St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-08-08

i~s.SssO NFSN ssasAt TIC IClsSlOu VI SuTlSt
> more wonderful emperor tree, nigh
overshadow all your lives! Are 80,
lowly In ambition or circumstance
puttinR over you It's crown; are yov
high In talent and position, putting
over you its crown7 Oh, for more O
the saccharinc In our own lives and
less Of the wormwoodl
4 What Is tue of individuals is true o!
nations God sets them up to revolvt
Is stars, but they may fall wcrmwood
i Tyre-the atmosphere of the desert,
fragrant with spices. coming 10 cara
vans to her fairs; AL seas cleft into
foam by the kcels of her laden mer
ch2ntmen; her markets rich with
horses and camels from Togafmlh,
her bazars filled With lpholstry
from Bedan, with emerald and
coral and agate from Syria, with
wines from Helbon, with embroidered
work from sAshnr and chilmad.
Where now the glsarn Of her towers,
where the roar OF her chariots, where
the masts of her ships? Let the fisher.
men who dry their nets where once
she stood, let the sea that rushes upon
the barrenness where once she chal.
lenged the admiration Of al nations,
let the barbarians who set their rude
tents where once her palaces glittered,
answer the question. She was q star,
but by her own sin turned to worm
wood and has fallen.
Hundred-gated Thebes-for all time
to be the study Of the antiquarian and
hieroglyphistl her stupendous ruins
spread over ~ miles; her sculptures
presenting in figures Of warrior and
chariot the victories with which the
now forgotten kings of Egypt shook
the nations; her obelisl1s and columns,
Carnac and Luxor, the stupendous
temples Of her pridei Who can imagine
the greatness OF Thobes in those days
when the hippodrome rang with her
sports and foreign royalty bowed
ut her shrines and her avenues
roared with the wheels of pro-
eessions In the wake of return
Ing conquerors9 What dashed down
the visions Of chariots and temples
and thrones? What hands pulled up
on the columns Of her glory? What
ruthlessness defaced her sculptured
wall and broke oblisks and left her in
describable temples great skeletons Of
granite? What spirit Of destruction
spread the lair Of wild beasts in ker
royal sepulchers, and taught the mis-
erable cottagers Of to-day to build huts
in the courts Of her temples, and sent
desolation and ruin skulking behind
the ubelisks and dodging
among the sarcophagi and lean
ing against the columns and stoop-
ing under the arches and weeping in
the waters which 60 mournfully by as
though they were carrying the tears
of al ages? Let the mummies break
their long silence and come mp to
shiver in the desolation, and point to
fallen gates and shattered statues
and defaced sculpture, responding.
''Thebes built not one temble to God
Thebes hated righteousness and loved
sin. Thebes was = star. but she turned
NORWOOD and has fallen"
Babylon. with her ESQ towers and her
brazcn gates and her embattlcd walls.
the splendor Of the earth gathered
within her palaces. her hanging gar
dens built by Nebuchadnezzar to please
his bride, Amytis, who had been
brought up In = mountainous country
and could not endure the fiat country
round Babylon-these hanging gardens
built, terrace above terrace, till at the
height Of 400 feet there were woods
waving and fountains playing, the
verdure. the foliage, the glory look
ing rs II = mountain were on tho
wing. On the tiptop . king walking
with his queen, among statues snowy
white, looking up at birds brought
from distant lands, and drinking out
Of tankards Of solid gold or looking on
over rivers and lakes upon nations
subdued and tributary, crying: rs
not this great Babyl on which have
bulIt?"
What battering-ram smote the walls7
What plowshare upturncd the gardens?
What army shattered the brazen gates?
What long, fierce blast of storm put
out this light which illumined the
world? What crash Of discord drove
down the music that poured from
palace window and garden grove
and called the banqueters to their
revel and tho dancers to their feet?
l walk upon the scene Of desolation
to find answer and pick up pieces Of
bitumen and brick and broken pot
terry, the remains Of Babylon. and IS
in the silence of the night hear the
surging of that billow Of desolation
which rolls over the scene, hear the
wild waves saying: Babylon was :
hvpA ~ - ~ t~~~ -
wood and has fallen"
l pray that our nation may not copy
the crimes of the nations that have
perishcd, and our cup Of worship turn
to :5ormwood, and like them we 60
down. ! am BY nature and BY grace
m optimist, and l expect that this
country will continue to advance until
Christ shall came again But Be not
deceived Our only safety IS in
righteousness toward God and justice
toward man. II we forget the
goodness OF the Lord to this land,
and break His Sabbaths, and Inn
prove mot BY the dire disasters that
have again and again como to us - =
nation. aud we learn saving lesson
neither from civil war nor raging
epidemic, nor drought, nor mildew. nor
scourge Of locust and grasshopper. nor
cyclone. nor earthquake; ifthe political
corruption which has poisoned the
fountains Of public virtue and beslimed
the high places Of authority, making
free government 1t times . kissing and
. aby-word 10 al the earth; II the drunk
enness and icentiousness that stag
ger and blaspheme in the streets Of
our great cities = though they were
reaching after the fame Of : Corinth
and Sodom are not reperted Of. We
will yet see the smoke Of our nations
ruin; the pillars of our national and
state capitols viii fall moro disas-
trously than when Samson pulled
down Daeon; the future historians
viii record upon the page b.
dewed with generous tears the
story that the fres nation
Of the west arose IN splend0r which
made the world staU. Il had mAgniA.
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