Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-07-11

OnStratlO0 OF uuS6lubu pdtllOtiou-oA
of Abigail, who rescued the herds and
fiocks of her husband-or Of Ruth, who
toiled under tropical sun for poor old,
helpless Naomi-or of Florence Night
ingale, 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 dark
ness of Burmah-or Of Mrs. Hemans,
who 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 cur
few's knoll at the dying day and
scores and hundreds of women, unknown
on earth, who have given water to the
thirsty and bread to the hungry and
medicine to the sick and smiles to the
discouraged-their footsteps heard along
dark lane and in government hospital
and in almshouse corridor and by prison
gate? There may. be no royal robe
there may be no palatial surroundings.
She does not need them, for all charita-
BILE 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. :"
Modest Merit.
Again, want you to consider Vashti
the yelled Had she appeared before
Ahasuerus and his court on that day
with her face uncovered she would
have shocked all tho delicacies of orr
entail society, and the very men who i'll
their intoxioation demanded that she
come in their sober moments would
have despised her. AS some flowers
seem to thrive best in tho dark lane
and in the shadow and where the sun
does not seem to reach them, so God ap-
points to most womanly natures re-
firing and unobstrusive spirit. God
once in awhile does call an Isabella to
throne, or Miriam to strike the tim
brel at the front of host, or q Marie
Antoinotte to quell French mob, or
Deborah to stand at the front OF an
armed battalion, crying out: up, up!
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 III
their eye, 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 flow
ers and cross seas as though they were
shimmering sapphire, and all the har-
pies of hell down to their dungeon at
the stamp Of her womanly Indignation.
But these are the exceptions Generally
Dorcas would rather make q garment
for the poor boy. Rebecca would rather
fill the trough for the camels. Hannah
would rather make coat for Samuel.
The Hebrew maid would rather give a
prescription for Mammals leprosy. The
women of Sarepta would rather gather
q few sticks to cook a meal for fam
ished Elijah. Phoebe would rather carry
a letter for the inspired apostle. Mother
Lois would rather educate Timothy IN
the Scriptures.
When see q woman going about her
daily duty, with cheerful dignity pre-
siding at the table, with kind and gen
tie but firm discipline presiding in the
nursery, going out into the world with
out any blast of trumpets, following in
the footstr IS Of him who went about
doing 90. I say. "This is Vashti
with q veil on" But when 1 see a
woman of unblushing boldness, loud
voiced, with tongue of infinite Glitter
clatter, with arrogant Look, passing
through the streets with the step OF a
walking beam, gayly arrayed i'll very
hurricane of millinery, 1 cry out,
"Vashti has lost her veil!" When l see
a woman of comely features, and OF
adroitness of intellect, and endowed
with all that the schools can do for one,
and of high social position, yet moving
"a society with superciliousness and
hauteur, as though she would have peo-
pie know their place, and an underlined
combination of giggle and strut and
rhodomontade, endowed with allopathlc
quantities of talk, but only homeo-
pathic infnitesimals of sense, the terror
of dry goods clerks and railroad con-
ductors, discoveries of significant mean
ings in plain conversation, prodigies of
badinage and innuendo, Isay: Look,
look Vashti has lost her veil. :"
A Sacrificing Spirit.
Again, want you to consider Vashti
the sacrifice. Who is this see coming
out of that palace gate of Shushan? 1t
seems to me that have seen her before
She comes homeless, houseless, friend
less, trudging along with broken
heart. Who is she? 1t is Vashti the sac
rifice. Oh, what change it was from
regal position to a wayfarer's crust A
little while ago approved and sought
for; now none SO poor as to acknowl-
edge her acquaintanceship Vashti the
sacrificed All, you and 1 have seen 1t
many time!
Here is home empalaced with beau
ty. All that refinement and books and
wealth can do for that home has been
done, but Ahasuerus, the husband and
the father, is taking hold on paths OF
sin. He is gradually going down. After
awhile he will founder and struggle
like a wild beast i'll the hunters net
farther away from God, farther away
from the right. Soon the bright apparel
of the children will turn to rags; soon
the household song will become the Sob
bling Of broken heart. The old story over
again. Brutal centaurs breaking up the
marriage feast of Lapith@. The house
full of outrage and cruelty and abomi-
nation, while trudging forth from the
palace gate are Vashti and her children.
There are homes that are in danger OF
such breaking up. Oh. Ahasuerus,
that you should stand in home, by a
dissipated life destroying the peace and