Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-04-30

the triumphant wrestler broke the dark
ness with the cry, Thanks be unto
God, who giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. - There is a
widows heart that first was desolated
by bereavement and since by the anx-
ieties and trials that came in the support
of q family.
1t is a sad thing to see a man contend
ing for 2 livelihood under disadvantages,
but to eco a delicate woman, with help
less little ones at her back, fighting the
giants OF poverty and sorrow, is most
affecting It was a humble home, and
passersby know not that within those
four walls Wire displays of courage
more admirable that that of Hannibal
crossing the Alps, OF the pass of Their
mopylae or Balaklava, where ''into the
jaws of death rode the six hundred. -
These heroes had the whole world to
cheer them on, but there were none to
applaud the struggle in the humble
home She fought for bread, for cloth
ing, for fire, for shelter, with aching
head, and weak side, and exhausted
strength, through the long night by the
brook Jabbok. Could it be that none
would give her help? Had God forgot
ten to be gracious? No, contending soul!
The midnight air is full Of wings COM
ing to the rescue. She hears it now in
the sough Of the night wind, in the rip
pie of the brook Jabbok-the promise
made SO long ago ringing down the sky,
''Thy fatherless children, will preserve
them alive, and let thy widows trust i'll
me!''
Some one said 60 q very poor woman,
elbow is is that i'll such distress you
keep cheerful?' She said: Il do it by
what I call cross prayers. When I had
my rent to pay and nothing to pay it
with, and bread to buy and nothing to
buy it with, l used to sit down and cry.
But now do not get discouraged If
go along the street, when [ come to q
corner of the street [ say, The Lord
help me- I then go on until come tC
another crossing of the street, and again
I say, THE Lord help mel And SO
utter q prayer at every crossing, and
since I have got into tho habit of say
ing these cross prayers [ have been
able to keep up my courage
Purified by Fire.
Learn again from this subject that
people sometimes are surprised to Gnd
out that what they have been strug
Cling with in the darkness is really an
CANCEL of blessing. Jacob found in the
morning that this strange parsonage was
not an enemy, but a God dispatched
messenger to promise prosperity for him
and for his children. And SO many a
man, at the close of his trial, has found
out that he has been trying to throw
down his own blessing. If you are a
Chr stian man, / will go back in your
history and find that the grandest things
that have ever happened to you have
been your trials. Nothing short of
scourging, imprisonment and ship
wreck could have made Paul what he
was
When David was fleeing through the
wilderness pursued by his own son, he
was being prepared to become the sweet
singer Of Israel The pit and the dun
geon were the best schools at which
Joseph ever graduated. The hurricane
that upset the tent and killed Jobs chill
dren prepared the man of Uz to write
the magnificent poem that has astound-
ed the ages There is no way to get the
wheat out Of the straw but to thrash it.
There is no way to purify the gold but
TO burn it. Look at the people who have
always had it their own way. They are
proud, discontented useless and unhap-
py Ii you want to find cheerful folks, go
among those who have been purified by
the fire. After Rossini had rendered
William Tell" tho five hundredth time
q company Of musicians caIac under his
window Ill Paris and scrcnaded him.
They put upon his brow a golden crown
Of laurel leaves. But amid all the ap-
plausc and enthusiasm Rossini turned to
friend and said, II would give all this
brilliant scene for few days of youth
and love. - Contrast the melancholy feel
ing of Rossini, who had everything this
world could give him, to the joyful ex-
perienco Of Isaac Watts, whose misfor-
tunes were innulnerabIe, when he says:
I he hill CT Zion yields
y thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heavenly fields
o. walk the golden streets.
Then let songs abound
And every tear bc dry
We are marching through Inlmanuels
ground
To faiTCl worlds OH high.
HEarl-s Of the Combat.
It is prosperity that kills and trouble
that saves. While the Israelites were
on the march, amid great privations
and hardships, they behaved we'll After
awhile they prayed for meat, and the
sky dorlzoned with a great flock of
qaails, and these quails fell in large
multitudea all about them, and the Is
raelites ate and ate and stuffed them
selves until they died Oh. NV friends
it is not hardship or trial or starvation
that Injuries the soul, but abundant sup
ply. tt is not the vulture Of trouble
that eats up the Christians life; it is |
the quails, it is the quailsl You will