The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-02-24

formerly 10y one hand or as now, when n
hundred workmen in factory are employed
TO make the different parts Of one needle !
it is an instrument divinely ordered for the
comfort, for the life for the health for the
adorument Of the human race The eye OF
the needle hath seen more domestic com
fort, and more gladdened poverty, and more
Christian service than any other eye
The modern sewing machine has in no
wise abolised the needle, but rather en-
thrOned IL. Thank God for the needlework
from the time when the Lord Almighty
from the heavens ordered in regard to the
embroidered door of the ancient taberna
Gle, Thou shalt make a hanging for the
door of the tent of blue and purple and
scarlet and fine twined linen wrought with
needlework," down to the womanly hands
which this winter in this Tabernacle are
presenting for benevolent purposes their
necdlework But there was nothing ex
cept vanity and worldlness and social
splash in what Sisera's mother said about
the needlework she expected her son would
bring home from the battle.
And | am not surprised to find that Sis
era fought on the wrong side, when his
mother at the window of my text, in that
awful eXigency, had her chief thought on
dry goods achievement and social display
God only knows how many homes have
made shipwreck on the wardrobe. And
that mother who sits at the window watch
ing for vainglorious triumph of millinery
and fine colors and domestic pageantry
will after awhile hear rs bad news from
her children out in the battle of life as Sis
era's mother heard from the struggle at
Esdraelon.
MOTHERS STRUCK DOWN.
But if you still press the question,
"Wheres mother?" l will tell you where
she is not though once she was there.
Some Of you started with her likeness in
your face and her principles in your soul
But you have cast her out. That was an
awful thing for you to do, but you have
done it, That hard, grinding, dissipated
look you never got from her If you had
seen any one strike her, you would have
struck him down without much care wheth-
er the blow was just sufficient or fatal: but,
my boy, You have struck her down-struck
her innocence from your face and struck
her principles from your soul
You struck her down. The tent pin that
Jael drove three times into the skull of
Sisera was not so cruel AS the stab you have
made more than three times through your
mothers heart. But she is waiting yet, for
mothers are slow to give up their boys
waiting at some window, it may be n win
dow on earth or at some window in heaven.
All others may cast you off. Your wife
may seek divorce and have no more patience
with you. Your father may disinhert you
and say, Let him never again darken the
door of our house" But there are two
persons who do not give you up-God and
mother.
How many disappointed mothers waiting
at the window Perhaps the panes of the
window are not great glass plate, bevel
edged and lowered over by exquisite lam
brequin, but the window Is made of small
panes, | would say about six or eight of
them, in summer wreathed with trailing
vine, and in winter pictured by the Ra-
phaels Of the frost, a real country window.
The mother sits there knitting or busy
with herneedle on homely repairs, when sh,
looks up and sees coming across the bridge
of the meadow brook a stranger who dis
mounts in front of the window.
He lifts and drops the heavy knocker of
the farmhouse door. Come in!' is the re-
spouse. He gives his name and says, 81
have come on sad Grand" "There is
nothing the matter of my son in the city, is
son got into an unfortunate encounter with
a young man in a liquor saloon last night
aud is badly hurt. The fact is he cannot
get well. hate to tell you all. lam sorry
to say he is dead" "Deadr she cries as
she totters back. "Oh, my son! my soni
my son! Would God had died for thee!'
That is the ending of all her cares and anX-
ieties and good counsels for that boy That
is her pay for her self sacrifices in his be.
half That is the bad news from the bat
tie. So the tidings of derelict or Christian
sons travel to the windows of earth or the
windows of heaven at which mothers sit.
THE HEAVENLY TRAINS.
But" says some one. 'are you not mis-.
taken about my glorified mother hearing of
my evildoings since she went away?" Saws
some one else, Are you not mistaken
about my glorified mother hearing of my
self sacrifice and moral bravery and strug.
gle to do rightY" mol Heaven ana earth
are in constant communication. There are
trains running every five minutes-trains
of immortals ascending and descending
spirits going from earth to heaven to live
there. Spirits descending from heaven to
earth to minister and help. They hear
from us many times every day. Do they
hear good news or bad news from this bat.
tle-this Sedan, this Thermopyle, this Aus
terltz, in which every one of us is fighting
on the right side or the wrong slider
Oh, God, whose I am, and whom l am
trying to serve, as result Of this sermon,
roll over on all mothers a new sense OF
their responsibility, and upon all children,
whether still in the nursery or out on the
tremendous Esdraelon of midlife or old age,
the fact that their victories or defeats sound
ri ont pl To IL. ~, 80
pathetic maternity. Oh, is not this the
minute when the cloud of blessing filled
with the exhaled tears of anxious mothers
shall burst in showers of mercy on this
audiencel
There is one thought that is almost toe
tender for utterance. almost fear to start
1t lest | have not enough control of my
emotion to conclude it, AS when we were
children we so often came in from play OF
from hurt, or from some childish injus.
tice practiced upon us, and as soon as the
door was opened we cried, where's moth.
err" and she said, Here | am" and we
buried our weeping faces in her lap Sc
after awhile, when we get through with
the pleasures and hurts of this life, we
will, by the pardoning mercy of Christ,
enter the heavenly home, and among
the first questions, not the first, but
among the first, will be the old question
that we used to ask, the question that is be
ing asked in thousands of places at this
very moment - the question, where's
mother" And it will not take long fol
us to find her or for her to find us, for she
will havesOeen watching at the window fol
our coming, and with the other children OF
our household of earth we will again gather
round her, and she will say; well, how
did you get through the battle of lifeP
have often heard from others about you
but now l want to hear it from your OWE
souls. Tell me all about it, my children
And then we will tell her of all our earth
ly experiences-theh holidays, the marriages
the birth hours, the burals, the heart
breaks, the losses, the gains, the victories
the defeats-and she will say: Never mind
1t is all over now. | see each one of you has