The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-12-20
PETTY ANNOYANCES.
They Sap the Life Blood Of the
Human Family.
DR.. Talmage Discour- es on q Subject That
Is Full of interest to 3 very One
The Petty Annoyances
of Life.

Rev L. Dewitt Ialmage lately
preached on a subject to his con.
gregation in Washington that
commends itself to every one,
in every condition of existence.
His subject was THE Petty Annoy
ances of Life" The text being from
Deuteronomy, vii 20: 1.-THE Lord, thy
God, will send the hornet" Following
is the sermon:
1t seems as if the insectile world
were determined to extirpate the hui
man race 1t bombards the grain fields
and the orchards and the vineyards.
The Colorado beetle, the Nebraska
grasshopper, the New Jersey locust,
the universal potato bug, seem to carry
on the work which was begun ages ago
when the insects buzzed out of Noah's
ark as the door was opened
In my text the hornet flies out on its
mission. 1t is species of wasp, swift
in its motion and violent in its sting.
Its touch is torture to man or beast.
We have all seen the cattle run below
ing under the cut of its lancet In
boyhoOd we used to stand cautiously
looking at the glObular nest hung
from the tree branch, and while we
were looking at the wonderful cover
ing we were struck with something
that sent us shrieking away. The
hornet goes in swarms. 1t has cap
tains over hundreds, and twenty of
them alighting on one man will pro-
| duce death.
The Persians attempted to conquer
Christian city, but the elephants and
| the beasts on which the Persians rode
were assaulted by the hornet, so that
the whole army was broken up. and
the besieged city was rescued. This
burning and noxious insect stung out
the Hittites and the Canaanites from
their country. What cleaning sword
and chariot of war could not accom-
plish was done by the puncture of an
insect. The Lord sent the hornet
MY friends. when we are assaulted
by great behemoths of trouble, we be-
come chivalric and we assault them;
we get on the high metaled steed of
our courage and we make cavalry
charge at them: and. if God be with
us, we come out stronger and better
than when we went in. But alas for
these insectile annoyances of life
these foes too small to shoot-these
things without any avOirdupoiS weight
the guats aud midges and the flies
and the wasps and the hornets In
other words, it Is the small. singing
annovances of our life which drive u
out and use w. up. In the best condi.
toned life. for some grand and glori-
Gus purpose. God has sent the hornets.
remark, in the first place. that these
small. singing anuoyances may come
in the shape of nervous organization.
People who are Frustrated under ty-
phoid fevers or with broken bones get
plenty of sympathy: but who pities
anv body that Is nervous? The doctors
say, and the family say. and everybody
says: oh. shes only little nervous
that's all" The sound of a heavy
foot. the harsh clearing of a throat, n
iiscord in music. Il want OF harmony
between the shawl and the glove on
the same person, a curt answer, a pass
ing slight, the wind from the east, any
one of COCO annoyances opens the door
for the hornet. The fact is that the
vast majority of people IN this country
are oveworked. and their nerves are
the first to give out y great multi
tude are under the strain of Leydeu,
who. when he was told by his physi-
elan that if he did not stop working
while he was in such poor physical
health he would die. responded: Doc
tor. whether live or die, the wheel
must keep going round" These SEN
sitive persons of whom | sneak have
bleeding sensitiveness. The h.eS love
to light on anything raw and these
people are like the Canaanites spoken
Of in the text or in the cOntext-they
have a very thin covering and are vul-
nerable at all points. And the Lord
sent the hornet"
Again. the small insect annoyances
may come to us in the shape of friends
and acquaintance who are always say
ing disagreeable things There are
some people you cannot be with for
half an hour but you feel cheered and
comforted. Then there are other peO-
pie You cannot be with for five min
utes before you feel misera BILE They
do not mean to disturb you. but they
sting YOU to the bone. They gather
up all the yarn which the gossips
spin and retail it They gather up all
the adverse criticisms about your per-
son. about your business, about your
home, about your church, and they
make your ear the funnel into which
they pour it. They laugh heartily
when they tell you, as though it were
good joke, and you laugh too-out-
side.
These people are brought to our at
tention in the Bible, in the book of
Ruth. Naomi went forth beautiful
and with the finest of worldly pros
poets, and into another land; but,
after awhile, she came back widowed
and sick and poor. What did her
friends do when she came to the city?
They all went out. and instead of Civ
ing her common sense consolation,
what did they do? Read the book of
Ruth and find out They threw up
their hands and said: rs this Naomi?'
as much as to say, How awful bad
you Iookr' When l entered the min
istry / looked very pale for years,
and every year, for four or five years,
a hundred times year, / was asked if
had no. the consumption; and pass