The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-07-22

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| famine to the heart of the sick and dy-
ing nations. Beautiful at the start,
horrible at the last. Oh, how many
have experienced it.
Are there here those who are votaries
| of pleasure? Let me warn you, my
brother You pleasure boat is far from
shore, and your summer day is ending
roughly, for the winds and the waves
are ioud-voiced, and the overcoming
clouds are all awrithe and agleam with
terror. You are past the ''narrows,"
and almost outside the Hook" and il
the Atlantic take the free, frail mortal,
thou shalt never get to shore again.
Put back, row swiftly, swifter, swifte-'
Jesus from the shore casteth rope.
Clasp it quickly, now Or never. Al,
are there not some of you who are
freighting all your loves and hopes
upon a vessel which shall never reach
breakers. One heave upon the rocks. Oh,
what an awful crash was that! Another
! lunge may crush thee beneath the
spars or grind thy bones to powder
amid the torn timbers. Overheard for
your life, overheard! Trust not that
loose plank nor attempt the wave, but
quickly clasp the feet of Jesus walking
on the watery pavement, shouting
until He hear thee: Lord, save me, or
perish Sin beautiful at the start
oh, how sad, how distressful at the
you is hollow. The fruit it offers to
your taste is poison. The promise it
makes to you is 4 lie. Over that I'M
gOdly banquet the keen sword of Gods
| Judgment hangs, and there are Cmi-
nous handwritings on the walls.
Observe also in this subject how re-
pelling sin is when appended to great
attractiveness. Since Ewes death there
has been no such perfection of woman
hood. You could suggest an attractive
ness to the body Or suggest any refine
ment to the manner. You could add no
gracefulness to the gait, no luster to
the eye, no sweetness to the voice. A
perfect God made her a perfect WON.
an, to be the companion of perfect
man in perfect home, and her entire
nature vibrated in accord with the
rebelled against Gods government, and
with the same hand with which she
plucked the fruit she launched upon
the world the crimes, the wars, the tu-
mults that have set the universe a.
wailing.
A terrible offset to all her attrac-
tiveness We are not surprised when
nd
gar going into transgression. We ex-
pect that people who live in the ditch
shall have the manners of the ditch;
but how shocking when we find sin APP
pended to superior education and to
the refinements of social life! The ac-
complishments of Mary Queen of Scots
make her patronage of Darnley, the
profiigate, the more appalling. The
genius of Catherine II. of Russia only
sets forth in more powerful contrast
her unappeasa BILE ambition. The
TRANSACTIONS from the Greek and the
Latin by Elizabeth, and her wonderful
qualifications for a queen, make the
more disgusting her capriciousness of
affection and her holiness of temper.
The greatness of Byron's mind makes
the more alarming Byron's sensuality.
My subject also impresses me with
the regal influence of woman. When
| see Eve with this powerful influence
over Adam and over the generations
that have followed, it suggests to me
the great power all women have for
good or evil l have no sympathy,
nor have you, with the hollow
batteries showered upon woman
from the platform and the |
stage. They mean nothing; they
sare accepted as nothing. Womans no
bility consists in the exercise Of a
Christian influence; and when l see'I
this powerful influence of Eve upon |
her husband and upon the whole hui |
man race | make up my mind that the |
frail arm of woman can strike blow |
which will resound through all eterni- |
ty down among the dungeons or up
among the thrones.
Of course, l am not speaking of rep
resentativ women--of Eve, who ruined |
the race by one uit-picking; of Jael,
who drove spike through the head Of |
Sisera the warrior; of Esther, who over
came royalty; of Abigail, who stopped |
host by her own beautiful prowess;
of Mary, who nursed the worlds Saw
Jour; of Grandmother Lois, immor- |
talized in her grandson Timothy; of |
Charlotte Corday, who drove the dagger
through the heart of the assassin of her
lover, or of Marie Antoinette, who. by |
one look from the balcony of her castle, |
quoted a mob, her own scaffold the |
throne of forgiveness and womanly |
courage. | speak not of these extra |
ordinary persons, but of those who,
unambitious for political power, as
wives and mothers and sisters and |
daughters, attend to the Thousand sweet |
offices of home.
When at last we come TO calculate |
the forces that decided the destiny OF |
nations it will be be found that the |
nightiest and grandest influence came |
from home, where the wife cheered up |
dependency and fatigue and sorrow
by her own sympathy, and the mother
trained her child for Heaven, starting |
the liffl 10 foot ~ ! u /, 70