The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1896-06-26

| Have you ever thought now man
embittered lives there are all abou
us, misanthropic, morbid, acrid, satul
nine? This European plant fror
which wormwood is extracted, arte
misia absinthium, is perennial plant
and all the'year round it is ready t
exude it's oil. And in many humal
lives there is perennial distillatiol
of acrid experiences. Yea, there ar
some whose whole work is to shed |
| baleful influence on others. There ar
Attilas of the home, or Attilas of the SO
cial circle, or Attilas of the church, o.
Attilas of the state, and one-third o
the waters of all the world, if not two
thirds the waters, are poisoned by thu
falling of the star NORWOOD. 1t il
not complimentary to human nature
that most men, as soon as they ge'
great power become overbearing. The
more power men have the better, Il
their power be used for good. The less
power men have the better, if they use
it for evil.
Some of you, know, are morning
stars, and you are making the dawn
ing life of your children bright with
gracious influences, and you are beam
ing upon all the opening enterprises
of philanthropic and Christian en-
deavor, and you are heralds of that
day of gospelization which will yet
flood all the mountains and valleys OF
our sin-cursed earth. Hail, morning
star! Keep on shining with encour-
agement and Christian hope!
Some of you are evening stars, and
you are cheering the last days of old
people; and though cloud sometimes
comes over you through the querulous-
ness or unreasonableness of your old
father and mother, it is only for a
moment, and the star soon comes out
clear again and is seen from all the
balconies of the neighborhood. The
old people will forgive your occasional
shortcomings, for they themselves
several times lost their patience when
you were young, and slapped you
when you did not deserve it. Hail,
evening star! Hang on the darkening
sky your diamond coronet.
But are any of you the star of
Wor M wood? Do you scold and growl
from the thrones paternal or mater
nal? Are your children everlastingly
pecked at? Are you always crying
"Hush!' to the merry voices and swift
feet, and their laughter, which occa-
trickles through at wrong
times, and is suppressed by them until
they can hold it no longer, and all the
barriers burst into unlimited guffaw
and cachinnation, as in high wealth err
the water has trickled through a
slight opening in the mill-dam, but af-
terward makes wider and wider breach
until it carries all before it with ire
sistible freshet? Do not be too much
offended at the noise your children
now make. It will be still enough
when one of them is dead.
Then you would give your right
hand to hear one shout from
their silent voices, or one step from
the still foot. You will not any of
you have to wait very long before your
house is stiller than you want it.
Alas, that there are SO many homes
not known to the Society for the Pre-
vention to Cruelty to Children, where
children are put on the limits and
whacked and cuffed and earpulled,
and senselessly called to order, and
answered sharp and suppressed, until
it is wonder that under such pro-
cesses they do not all turn out Modocs
and Mana Sahibs!
What is true of individuals is true of
God sets them up to revolve
as stars, but they may fall NORWOOD.
Tyre-the atmosphere of the desert,
with spices, coming in cara
vans to her fairs; all seas cleft into
foam by the keels of her laden mer-
chantmen; her markets rich with
horses and camels from Togarmah,
her bazars filled with upholstry
from Dedan, with emerald and
coral and agate from Syria, with
wines from Helbon, with embroidered
work from Ashur and Chilmad.
Where now the CLEAN 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 all nations,
let the barbarians who set their rude
tents where once her palaces glittered,
answer the question. She was 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
her stupendous ruins
spread over " miles; her sculptures
in figures of warrior and
chariot the victories with which the
now forgotten kings of Egypt shook
the nations; her obelisks and columns;