The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1895-06-21


You know as we'll as do that this 6ut.
side world and the business world are q
long scene of jostle and contention. Tho
man who has dollaf struggles to keep
it; the man who has it not struggles to
get it Prices up, Prices down. Losses,
Gains Misrepresentation. Undersell-
ing Buyers depreoiatins; statesmen OK
aggerating, Tenants seeking less rent !;
landlords demanding more, Struggles
about office, Men who are in trying to
keep in; men ont trying to get in.
Slips. Tumbles. Defalcations, Panics.
Catastrophes. o woman, thank God
you have a home, and that you may be
queen I'M it, Better be there than wear
Victoria's coronet, Better be there than
carry the purse of princess.
Your abode may be humble, but you
can, by your faith in God and your
cheerfulness Of demeanor, gid it with
splendors such as an upholsterer's hand
never yet kindled. There are abodes in
every city-humble, two stories, four
plain, unpapered rooms, undesirable
neighborhood, and yet there is q man
who would die ON the threshold rather
than surrender. Why? 1t is home.
Whenever he thinks Of it he sees angels
of God lowering around it, The ladders
of heaven are let down to that house.
Over the child's rough crib there are
the chantings Of angels as those that
broke over Bethlehem. 1t is home.
These children may come up after
awhile, and they may win high posi-
ton, and they may have an affluent
residence, but they will not until their
dying day forget that humble roof, I'M
der which their father rested and their
mother sang and their sisters played
Oh, if you would gather up all tender
memories, all the lights and shades of
the heart, all banquetings and reunions,
all filial, fraternal, paternal and conju-
gal affections, and you had only just
four letters with which to spell out that
height and depth and length and breadth
and magnitude and eternity Of mean
ing, you would, with streaming eyes
and trembling voice and agitated hand,
write it out in those four living capt.
tails, HOME.
The Realm of Home.
What right does woman want that is
grander than to be queen in such a
realm? Why, the eagles of heaven can
not fly across that dominion: Horses,
painting and with lathered tanks, are
not swift enough to run to the outpost
of that realm. They say that the sun
never sets upon the English empire, but
| have to tell you that on this realm Of
woman s influence eternity never marks
any bound. Isabella fled from the Span
ISL throne, pursued by the nation S
anathema, but she who is queen in a
home will never lose her throne, and
death itself viii only be the annexation
of heavenly principalities.
When you want to get your grandest
idea of queen you do not think Of
Catherine of Russia or of Anne of Eng
land or Marie Theresa of Germany, but
when you want to get your grandest
idea Of a queen you think of the plain
woman who sat opposite your father at
the table or walked with him arm in
arm down life's pathway; sometimes to
the Thanksgiving banquet, sometimes
to the grave, but always together
soothing your petty griefs, correcting
your childish waywardness, joining in
your infantile sports, listening to your
evening prayers, toiling for you with
needle or at the spinning wheel, and on
cold nights wrapping you up snug and
warm. And then at last on that day
when she lay in the back room dying,
and you saw her take those thin hands
with which she had toiled for you SO
long, and put them together in dying
prayer that commended you to the God
whom she had taught you to trust-oh,
she was the queen! The chariots Of God
came down. to fetch her, and as she
went in all heaven rose up. You cannot
think Of her now without rush of ten
derness that stirs the deep foundations
of your soul, and you feel as much a
child again as when you cried on her
lap, and if you could bring her back
| again to speak just once more your name
as tonderly as she used to speak it you
would be willing to throw yourself on
| the ground and kiss the sod that covers
her, crying, Mother mother" Ali
| she was the queen-she was the queen.
| Now, can You tell me how many thou
sand miles q woman like that would
have to travel down before she got to
the ballot box? Compared with this
| work Of training kings and queens for
God and eternity, how insignificant
seems all this work Of voting for alder
men and common councilmen and sher-
| ifs and constables and mayors and pres
| identsl To make one such grand wom-
an as have described how many thou
sands would You want Of those people
who go in the round of fashion and dis.
sipation going as far toward disgrace.
full apparel as they dare go, SO as not to
be arrested BY the police-their behav.
| ior a sorrow to the good and carica.
ture of the vicious and an insult to that
| God who made them women and not
gorgons, and tramping on, down through
a frivolous and dissipated life, to tenn
poral and eternal damnation.
Designations of Fashions.
0 woman, with the lightning of
your SOUL strike dead at your feet all
these aliuroments to dissipation and to
fashion! Your immortal soul cannot be
fed upon such garbage. God calls you
up to empire and dominion. Will you
have il? Oh, give to God your heart
give to God all your best energies; give
to God all your culture; give to God
all your refinement; give yourself to
him, for this world and the next. Soon
all these bright eyes will be quenched
and these voices will be hushed. For
tho last time you will look upon this
fair earth Fathers hand, mother
hand, sisters hand, child's hand will
no more be in yours. 1t will be night,
and there will come up cold wind
from the Jordan and you must start.
viii it be lone woman on a trackless
moor? All, mol Jesus will come up in
that hour and offer his hand, and he
will say, "You stood by me when you
were well; now l will not desert yor
when you are sick. !" One wave of his