Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-06-04

| ful merchants Of America and men III
high political places cannot write an
accurate letter on any theme. They are
completely dependent upon clerks, and
deputies. and stenographers, to make
things right | knew a literary man
who in other years in this city made
his fortune by writing speeches for con-
gressmen or fixing them up for The
Congressional Record after they were
delivered The millionaire illiteracy Of
this country is beyond measurement
Ungrarnmatical. but Effective.
Now, suppose a man finds himself in
midlife without education, what is be
to do? Do the best he can. The most ef-
fectiye layman in a former pastoral
charge that ever heard speak on reli-
gious themes could within five mill
utes Of exhortatiOn break all the laws
Of English grammar and if he left any
law unfractured he would complete the
work Of lingual devastation in the
prayer with which he followed it. But
| would rather have him pray for me if
were sick or in trouble than any Chris
tian man | know Of, and in that church
all the people preferred him il exhorta-
tion and prayer to all others. Why? Be-
cause he was so thoroughly piOus and
had such power with God he was ire
sistib.c, and as he went on in his pray
er sinners repented and saints shouted
for Joy, and the beTeayed seemed to get
+ back tLeir dead in celestial companion
ship And when he had stopped praying
! and as soon as could wipe out Of my
! eyes enough tears to see the closing
| hymn | ended the meeting, fearful that
some long winded prayer meeting bore
would pull Us down from the seventh
| heaven
Not a word have l to say against ac-
curacy Of speech or fine elecution or
/ high mental culture. Get all these you
can. Butt do say to those who were
brought up in the day of poor school
houses and ignorant schoolmasters and
no opportunity: You may have so much
Of good in your soul and so much Of
heaven in your everyday life that you
will be mightier for good than any who
went through the curriculum Of HaT-
ward or Yale or Oxford. yet never grad
uated IN the school of Christ When you
get up 10 the gate Of heaven, no one
will ask you whether you can parse the
first chapter of Genesis, but whether
you have learned the fear Of the Lord,
which is the beginning Of wisdom, nor
whether you know how 10 square the
circle, but whether you have lived
square life in a round world Mount
Zion is higher than Mount Parnassus.
But what other mulutudes there are
under other disadvantages! Here Is
Christian woman whose husband thinks
religion "a sham, and while the wife
prays the children one way the husband
swears them another. Or here is
Christian man who is trying 10 do his
best for God aud the church, and his
wife holds him back and says on the
way home from prayer meeting, where
he gave testimony for Christ; what
fool you made Of yourself! hope here
after you Will keep still And when
he would be benevolent and give 500
she criticises him for not giving 90
cents. l must do justice and publicly
thank God that l never proposed a5
home to give anything for any cause Of
humanity or religion but the other part
ner in the domestic firm approved It,
and when it seemed beyond my ability
and faith in God was necessary she had
three-fourths the faith. But | know
men who, when they contribute to char
/ liable objects, are afraid that the wife
/ shall find it out. What a whitening
! curse such a woman must be 70 good
mani
Then there are others under the great
disadvantage Of poverty. Who ought TO
get things cheapest: You say those who
have little means. But they pay more.
You buy coal by the ton; they buy 1t by
the bucket You buy -four by the bar
rel; they buy it by the pound. You get
apparel cheap because you pay cash;
they pay dear because they have to get
trusted. And the Bible was right when
it said, "The destruction of the poor IS
their poverty"
Mistakes In Early Life.
Then, there are those who made
mistake in early life, and that over
shadows all their days. DO you not
know that that man was once IN pris-
on?" is whispered Or, do you know
that that man once attempted suicide!'
Or, do you know that that man once
absconded." Or, do you know that
that man was once discharged for dis
honesty" Perhaps there was only one
wrong deed in the mans life, and that
one act haunts the subsequent half GEN.
tury of his existence.
Others have unfortunate predomi-
nance of some mental faculty, and their
rashness throws them into wild enter
prises. OF their trepidation makes them
decline great opportunity, or there Is a
vein of melancholy in their disposition
that defeats them, or they have an en-
dowment Of Overmirth that causes the
impression Of insincerity.
Others have a mighty obstacle in
their personal appearance, for which
they are not responsible. They forget
that God fashioned their features. and
their complexion and their stature tne
size of their nose and mouth and hands
and feet, and gave them their gait and
their general appearance. and they Tor
Get that much Of the worlds best work
and the churchs best work has been
done by homely people, and that Paul
,he APOSTLE is said to have been hump
backed and his eyesight weakened by
ophthalmia, while many Of the finest IN
appearance have passed their time be-
fore fattering looking glasses or In
studying killing attitudes and IN as
PLAYING the richness Of wardrobes-not
one ribbon or vest or sack or glove or
button or shoestring Of which they have
had brains to earn for themselves.
Others had wrong proclivities from
the start. They were born wrong, ana
that sticks to one even after he is born
again. They have a natural crankiness
that is 275 years old. 1t came over win
their great grandfathers from Scotland
II WAS lOIn on