Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-08-27
A HARVEST SHADOW.
REV. Or. TALMAeE TELLS A TOUCH
ING BIBLE STORY.

" AAANGTuN. aug. o--A llt6 Nue reap
srs are busy In many parts of the land
and the harvosts ere being gathered the
scene brought before us In this subject Is
especially appropriate. The text Is II
Kings iv, I8, 10, 20. "And when the child
was grown It fell on q day that be went
out to his father 10 the reapers. And be
Eaid unto his father, Ny head, my headr
And he said to Lad, Garry him to his
mother And when he had taken him and
brought him to his mother he sat on her
knees till noon and then died"
There Is at least one happy home in
Shunem. To the luxuriance and splendor
Of great house had been given the ad-
vent of a child Even when the angel of
life brings q new soul to the poor mans
but star Of joy shines over the manger.
Infancy, with It's helplessness and inno-
oence, had passed away. Days of boyhood
had come days of laughter and frolic,
days Of sunshine and promise, days of
strange questions and curiosity and quick
development suppose among all the
treasures of that house the brightest was
the boy. One day there is the shout of
reapers heard afeld. A boys heart always
bounds at the sound Of sickle or scythe.
No sooner have the harvesters cut swath
across the field than the lad Joins them,
and the swarthy reapers feel young again
as they look down at that lad, as bright
and beautiful as was Ruth In the harvest
fields Of Bethlehem cleaning after the reap
ers But the sun was too hot for him.
Congestion of the brain seized on him.
see the swarthy lAborers drop their SIC
kles, and they rush out to see what is the
matter, and they fan him, and they try to
cool his brow, but all is OF no avail In
the instant of consciousness he puts his
hands against his temples and cries out,
Ny head, my head" And the father
said, Garry him to his mother" Just as
any father would have said, for our hand
Is too rough, and our voice is too harsh,
and our foot is too loud TO doctor sick
child II there be in our home a gentler
voice, and a gentler hand, and q stiller
footstep But all of no avail While the
reapers Of Shunem were busy In the field
there came a stronger reaper that way,
with keener scythe and for richer har-
vest. He reaped only one sheaf, but oh,
what golden sheaf was thatl do not
want to know any more about that heart
breaking scene than what I see In just
this one pathetic sentence, "He sat on her
knees till noon aud then died" Though
hundreds Of years have passed away since
that boy skipped to the harvest field, and
then was brought home and died on his
mothers lap, the story still thrills us In
deed childhood has charm always and
everywhere, shall now speak to you of
childhood-lts beauty, its susceptibility to
impression, Its power over the parental
heart, and its blissful transition from earth
to heaven.
Child Life.
The child's beauty does not depend upon
form CT feature OF complexion or apparel.
That destitute one that you saw on the
street, bruised with unkindness and II
rags, has charm about her even under
her destitution. You have forgotten 9
great many persons whom you met, Of
finely cut features and with erect posture
and with faultless complexion. while you
will always remember the poor girl who
on "a cold, moonlight night, as you wers
passing late home, in her thin shawl and
barefoot on the pavement, put out hel
hard and said, PLEASE to give me pen
nyP" All, how often we have walked or
and said, "Oh, that is nothing but stree
vagabondismr but after we got bloch
or two on we stopped and said, "Ah. that
Is not right!' and we passed up that SAINT
way and dropped mite into that suffer
ing hand as though 1t were not matter
of second thought, SO ashamed were we o.
our hard heartedness
With what admiration we all look upor
group of children on the playground on
In the school, and we clap our hands al
most involuntarily and say, "How beau
tifulp' All stiffness and dignity are gone
and your shout is heard with theirs, ant
you trundle their hoop, and fly their kite
and strike their ball. and all your warines.
| and anxiety are gone as when a child yor
bounded over the playground yourself
That father who stands rigid and unsym
pathetic amid the sportfulness of children
ought never to have been tempted out of {
crusty and unredeemable solitartness. Th'
| waters leap down the rocks, but they hav,
not the graceful step of childhood. Th'
morning comes out of the gates of the east
! throwing It's silver on the lake and its gok
| on the towers and its fire on the cloud, bu
| 1t Is not SO bright and beautiful as tht
| morning of life. There is no light lik
that which Is kindled in child's eye, nj
color like that which blooms ON child
cheek, no music like the sound of child
voice. Its face in the poorest picture re
deems any imperfection In art. When w
are weary with toll their little hands pul
the burdens off our back Oh, what
dull, stale, mean world this would be with
out the sportfulness of childrenl When
| find people that do not like children, i'm
mediately doubt their moral and Christian
character. But when the grace of Co
comes upon child how unspeakably at
tractivel When Samuel begins TO pray
and Timothy begins to read the Scriptures
and Joseph shows himself invulnerable T.
temptation, how beautiful the scene!
know that parents sometimes get nervou
when their children become pious, becaus
they have the idea that good children al
ways die The strange questions abou
God and eternity and the dead excite az
prehension in the parental mind rathe
than congratulation. Indeed, there ar
some people that seem marked for heaven
This world Is too poor garden for them t
bloom In. The hues of heaven are in tn
petals
TheGe Is something about their fort
head that makes you think that the han
OF Christ has been on it, saying, Let thi
one come to me, and let it come to N
soon. While that one tarried In the hous
you felt there was en- angel In the room
end you thought that every sickness woul
be the last, and when finally the winds {
death did scatter the leaves you were n
more surprised than to see star come on
above the cloud ON dark night, for 70
bad often said to your companion, IN
dear, we shall never raise that child. BIT
l scout the idea that good children alway
die Samnel the pious boy became Samui
the great prophet Christian Timothy b
came minister at Ephesus. Young DaI
lei, consecrated to God, became prime mil
lister of all the realm, and there are l
hundreds of the schools and families {
this country today children who love Go
-