Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1894-02-24

ais Deter than weddings, or God That
prefers tears to laughter, an omnipotent
Nero, ferocious Mana Sahib, but the
loveliest Being in the universe, loving
flowers and life and play, whether of
phosphori in the wake of the Majestic or
of the human race keeping holiday.
LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE.
But mark you that the phosphorescence
has q glow that the night monopolizes,
and ask you not only what kind of in
huence you are going to leave in the
world as you pass through it, but what
light are you going to throw across the
worlds night of sin and sorrow? People
who are sailing Oh smooth sea and atnoon
do not need much sympathy, but what
are you going to do for people in the
night of misfortune! Will you drop on
them shadow, or will you kindle for
them phosphorescerce?
At this moment there are more people
crying than laughing, more people on
the round world this moment hungry
than we'll fed, more households bereft
than homei unbroken. What are you
going to do about it? WELL" says yon-
der soul, 81 would like to do something
toward illuinining the great ocean of
human Indebtedness, but | cannot do
much"
Can you do as much as one of the
phosphori in the middle of the Atlantic
ocean, creatures smaller than the point
of sharp pin? "Oh, yes" you say.
Then do that Shine! Stand before the
looking glass and experiment to see if
you cannot get that scowl off your fore
head, that peevish look out of your lips.
Have at least one bright ribbon in your
bonnet. Embroider at least one white
cord somewhere in the midnight of your
apparel. Do not any longer impersonate
funeral. Shine! Do say something
cheerful about society and about the
world. Put Il few drops of heaven into
your disposition. Once in awhile sub
stitute sweet orange for sour lemon
Remember that pessimism is blasphe-
my and that optimism is Christianity.
Throw some light on the night ocean.
If you cannot be a lantern swinging in
the rigging, be one of the tiny phosphori
back of the keel. Shine. "Let your
light so shine before men that others see
ing your good works may glorify your
Father which is in heaven"
Make one person happy every day, and
do that for 20 years, and you will have
made 1900 happy. You know man
who has lost all his property by an I'M
fortunate investment or by putting his
name on the back of a friend'snot Aft
er you have taken brief nap, which every
man and woman is entitled to on a Sun
day afternoon, go and cheer up that man.
You can, if God helps you, say some
thing that will do him good after both
of YOU have been dead a thousand years.
Shine! You know of a family with bad
boy who has run away from home. Go
before night and tell that father and
mother the parable of the prodigal son,
and that some of the illustrious and use
full men now in church and state had
silly passage in their lives and ran away
from home. Shine! You know of a fam
ily that has lost child, and the silence
of the nursery glooms the whole house
from cellar to garrett Go before night
and tell them how much that child has
happily escaped, since the most prosper
Gus life on earth is a struggle.
,Shinel Youknow.of some invalid who
is dying for lack Of an appetite. She
cannot get we'll because she cannot eat.
Broil a chicken and take it to her before
night and cheat her poor appetite into
keen relish. Shine! You know of some
one who likes you, and you like him, and
he ought to be Christian. Go tell him
what religion has done for you. and ask
him if you can pray for him.
THE FAILURE OF EULoGY.
Shine! Oh, for a disposition so charged
with sweetness and light that W. mot
help but shine! Remember if you cannos
be a leviathan flashing the ocean into
fury you can be one of the phosphori,
doing your part toward making path OF
phosphorescence. Then l will tell you
what impression you will leave as you
pass through this life and after you are
gone. will tell you to your face and
not leave it for the minister who offici-
ates at your obsequies.
The failure in all eulogiu,n of the de-
parted is that they cannot hear it. All
hear it except the one most interested.
This, in substance, is what l or some one
else will say of you on such an occasion:
1--WE gather for offices of respect to this
departed one. 1t is impossible to tell
how many tears he wiped away, how
many burdens he lifted, or how many
souls he was, under God, instrumental in
saving. His influence will never cease.
We ara all better for having known him.
"That pillow of flowers on the casket
was presented by his Sabbath school
class, all of whom he brought to Christ.
That cross of flowers at the head was pre-
sented by the orphan asylum which he
befriended. Those three single flowers
ono was sent by poor woman for
whom he bought a ton Of coal, and one
was by waif Of the street whom he res
cued through the midnight mission, and
the other was from prison cen WHICH
he had often visited to encourage re-
pentance in a young man who had done
wrong.
"Those three loose flowers mean quite
as much as the costly garlands now
breathing their aroma through this sad
dened home crowded with sympathizers.
Blessed are the dead who die in the
Lord. They rest from their labors, and
their works do follow them ;"
Or if it should be the more solemn bur-
ial at ea,-let it be after the sun has
gone down, and the captain has read the
appropriate liturgy, and the ships bell
has tolled, and you are let down from
the stern of the vessel into the resplend-
ent phosphorescence at the wake of the
ship. Then let some one say, in the