Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1896-07-17


about doing good, / say, This Is Hashti with
veil on. But when / see q woman % I'M
hushing holiness, loud-yoiced. with
tongue Of infinite Glitter clatter. with AFRO
giant look, passing through the streets with
the step Of walking beam, gayly arrayed in
a very hurricane Of millinery. / cry out,
'sYashti has lost her veilr' When I see a
woman Of comely features. and Of adroitness
81 intellect. and endowed will all that the
schools can do for one, and Of high social
position. yet moving In society with super
ciliousness and hauteur az though she,would
have people know their place. and an unde-
fined combination Of giggle and strut and
rhodomonla1e, endowed with allopathio
quantities Of talk. but only homeopathic in
fnitesimals Of sense, the terror OF dry goods
clerks and railroad conductors discoveries
Of significant meanings in plain CONVERSE
tion. prodigies Of badinage and innuendo.
saw: Look. look Nashti has lost her veii"
Again. / want Won 10 consider Nashti tho
sacrifice Who Is this l see coming out OF
that palace gate Of Shushan? II seems 10 me
that have seen her before. She comes
homeless, houseless. fiendless, trudging
along with broken heart. Who is she2 II
is Vashti the sacrifice Oh, what change IL
was from regal position to a wayiarer's
crust, A little white ago approved and
sought for; now none so poor as to acknowl-
edge her acquaintanceship. Nashti the sac
riflce. All, YOU and have seen il many
time
Here IL a home cmpaIaced with beauty.
Ali that refinement and books and wealth
can do for that home has been done, but
Ahasuerus the husband and father, Is taking
hold on paths Of sin. He is gradually going
down After awhile he will founder and
struggle like wild beast in the hunters net
farther away from God, farther away from
the right. Soon the bright apparel Of the
children will turn 20 rags; soon the house
hold song will become the sObbing OF a
broken heart The old story over again.
Brutal centaurs breaking up the mar
riage feast Of Lapithae. The house full
of outrage aud cruelty and abomina-
tion. while trudging forth from the
palace gate are Nashti and her children.
There are homes that are in danger OF
such a breaking up. Oh, Ahasuerus, that
you should stand in home, by a dissipated
life destroy the peace and comfort OF that
home. God forbid that your children should
ever have to wiring their hands and have peo-
pie point their finger at them as they pass
down the street and say, There goes
drunkard's child" God forbid that the little
feet should ever have TO trudge the path OF
poverty aud wretchedness. God forbid that
any evil spirit born Of the wine cup or the
brandy glass should come forth and uprOOt
that garden, and with lasting blistering, all
consuming curse shut forever the palace gate
against VaShti and the children.
During the war l went to Hagerstown to
look at the army, and stood in the night on
hilltop and looked down upon them. |
saw the camp1res all through the valleys
and all over the hills. 1t was weird spec
tacle, those camphres, and 1 stood and
watched them, aud the soldiers who were
gathering around them were. no doubt, talk
ing of their homes and Of the long march
they had taken and Of the battles they We're
to fight But after awhile l saw these camp
fires begin to lower, and they continued TO
lower until they were all gone out and the
army slept. 1t was imposing when | saw
the camphreS, it was imposing 10 the dark
ness when ! thought OF that great host
asleep.
We'll, God looks down from heaven, and
He sees the tlresdes Of ChristeudOm and the
loved ones gathered around these firesdes.
These are the camphres where we warm our
selves at the close OF the dSy and talk over
the battles Of life we have fought and the
battles that are yet TO come. God grant that
WHOM at last these fires begin to 90 out and
continue TO lower, until finally they are eN-
tinguished and the ashes of consumed hopes
strew the hearth of the old homestead, it
may be because We have
Gone to sleep that last long sleep
From which none ever wake TO weep.
Now we are an army on the march Of life.
Then we will be an army bivouacked in the
tent OF the grave.
Once more l want you to look at Yashti
the silent. You do not hear any cutlery from
this woman as she goes forth from the palace
gate. From the very dignity Of her nature,
you know there will be no vociferation.
TfG0 SOMETIMES s In life if Is Necessity to
resist, but there are cries when the most
triumphant thing to do is to keep silence,
The philosopher, confident in his newly dis.
covered principle, waiting for the coming OF
more intelligent generations, willing that
men should laugh at the lightning rod and
cotton gin and misunderstanding for long
years through the soothing Of philosophical
schools, in grand and magnificent silence.
Galilei, condemned by mathematicians and
scientists, carlcatured everywhere vet wait,
ing and watching with his telescope to see
the coming up of stellar re-enforcements
when the stars in their courses would fight
for the Copernican system, then sitting down
In complete blindness and deafness TO wal
Tor the coming on OF the generations who
would build his monument and bow at hi.
grave
The refOrmer, execrated by his contem
poraries, fastened In a pillory, the slow Are
OF public contempt burning under him
ground under the cylinders Of the printing
press, yet calmly waiting for the day wheI
purity of soul and heroism of character viii
get the sanction of earth and the plaudits o
heaven. Affection, enduring without an,
complaint the sharpness of the pang and tn
violence OF the storm, and the heft of tn
chain and Of the darkness of night. Wait
ing until divine hand shall be put forth L
soothe the pang and hush the storm and re
lease the captive. A wife. abused, prosecute,
and perpetual exile from every earthl,
comfort-waiting, waiting, until the I4or,
shall gather all His dear children in a heaven
ly home, and no poor Vashti will ever b
thrust out from the palace gate. Jesus, il
silence and answering not a word, drinking
the gall, bearing the cross. in prospect OF tn
raptuous contamination when
Angels thronged His chariot wheel
And bore Him to His throne,
Then swept their golden harps and sun
The glorious work is done.
Oh, woman! Does not this story OF WASN'T
the queen, Vashti the yelled, Vashti the sac
ritlce, Vashti the silent, move your soul? NJ
sermon converges into the one absorhin
nope that none of you may be shut out c
the palace gate of heaven. You can endur
the hardships, and the priyations, and tn
erueltes, and the misfortunes Of this life
you can only gain admission there. Throug
the blood Of the everlasting covenant you 2
through these gates or never go at all. Go
forbid that you should at last be banishe
from the society of angels and banished frot
the companionship oil your glOrifled kindre
and banished forever. Through the rjc
grace of our Lord. Jesus Christ. may YOU b
enabled to initiate the example of Rache
and Hannah, and Abigail. and Deborah, an
Mary. and Esther, and vashti Amen.