Semi-weekly independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-21
Our Weekly Sermon.

spring weather make this sermon espe-
cialiy appropriate. DIR. Talmage's text
was Psalm cxlvi., i. WHO can stand
before his cold:''
The almanac says that winter is ended
and spring has come. but the winds, and
the trosts, and the thermometers, in some
places down To zero. deny il. The psalmist
lived in Il more genial climate than this,
ana yet he must sometimes have been cut
by the sharp weather In this chapter he
speaks of the SNOW like wool, the frost
like ashes, the hailstones like marbles and
describes the cOngealment of lowest tenn
pcrature We have all studied the power
OF the heat. How few Of us have studied
the power of the frost? Who can stand
before his cold:' This challenge of the
text has many times been accepted
oct. 10, 1872. Napoleon'S great army
began its retreat from Moscow. One hun
drcd and fifty thousand men, 10000
horses. 500 pieces OF cannon. 10000 strag-
girr> Ii was bright weather when they
tartcd from Moscow but soon something
wrathier than the Cossack5 swoOped upon
they TANKS. An army Of arctic blasts
witt icicles for bayonetS and hallstones
for shot, and commanded by voice of tenn
pcst. marched after them. the flying ar
tillery of the heavens IN pursuit. The
troops at nightfal would gather into cir
c!es and huddle themselves together for
warmth. but when the day broke they
roSe not, for they We're dead. and the
ravens came for their morning meal OF
CorpseS. The way was strcwn with the
rica stuffS of the east. brought as booty
from the Russian capital. An invisible
power seized 100000 men and hurled
them dead into the SnOwdrifts and on the
hard surfaces of the chill rivers and into
the maws Of the dogs that had followed
them from Moscow. The feeling horror
which has appalled, history was proof TO
all ages that il is a vain thing for any
earthly power L. accept The challenge of
my text. WHO could stand before his
cold:" In the Middle Of December, III,
at alley Forge. II 900 troops We're. with
fro> led ears and frosted hands and frosted
feet. without shoes. without blankets. "
ins on the white pillow Of the snowbank.
Frigid Horrors.
As during our civil war the cry was,
'Or 70 Richmond-' when the troops were
NO, ready To march, 50 in the Revolution
arr war there was Il demand for wintry
campaign until Washington lost his equi-
lbriGm and wrote enlphatically. Il assure
those gentlemen it is easy enough seated
By good tireside and in comfortable
homes 10 draw out campaigns for the
American army. but | tell them it is not
So easy to lie on a bleak hillside without
blankets and without shoes Oh, the
frigid horrors that gathered around the
American army in the winter of 1III.
Valley Forge was one of the tragedies of
the century. Bcnumbed. scnseless, dead.
wv 10 can stand before his cold:" Not
We sag the frozen lips of Sir John
Franklin and his men. dying in arctic eX-
ploration. Not we," answer Schwatha
and his crew. falling back from the fort
rcsses of ice which they had tried in vain
10 capture. Not we" say the abandoned
and crushed decks of the Intrepid. the Re-
siStance and the Jeanette. Not We
say the procession of American martyrs
returned home for American sepulture. DE
Long and his men. The highest pillars of
the earth are pillars of ice-Mont Blanc,
Jungfrau. the Matterhorn. The largest
galleries of the world are galleries of ice.
Some OF the mighty rivers much of the
year are in captivity of ice. The greatest
sculptors Of the ages are glaciers, with
arm and hand and chisel and hammer of
Ice. The cold is imperial and has n crown
OF glittering crystal and is seated on n
throne of ice, with footstoo of ice and
scepter of ice. Who can tell the sufferings
OF the winter of 143:}. when all the birds
Of Germany persisted. or the winter OF
1868 in England when the stages rolled
OH the Thames and temporary houses OF
merchandise were built on the ice. or the
winter of 1921 in America, when New
York harbor was frozen over and the
hon t.xnt, = 81,
en- Island? Then come down to our own
winters, when there have been so many
wrapping themselves in furs or gathering
themselves around fires. or thrashing their
arms about them To revive circulation
the millions of the temperate and the arc
sic zones who are compelled to confess
None Of us can stand before his cold"
Fire1css Homes.
One half of the Industries of our day arc
employed in battling inclemency of tn,
weather. The furs Of the north, the cot
ton Of the SOUTH the flax Of our own fields
the wool of our own fiocks, the coal from
our own mines. the wood from our owl
forests. NIL employed in battling these in
clcrnencies. and still every winter will
blue lips and chattering teeth, answers
'None of us can stand before his cold.
sends out Influences 10 warm it, | an
glad that the God Of The frost is the Go,
of the heat; that the God of the snow il
the God Of the white blossoms; that tn,
God of January is the God of June Tn,
question as To how shall we warm th
world up is a question of immediate an,
all accomplishing practically. In thi
zone and weather there are so many fire
less hearths, many broken window
panes, So many defective roofs that sif
the snow. Coal and wood and flannel
and thick coat are better for warming nj
such a place than tracts and Bibles an,
creeds. Kindle that fire where il has pon
out; wrap something around those shiver
ing limbs; shoe those bare feet; hat tina
bare head: coat that bare back; sleev
that bare arm.
Nearly ail the pictures of Martha Wash
fEgton represent her in courtly dress n
bowed to by foreign ambassadors bu
Mrs Kirkland, in her interesting book
gives Il more inspiring portrait of Marth
Washington. She comes forth from he
husbands hut in the cncampment, tn
hut Ii feet long by II feet wide sh