The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-26


! portauce that Tubal Cain learned the
uses of copper and iron; but that rude
/ foundry of ancient days has its echo IN
4 the rattle of Birmingham machinery, and
the roar and bang of factories on the
1 Merrimac.
/ II seemed to be a matter of no impor-
! lance that Luther found a Bible in
| monastery; but as he opened that Bible
! and the brass-bound lids fell back, they
| Jared everything, and the rustling of the
wormed leaves was the sound of the wings
of the angel of the Reformation. 1t seemed
| to be a matter Of no Importance that wo-
! man, whose name has been forgotten,
| dropped a tract in the way Of very bad
man by the name of Richard Baxter. He
| picked up the tract and read It, and il was
| the means of his salvation. In after-days
that man wrote a book called The Call TO
the Uncovered" that was the means OF
bringing a multitude to God, among others
! Phillip DoddTidge. Phillip Doddridge wrote
a book called The Rise and Progress of
Religion" which has brought thousands
and tens of thousands into the kingdom of
| God and among others the great Wilber-
| force WilberfoTce wrote a book called "A
| Practical View of Christianity" which
was the means of bringing a great multi
tude TO Christ among others Leigh Rich
mOnd. Leigh Richmond wrote a tract called
The Dairymans Daughter" which has
been the means of the salvation of uncon-
Verted multitudes And that tide of in
huence started from the fact that one
Christian woman dropped Christian tract
in the way of Richard Baxter the tide of
influence rolling on through Richard Bax-
ter, through Phillip Doddridge, through
the great Wilberforce through Legh Rich
mond, on, on, on, forever, forever. So the
insignificant events of this world seem, af-
ter all, to be most momentous
Again, 1 see in my subject an illustra-
ton of the beauty of female industry.
Behold Ruth toiling in the harvest field
under the hot sun, or at noon taking plain
bread with the reapers, or eating the
parched corn which Boaz handed to her.
The customs of society, of course, have
changed. and without the hardships and
exposure TO which Ruth was subjected,
every intelligent woman will find some
thing to do.
[ know there is a sickly sentmentality
on this subject In some families there
are persons of no practical service to the
household or community. and though
there are so many woes all around about
them in the world, they spend their time
languishing over a new pattern, or burst
ing into tears at midnight over the story
of some lover who shot himself They
would not deign to look a Ruth carrying
back the barley on her way home to her
mother-in-law, Naomi. All this fastidi-
BUSINESS may seem to do very well while
they are under the shelter of their fathers
house; but when the sharp winter of mis-
fortune comes, what of these butterflies?
Persons under indulgent parentage may
get upon themselves habits of Incidence:
but when they come out into practical life
their soul will recoi with disgust and
chagrin. They will feel in their hearts
what the poet so severely satirized when
he said:
Folks are so awkward, things so impolite,
They're elegantly panied from morning
until night.
Through that gate of incidence how
many men and women have marched use
less on earth, to a destroyed eternity!
Spinola said to Sir Horace We're: "Of
what did your brother die?" "Of having
nothing to do" was the answer "Ahw
said Spinola. that's enough to kill any
general of US" Oh! can it be possible in
this world, where there is so much suf-
fering to be alleviated, so much darkness
to be enlightened, and so many burdens to
be carried, that there is any person who
cannot find anything to do?
Madame de Stael did a world of work
in her time, and one day, while she was
seated amid instruments of music, all of
which she had mastered, and amid manu-
script books which she had written, some
one said to her: How do you find time
to attend to all these things?' ooh" she
replied, these are not the things / am
proud of. My chief boast is in the fact
that have seventeen trades by any one
of which could make livelihood if nee
| essary." And if in secular spheres there
is so much to be done, in spiritual work
how vast the field! How many diving all
around about us without one word of COM
| fort! We want more Abigails, more Han
! nahs, more Rebeccas, more Marys, more
Deborahs consecrated-body. mind soul
to the Lord who bought them.
Once more l learn from my subject the
value of cleaning.
| Ruth going intO that ba rxrast AL ,,.i,.Ls
have said: There is a straw and there
| is a straw, but what is a straw? 1 can't
| get any barley for myself or my mother
| in-law out of these separate straws." Not
so said beautiful Ruth. She gathered
two straws, and she put them together
and more straws, until she got enough to
| make sheaf. Putting that down. she
went and gathered more straws, until she
had another sheaf, and another, and an
other, and another, and then she brought
! them all together and she threshed them
| out, and she had an ephah of barley, nigh
bushel. Oh. that we might all be
| cleaners!
Elihu Burritt learned many things while
toiling in a blacksmith's shop. Aber-
crombie, the world-renowned philosopher
was a philosopher in Scotland, and he got
his philosophy, or the chief part of it,
while, as a physician, he was waiting for
| the door of the sick-room to open. Yet
| they are too busy they have no time for
mental or spiritual Improvement; the great
| duties of life cross the field like strong
| reapers. and carry off all the hours ana
there is only here and there a fragment
left, that Is not worth cleaning. All, my
| friends, you could go into the busiest dav
and busiest week of your life and ind
| golden opportunities, which, gathered
might at last make a whole sheaf for the
Lords garner. II is the stray opportun-
tiles and the stray privileges which, TAX
en- up and bound together and beaten
out, will at last fill you with much JOY.
There are a few moments left worth
| the cleaning. Now. Ruth to the field! Nav
each one have measure full and run
ming over! Oh, you cleaners. to the field!
And II there be in your household an
aged one or a sick relative that is not
strong enough to come forth and toll in
this field. then let Ruth take home to fee
BILE Naomi this sheaf OF cleaning: HE
that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing pre-
| cous seed, shall doubtless come again