost be.
wiNlering. The maidens of the village
had emptied the place of flowers upon
one marriage altar. One of their own
number was affianced to a minister of
Christ, who had come to take her to his
Owl home. With hands Joined, amid a
congratulatory audience, the vows wero
taken. In three days from that time one
of those who stood at the altar ex-
changed earth for heaven. The wedding
march broke down into the funeral
dirge. There were not enough flowers
now for the coffin lid, because they had
all been taken for the bridal hour. The
dead minister of Christ is brought to
another village.
He had gone out from them less than