Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-05-01
Folks are so awkward, things so impolitc,
They're elegantly panied from morning until

Theyrc elegantly panied from morning until
night.
Through that gate Of Incidence how
many men and women have marched.
useless on earth, to destroyed cternityl
Spinola said to Sir Horace We're, "Of
what did your brother die:'' "Of hav-
ing nothing to do" was the answer.
"Ah," said Spinola, that's enough to
kill any general of usl' Oh, can 1t be
possible in this world, where there Is SO
much suffering 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 dor?
Mime. 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
manuscript books which she had writ
ten, some one said to her, "How do you
find time to attend to all these things?"
"Oh, I" sho replied, "these are not the
things / am proud Of My chief boast is
in the fact that I have n trades, by any
one of which could make q livelihood
if necessary. And, if in secular spheres
there is so much to be done, in spirit
ual work how vast the field! How many
dying all around about US without one
word of comfort! We want more abb
gals, more Hannahs, more Rebeccas,
more Marys, more Deborahs, consecrat-
ed, body, mind, soul, to the Lord who
bought them.
Cleaning.
Once more learn from my subject
the value of cleaning.
Ruth going into that harvest field
might have said: "There is straw,
and there is q straw, but what is a
straw? 1 can't get any barley for my
self 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 anoth-
er, and another, and then she brought
them together, and she threshed them
out, and she had an ephah of barley,
nigh bushel. Oh, that We might all be
gleanersl
Elihu Burritt learned many things
while toiljng in a blacksmith's shop.
Abercrombie, the world renowned phil
osopher, was a philosopher in Scotland,
and he got his philosophy, or the chief
part of it, while as physician he was
waiting for the door of the sickroom to
open. Yet how many there are in this
day who say they are so busy they have
no time for mental or spiritual improve
ment. The great duties of life cross the
field like strong reapers and carry off
all the hours, and there is only here and
there fragment left that is not worth
cleaning. All, my friends, you could go
into the busiest day and busiest week
of your life and find golden opportuni-
ties, which, gathered, might at last
make whole sheaf for the Lords gar
ner. 1t is the stray opportunities and
the stray privileges which, taken up
and bound together and beaten out, will
at last fill you with much joy.
There are few moments left worth
the cleaning. Now, Ruth to the field!
May each one have measure full and
running over Oh, you cleaners, to the
field And if there be in your household
an aged one or sick relative that is
not strong enough to come forth and
toll in this field, then let Ruth take
home to feeble Naomi this sheaf Of
cleaning, "He that goeth forth and
weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him" May
the Lord God of Ruth and Naomi be
our portion forever!