News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1896-10-01

swing ON its hard hinges. 1t is a gate
made out of empty -four barrels, and
cold fire CRATES, and worn out apparel,
and cherries homes, and unmedieated
sickness, and ghastliness, and horror.
1t is gate of struggle. A gate of
penury. A gate of want. A gate of dis
appointment. A red gate, or what
Isaiah would have called a gate of car
buncles.
life of Struggle.
Now, as have already suggested, as
there are obstacles in all our paths, we
will be happier if we consent to have
our life struggle do not know any
one to whom it is not struggle
Louis XIV thought he had everything
fixed just right and fixed to stay, and
SO he had the great clock at Bordeaux
made. The hours of that clock were
struck by figures in bronze representing
the kings of Europe, and at certain
time of day William III of England and
other kings were made to come out and
bow to Louis XIV. But the clock got
out of order one day and just the oppo-
site of what was expected occurred; as
the clock struck certain hour Louis
XIV was thrown TO the feet of William
III. And so the clock of destiny brings
many surprises, and those go down that
you expected to stand, and at the foot
of disaster most regal conditions tum-
BILE. In all styles of life there come dis
appointment and struggle. God has for
some good reason arranged it so. If it
is not poverty, it is sickness, If it is not
sickness, it is persecution. 1t it is not
persecution, it is contest with some evil
appetite. If it is not some evil appetite,
it is bereavement. If it is not one thing,
it is another Do not get soured and
cross and think your case is peculiar.
You are just like the rest Of us. You
will have to take the bitter draft
whether it be handed to you in golden
chalice or pewter mug. A man who has
a thousand dollars ayear income sleeps
sounder and has better appetite than
the man who has five millions. If oul
life were not struggle, we would never
consent to get out of this world, anC
we would want to stay here, and sc
block up the way Of the advancing gen
erations. BY the time that a man get'
to be 70 years Of age, and sometimes by
the time he gets to be 80 years of age
he says, 81 have had enough of this
and vixen the Lord wills it l am ready
to emigrate to a country where there
are no taxes, and the silver of the trum
pet put to ones lips has no quarrel will
the gold Of the pavement under hi
feet. /" We have in this world more op
portunity to cultivate patience than tt
cultivate any other grace. Let tina
grace be strengthened in the royal gym
nasium Of obstacle and opposition, ant
by the help Of God, having overcom
our own hindrances and worriments
let US go forth to help others who's
struggle is greater than our own.
A Story.
A friend told me the other day Of
shoemaker in Russian city who's
bench was in the basement CT a build
ing and so far underground that he coul
see only the feet Of those who went b
on the sidewalk. Seated on his bench
:. he Otter locked up, and there went lib
swift and skipping feet Of children, an
then the slow and uniform step of tn
aged, and then feet with shoes old an
worn out, and then crippled feet, an
he resolved he would do kindness t
each one who needed it. So when tn
foot with the cid and worn out sho
was passing, he would hail it and max
for it comfortable covering, for b
had the hammer, and the Iegs, and tn
shoe lasts, and the lap stone, and tn
leather to do it. An,r when he saw tn
invalid foot pass, he would hail it an
go out ard offer medicine and crutc
and helLfulnCss. And when he saw tn
aged foot pass he hailed it and told tn
old man CT heaven, where he would b
young again. When he saw the foot c
childhood pass en- the sidewalk, h
would go cut with coed advice and
laugh that seemed like an echo of tn
child's laugh. Well, time went on, an
as the shoemaker wants were yer
few he worked but little for himsel
dllu lIbSC VI tiLt NllllC lOl OtICtcf anu 1
the long evenings, when he could nC
SO well see the feet passing on the side
walk, he would make shoes of all size
and stand them on shelf, ready fC
feet that would pass i'll the daytime. {
course, as the years went On, under TIL
process the shoemaker became more an
more Christian until one day he said
himself: 81 wish among all those fee
passing up there on the sidewalk
could see the feet of the dear Chris
passing. Oh, if / could only see h
feet go by would know them becaus
they are SCARED feetP' That night til
shoemaker dreamed, and in the dreal
he saw the glorious Christ, and he sale
80 Christ, l have been waiting fC
thee to pass On the sidewalk, and | hay
seen lame feet, and wounded feet, an
aged feet, and poor feet, but i'll val
have | looked for thy SCARED feet.
And Christ said to the shoemaker
"Man, did pass on the sidewalk, al
you did see my feet, and you did con
out and hail me, and bless me, an
help me. You thought it was the fot
of poor old man that went shutflir
by; that was my foot. You thought
was the foot of soldier that went linn
ing past; that was my foot. Yc
thought that shoeless foot was the fo'
1. e.