Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-10-03


of the north, clothe the naked. Thou
who hast filled the Ininowith coal. give
fuel to the shivoring. Bring bread to
the body, intelligence touhe mind. and
salvation to the SOIL Of all the people!
God gave tho nation!"
But wo must admit it is hard gate
to push back. Millions OF thin hands
have pushed ut it without making &c
swing on its hard hinges. 1t is gate
made out Of empty -four barrels, and
cold fire CRATES, and worn out apparel,
and cherries homes, and unmedicated
sickness, and ghastliness, and horror.
It is cato of struggle. A gate of
penury. A gate Of want. A gate of dis
appointment. A red gate. or what
Isaiah would have called gate Of car
buncles,
A Life of Struggle.
Now, as 1 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
go 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 tho 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 ct the foot
of disaster most regal conditions tum.
bic. 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. III is not
sickness, 1T is persecution. If it is not
persecution, it is contest with some evil
appetite If 1t is not somo 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 1t 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. II our
life were not struggle, we 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 10 years Of age, and sometimes by
the time he gets to be so years of age,
he says, II have had enough Of this.
and when the Lord wills it am ready
to emigrate to country where there
are 10 taxes, and the silver Of the trum-
pet put to ones lips has no quarrel with
the gold Of the pavement under his
feet" We have i'll this world moro op-
portunity to cultivate patience than to
cultivate any other grace. Let that
grace be strengthened in the royal gym
nasium of obstacle ard opposition, and
by the help of God, having overcome
our own hindrances and worrimcnts,
let us 90 forth to help others whose
struggle is greater than our own.
A Story.
a friend told me the other day Of q
shoemaker in q Russian city whose
bench WIS in the basement Of build
ing and so far underground that he could
see only the feet Of those who went by
on the sidewalk. Seated on his bench,
he often looked up, and there went The
swift and skipping feet Of children, and
then the slow and uniform step Of the
aged, and then feet with shoes old and
worn out, and then crippled feet and
he resolved be would do a kindness to
each one who needed it So when the
foot with the old and worn out shoe
waepassing, BIO would hail it and make
for it q com Portable covering, for he
had the hammer, and the regs, and the
shoe lasts, and tho lap stone, and the
leather to do it. And when he saw the
invalid foot pass, he would hail 1t and
20 out and offer medicine and crutch
and helpfulness. And when he saw the
aged foot pass lie hailed it and told the
old man Of heaven, where he would be
young again. When he saw the foot Of
childhood pass on the sidewalk, he
would go out with coed advice and q
laugh that seemed like an echo Of the
child's laugh. Well, time went on. and
as the shocmaker's wants were very
few he worked but little for himself
and most of the time for Others and In
the long evenings, wien he could not
so we'll see the feet passing on the side
walk, he would make shoes of all sizes
and stand them on shelf, ready for
feet that would pass in the daytime. Of
course, as the years went on, under this
process the shoemaker became more and
moro Christian until one The said to
himself: II wish among ,ose feet
passing up there en- the% sidewalk l
could see the feet of the dear Christ
passing. On, if I could only see his
feet 90 by would know them because
they are SCARED feet!" That night the
shoemaker dreamed. and In the dream
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