Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-06-19

orchards You can advance arbOricul-
ture and arrest this deathful iconoclasm
OF she American forests. You can put a
piece of sculpture into the niche of that
public academy. You can endow a col
lege. You can stocking thousand bare
feet from the winter frost You can
build a church You can put a mission
airy Of Christ on that foreign shore You
can help ransom a world. A rich man
with his heart right-cIn you tell me
how much good q James LenOx or a
George Peabody CT a Peter Cooper or
William E. Dodge did while living, or
is doing now that he is de.d? There is
not a city, town or ne.cEbC-hool that
has not glorious specir-eL- Il con ..3;Ci
wealth.
But suppose you ~-ind ;ha face f tic
poor Suppose whOn IA LlGn : v-a--s aca
due you make him wait for tl,m le.
cause he cannot help himself SurposH
that, because his family is sick and J.
has had extra expenses, he should po-
litely ask you to raise his wagos for this
year and you roughly tell him if be
wants better place to 90 and get it.
Suppose by your manner you act as
though he were nothing and you were
everything. Suppose you are selfish and
overbearing and arrogant. Your first
name ought to be Attila and your last
name Attila, because you are the star
| WormwoOd, and you have imbittered
one third if not three thirds of the
waters that roll past your employees and
operatives and dependents and assOci-
ates, and the long line of carriages
which the undertaken orders for your
funeral, in order to make the occasion
respectable, will be filled with twice as
many dry, fearless eyes as there are per-
sons occupying them.
There is an erroneous idea abroad
that there are only few geniuses.
There are millions Of them-that is, men
and women who have especial adapta-
ton and quickness for some one thing.
1t may be great; it may be small The
circle may be like the circumference Of
the earth or no larger than a thimble.
There are thousands Of geniuses, and in
some one thing you are a star What
kind of a star are you? You will be in
this world but a few minutes. As COM
pared with eternity the stay Of the
longest life ON earth is not more than a
minute. What are we doing with that
minute? Are we imbittering the domes-
tic or social or political fountains or are
we like Moses, who, when the Israelites
in the wilderness complained that the
waters Of Lake Marah We're bitter and
they could not drink them, cut off the
branch Of certain tree and threw that
branch into the water, and 1t became
sweet and slaked the thirst Of the suffer
ing host? Are we with branch Of the
Tree of Life sweetening all the brackish
fountains that we can touch!
Three Wishes.
Dear Lord, send us all out on that
mission. All around US imbittered lives
-imbittered by persecution, imbittered
by hypercriticism, imbittered by poy-
erty, imblttered by pain, imbittered by
injustice, imbittered by sin. Why not
90 forth and sweeten them by smile, by
inspiring words, by benefactions, by
hearty counsel, by prayer, by gospel
lied behavior? Let us remember that II
we are wOrmwOOd to others we are
wormwood to ourselves, and our life
will be bitter and our eternity bitterer.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only
sweetening power that is sufficient. It
sweetens the disposition. 1t sweetens
the manners. 1t sweetens life. 1t sweet
ems mysterious providences. 1t sweetens
Affections. II sweetens death. 1t sweet
ems everything 1 have heard people
asked in social company, If you could
have three wishes gratified, what would
your three wishes be-" If could have
three wishes met this morning, l tell
you what they would be: l. More OF
the grace of God. 2. More Of the grace
of God. 8. More of the grace Of God.
In the dooryard of my brother John,
missionary in Annoy, China, there was
tree called the emperor tree, the two
characteristics of which are that 1t al
WAYS grows higher than its surround
ings. and its leaves take the form Of
crown. If this emperor tree be planted
by a rosebush, it grows little higher
than the bush and spreads out above 1t
a crown. If it be planted by the side Of
another tree, it grows little higher
than that tree and spreads above 1t
crown. Would God that this religion
of Christ. more wonderful emperor
tree, might overshadow all your livesl
Are you lowly in ambition or circum-
stance. putting over you its crown! Are
YOU high in talent and position, putting
over yOu its crown? Oh, for more OF the
saccharine in our lives and less Of the
wormwCodl
What is true Of individuals is true Of
nations God sets them up to revolye
as stars, but they may fall wormwood
Tyre, the atmosphere of the desert,
fragrant 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 bazaars
filed with upholstery from Dedan' WIN
emerald and coral and agate from Syria,
with wines from Helbon, with embroid-
cred work from Ashur and Chilmad
Where now the gleam Of her towers.
where the roar of her chariots, wher>
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 challenged
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 wormwood and has
fallen.
Turned to Norwood.
Hundred gated Thebes, for all time
TO be the study of the antiquarian and
hieroglyphist, her stupendous ruins
spread over 27 miles. her sculptures
presenting in figures Of warrior and
chariot the victories with which the now
forgotten kings of Egypt shook the ma
tions. her obelisks and columns, Carnac
and Luxor. the stupendous temples OF
her pridel Who can imagine the great
Il ,,oss of Thahos in those days when the