The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-03-25


a question of immediate and all encom-
passing practically. In this zone and
weather there are so many fireless
hearths, so many broken window panes,
so many defective roofs that sift the
snow. Coal and wood and fannels and
thick coat are better for warming up
such q place than tracts and Bibles and
creeds. Kindle that fire where it has
gone out. Wrap something around those
sbiyering limbs. Shoe those bare feet.
Hat that bare head. Coat that bare back.
Sleeve that bare arm. Nearly all the
| pictures Of Martha Washington repre-
sent her in courtly dress as bowed to by
foreign ambassadors, but Mrs. Kirk
land, in her interesting book, gives a
more inspiring portrait Of Martha Wash
ington. She comes forth from her hus-
bands hut in the encampment, the hut
16 feet long by IA feet wide-she comes
forth from that hut to nurse the sick, to
sew the patched garments, to console
the soldiers dying Of the cold. That IS a
better picture of Martha Washington.
Hundreds of garments, hundreds of tons
of coal, hundreds Of GLACIERS at broken
| window sashes, hundreds Of whole
souled men and women, are necessary to
warm the wintry weather. What are
wo doing to alleviate the condition OF
those not SO fortunate as we? Know ye
not, my friends, there are hundreds of
thousand ds of people who cannot stand
before his cold? It is useless to preach
to bare feet, and to empty stomachs,
and to gaunt visages. Christ gave the
world lesson in common sense when,
before preaching the gospel to the mul-
titude in the wilderness, he gave them a
good dinner.
Winter of Gladness.
When was lad, I remember seeing
two rough woodcuts, but they made
more impression upon me than any pic
lures have ever seen. They were on op-
posite pages The one woodcut repre-
sented the coming of the snow in Win
ter and lad looking out at the door OF
a great MANSION, and he was all wrap
! ped in furs, and his cheeks were ruddy,
and with glowing counteDapce he shout
ed, "It SHOWS, it snows!' On the next
page there was a miserable tenement,
and the door was open, and child. wan
and sick and ragged and wretched, was
locking out, and he said, "Oh, my God,
| it snows!'' The winter of gladness or of
grief, according to our circumstances.
But, my friends, there is more than one
way Of warming up this cold world, for
it is cold world in more respects than
one, and I am here to consult with you
as to the best way Of warming up the
world. Iwant to have great heater in
troduced into all your churches and all
your homes throughout the world. 1t is
heater of divine patent. 1t has many
pipes with which to conduct heat, and
| it has door in which to throw the fuel.
Once get this heater introduced and it
! will turn the arctic zone into the tenn
perate, and the temperate into the
| tropics. It is the powerful heater, it is
| the glorious furnace of Christian sympa-
thy. The question ought to be, instead
of how much heat can we absorb, How
much heat can we throw out: There are
men who go through the world floating
icebergs. They freeze everything with
their forbiddiug look. The hand with
which they shake yours is as cold as the
paw of polar bear. If they float into
religious meeting, the temperature
| drops from 80 above to 10 degrees below
zero. There are icicles hanging from
their eyebrows. They float into reli-
gious meeting and they chill everything
with their jeremiads. Cold prayers, cold
songs, cold greetings, cold sermons
| Christianity on ice! The church great
refrigerator. Christians gone into winter
quarters. Hibernation! On the other
hand, there are people who go through
the world like the breath Of spring
morning, Warm greetings, warm pray
ers, warm smiles, warm Christian infu-
ence. There are such persons. We bless
! God for them. We rejoice in their COM
panionship.
| Fellow Feeling.
A general in the English army, the
army having halted for the night, hay
ing lost his baggage, lay down tired and
sick without any blanket. An officer
came up and said: "Why, you have no
blanket. III 90 and get you blanket. y
He departed for few moments and
then came back and covered the general
up with a very warm blanket. The gen.
eral said, "Whose blanket is this?" The
officer replied, II got that from a pri-
yate soldier in the Scotch regiment,
Ralph Macdonald" "Now," said the
general, "you take this blanket right
back to that soldier. He can no more do
without it than I can do without 1t.
Never bring to me the blanket of pri-
vate soldier" How many men like that
general would it take to warm the
| world up? The vast majority Of US are
anxious to get more blankets, whether
ANYBODY else is blanketed or not. Look
at the fellow feeling displayed in the
rocky Gefle between Jerusalem and
! Jericho in Scripture times. Here is
man who has been set upon by the
bandits, and in the struggle to keep his
property he has got wounded and
mauled and stabbed, and he lies there
half dead A priest rides along. He sees
him and says: "Why, what's the mat
ter with that man? Why, he must be
hurt, lying on the fat of his back. Isn't
it strange that he should lie there! But
I can't stop. I am On my way to temple
services Go along, you beast. Carry
me up to my temple duties" After
awhile a Levite comes up. He looks
over and says: "Why, that man must
be very much hurt. Gashed on the fore
head. What pity. Stabbed under his
ann. What pity. Tut, tut! What a
pity! Why, they have taken his clothes
nearly away from him. But I haven't
time to stop. lead the choir up in the
temple service. Go along, you beast.
Garry me up to my temple duties. "
After awhile Samaritan comes along
-one who you might suppose through a
national I c,rndoe might have rejected this