The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-10-07

politics moro than the clergy ara nave
better opportunity Ct being intelligent
OIL those subjects. But good morals,
honesty, loyalty, Christian patriotism
ard the Ten OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES VIC
must preach. God says distinctly i'll the
Bible, "The silver and the gold arc
mire," and hc will settle the contro-
ycrsy between those two metals. If ever
this country needed tho divine rescue it
needs it now. Never within my mem
ory have SO many people literally
starved to death as in the past few
months. Have you noticed in the news
papers how many men and women here
and there have been found Gead, the
post mortem examination stating that
the cause of death was hunger?
There is not day that VIC do Lot
hear the crash Of some great commercial
establishment, and as a consequence
many people are thrown out of employ
ment. Among what we considered
comfortable hcmcs have come prlvatlon
and close calculation and all economy
that kills. Millions of people who say
nothing about it are at this moment at
their wits end. There arc millions Cf
people who do not want charity, but
want work. The cry hes gone up TO tie
ears Of the "L'ord CT Sabaoth. ard the
rrayer will be heard and relief will
ccme. If we have nothing Better to de-
pend on than American politics, relief
will never come. Whoever is elected to
the presidency, the wheels Ct govern
ment turn 80 slowly, and a caucus III
yonGer white building Oh the hill may
tie the hands Of any president. Now,
though we who live i'll the District OF
Columbia cannot vote, VIC can pray, and
my prayer day and night shall Ee: 80
Gcd, hear the cry Of the souls from un-
der the altar! Thou who has brought
tie wheat and corn of this season to
such magnitude of supply, give food to
man and beast. Thou who hadst not
where to lay thy head, pity the shelter
less. Thou who has brought TO pedcc-
ticn the cotton of the south and the fax
Of tie north, clothe tic naked. Ihcu
who hast filled the mine with coal, give
fuel 10 the shivering. Bring bread to
the tcdy, intelligence TO the mind, and
salvation to tho soul Of all the people!
God save tho nation!"
But we must admit it is hard gate
to push back. Millions Of thin hands
have pushed ut it without making 1t
swing on its hard hinges. 1t is gate
made out of empty flour barrels, and
cold fire CRATES, and worn out apparel,
and cheerless homes, and unmedicated
sickness, and ghastliness, and horror.
1t is a cato of struggle. A gate OF
penury. A gate Of walt. A gate of dis
appointment. A red gate, or what
Isaiah would have called a cato OF car
buncles.
A Life of Struggle.
Now, as I 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 knew any
one to whom it is not a struggle.
Louis XIV thought he had everything
fixed just right and fixed to stay, and
so he had the great clcck at Bordeaux
made. The hours Of that clock were
struck by figures in bronze representing
the kings of Europe, and ct q certain
time of day William III Of England and
other kings were made to come cut and
bow to Louis XIV. But the clock got
out of order che 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 tho clock CT 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 COMO dis
appointment and struggle. God has Tor
some good reason arranged 1t so. II 1t
is not poverty, it is sickness II 1t IS ros
sickness, it is persecution. If it Is not
persecution, it is contest with some evil
appetite. If it is net scmo evil appetite,
it is bereavement. If it is not one thing,
it is another. Do rot get soured- and
cross and think your case is peculiar.
You are Just like tie 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
thousand dollars year income sleeps
sounder and has better appetite than
the man who has five millions. If cur
life were not struggle, VIC would never
consent to get out Of this world, and
we would want to stay here, and SO
block Up the way Of the advancing gen
erations. BY the time that man gets
to be 20 years cf age, and sometimes -
the time he gets to be SO years OF age,
he gays, Il have had enough cf this.
and when the Lcrd wills it I am ready
to emigrate to country where there
are no taxes, and the silver Ct the trUu.-
pet put to ones lips has no quarrel with
the gold of the pavement under h:s
feet.'' We have in this world mcre op-
portumty to cultivate patience than to
cultivate any other grace. Let that
grace be strengthened in the royal gym
nasium Of obstacle and opposition, and
by the help of God, having overcome
our own hindranccs and worrimcnts,
let US 20 forth TO help others whose
struggle is greater than Cur own.
A Story.
A friend told me the other day CT
shoemaker in a Russian city whose
bench was in the basement Ct build
ing ard SO far underground that lie could
see only the feet Of those who went by
on the sidewalk. Seated Oh his bench,
he often locked up, and there went the
swift and skipping feet OF children, and
then the slow ard uniform step Ct Tie
AGED, and then feet with shoes old and
worn out, and then crippled feet, and
he resolved lie would Go a kindness to
each one who needed it. So when tie
foot with the old ard Worn out shoe
was passing, he would hail it ard make
for it a comfortable covering, for l:c
had tho hammer, and the Icgs, ard the
shce lasts, and the lap stcrc, and the
leather to do it. And when lie saw the
invalid foot pass, he would hail it and
on f,:t and cffcr medicine ard CTutCh