The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-07-10

heaven look over the battlements upon
the coronation, and whether she come
up from the shanty on the commons or
the mansion of the fashionable square,
! greet her with the shout: "All hail!
Queen Vashti."
What glory was there on the brow
of Mary of Scotland, or Elizabeth of
England, or Margaret of France, or
Catherine of Russia, compared with
the worth of some of our Christian
mothers, many of them gone into
glory?-or of that woman men tioned
in the scriptures, who put all her
money into the Lords treasury?-or of
Jephthah's daughter, who made dem
onstration of unselfish patriotismP-or
of Abigail, who rescued the herds and
focks of her husband?-or of Ruth,
who toiled under tropical sun for
poor, old, helpless NaomiP-or OF
Florence Nightingale, who went
at midnight to stanch the battle
wounds of the Crimea?-or of Mrs.
Adoniram Judson, who kindled the
lights of salvation amid the darkness
OI VI hCLhohof "AO
poured out her holy soul in words
which will forever be associated with
hunters horn, and captive's chain, and
bridal hour, and lute's throb, and euN
few's knell at the dying day?-and
scores and hundreds of women, I'M
known on earth, who have given
water to the thirsty and bread
to the hungry and medicine to
the sick and smiles to the discour-
aged-their footsteps heard along dark
lane and in government hospital and
in almshouse corridor by prison gateP
There may be no royal robe-there
may be no palatial surroundings. She
does not need them; for all charitable
men will unite with the cracking lips
of fever-struck hospital and plague
blotched lazaretto in greeting her
as she passes: "Haill Hail! Queen
Vashti"
Vashti the yelled. Had she appeared
before Ahasuerus and his court on
that day, with her face uncovered, she
would have shocked all the delicacies
of Oriental society, and the very men
who in their intoxication demanded
that she come, in their sober moments
would have despised her. AS some
flowers seem to thrive best in the dark
lane and in the shadow, and where the
sun does not seem to reach them, so
God appoints to most womanly ma
lures a retiring and unobtrusive
spirit. God once in while does call
an Isabella to a throne, or Miriam
to strike a timbrel at the front of
a host, or a Marie Antoinette to
quell French mob, or a Deborah to
stand at the front of an armed bat
talon, crying out, "Up! Upl This is
the day in which the Lord will deliver
Sisera into thine hand" And when
women are called to such outdoor
work and to such heroic positions,
God prepares them for it; and they
have iron in their souls and lightning
in their eve, and whirlwinds in their
breath, and the borrowed strength OF
the Lord Omnipotent in their right
arm. They walk through furnaces as
though they were hedges of wild
flowers, and cross seas as though they
were shimmering sapphire; and all the
harpies of hell down to their dungeon
at the stamp of her womanly indigna.
ton.
But these are exceptions. General
j ", Dorcas would rather make gar
ment for the poor boy; Rebecca would
rather fill the trough for the camels:
Hannah would rather make a coat for
Samuel; the Hebrew maid would
rather give prescription for
Naaman's leprosy; the woman of
Sarepta would rather gather a few
sticks to cook a meal for famished
Elijah: Phoebe would rather carry a
letter for the inspired apostle;
mother Lois would rather edu-
cate Timothy in the Scriptures.
When l see a woman going about her
daily duty-with cheerful dignity
presiding at the table, with kind and
gentle, but firm, discipline presiding
in the nursery, going out into the
world without any blast of trumpets,
following in the footsteps of Him who
went about doing good-I say: This
is Vashti with a veil on" But when /
see a woman of unblushing boldness,
loud-voiced, with tongue of infinite
clitter-clatter, with arrogant look,
passing through the streets with the
step of a walking beam, gayly ar
rayed in a very hurricane of MILL
merry, 1 cry out: "Vashti has lost her
veilr When see a woman of comely
features, and of adroitness of intel
lect, and endowed with all that the
schools can do for one, and of high So
cial position, yet moving in society,
with superciliousness and hauteur, as
though she would have people know
their place, and an underlined combina-
ton of giggle and strut and rhodo-
montade, endowed with allopathic
quantities of talk, but only home
opathic infinitesimals of sense, the ter
ror of dry goods clerks and railroad
conductors, discoveries of significant
meanings in plain conversation, prodi-
gies of badinage and innuendo-I say:
Look! look! Vashti has lost her veil. p"
Again: want you to consider
Vashti the sacrifice. Who is this 1 see
coming out of that palace gate of
Shushan? 1t seems to me that l have