Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-02-11

door, and the only ObsGlules, at WHICH
God did all the offices Of priest and un-
dertaker and grayedigger and mourner'
were ended.
Oh, was not Miriam, the sister OF
Moses, doing a good thing, an impor-
tant thing, a glorious thing when she
watched the boat woven Of river plants
and made water tight with asphaltum,
carrying its one passenger? Did she not
put all the ages of time and Of a coming
eternity under obligation when she de-
Tended her helpless brother from the
perils aquatic, reptilian and ravenous!
She it was that brought that wonder
full babe and his mother together, so
that he was reared to be the deliverer
of his nation, when otherwise, If saved
at all from the rushes Of the Nile, he
would have been only one more OF the
God defying pharaohs, for Princess
Thermutis of the bathing house would
have inherited the crown Of Egypt, and
as she had no child Of her own this
adopted child would have come TO coro-
nation. Had there been no Miriam there
would have been no Moses. What gar
land for faithful sisterhood For how
many lawgiyer, and how many a hero,
and how many a deliverer, and how
many a saint are the world and the
church indebted to watchtul, loving,
faithful, godly sister? Come up out Of
the farmhouses, come up out Of the in
conspicuous homes, come up from the
banks Of the Hudson, and Penobscot,
and the Savannah, and the Mobile, and
the Mississippi, and all the other Niles
of America, and let us see you, the Mir
Jams who watched and protected the
leaders in law, and medicine, and mer-
chandise. and art and agriculture, and
mechanics, and religion! If should ask
all physicians, and attorneys, and mer-
chants, and ministers of religion, and
successful men of all professions and
trades who are indebted to an elderly
sister for good influences and perhaps
for an education or a prosperous start
10 let it be known, hundreds would tes-
tify. God knows how many Of our
Greek lexicons and how much Of our
schooling were paid for by money that
would otherwise have gone for the re-
plenishing of a sister S wardrobe. While
the brother sailed off for a resounding
sphere the sister watched him fHm the
banks Of self denial.
The Elder Sisters Influence.
Miriam was the eldest Of the family.
Moses and Aaron, her brothers, we're
Younger. Oh, the power Of the elder
sister to help decide the brothers. char
acter for usefulness and for heaven! she
can keep off from her brother more evils
than Miriam could have driven back
waterfowl or crocodile from the ark OF
bulrushes. The older sister decides the
direction in which the cradle boat shall
sail. By gentleness, by good sense, by
Christian principle, she can turn 1t TO-
ward the palace not Of wicked Pha-
raoh. but of a holy God, and a brighter
princess than Thermutis should lift
him out of peril, even religion, whose
ways are ways Of pleasanmess and all
her paths are peace The older sister,
how much the world owes her! Born
while vet the family was in limited cir
cumstances, she had TO hold and take
care of her younger brothers. And II
there is anything that excites my SYM
pathy it is a little girl Juggling round
great fat child and getting her ears
boxed because she cannot keep him
quiet. By the time she gets to young
womanhood she is pale and worn out,
and Ter attractiyeness has been sacri-
feed on the altar Of sisterly fidelity,
and she is consigned to celibacy, and
society calls her by an unfair name, but
in heaven they call her Miriam. In most
families the two most undesirable
places in the record Of births are the
first and the last-the first because she
is worn out with the cares Of home
that cannot afford to hire help and the
last because she is spoiled as pet
Among the grandest equipages that
sweep through the streets OF heaven
will be those occupied by sisters who
sacrificed themselves for brothers. They
will have the finest Of the Apocalyptic
white horses and many who on earth
looked down upon them will have to
turn out to let them pass. the charioteer
CRYING: "Clear the way A queen is
comingl"
Let sisters not begrudge the time and
care bestowed on a brother. 1t Is hard
to believe that any boy that you know
SO we'll as your brother can ever turn
out anything very useful. Well, he may
not be a Moses. There is only one OF
that kind needed for 6. 900 years. But
tell you what your brother will be
either blessing or a curse TO society
and a candidate for happiness or wretcn
edness. He will, like Moses, have th'
) choice between rubies and living Goals
) and your influence will have much Z
r do with his decision. He may not, hk'
9 Moses, be the deliverer Of nation bu'
he may after your father and mothel
/ are gone be the deliverer Of a household
{ What thousands of homes today ar
. piloted by brothers There are proper
= ties now we'll invested and yielding IN
! come lOr tne suppoAb Va SA0N
Younger brothers because the oide
brother rose to the leadership from tn
4 day the father lay down to die. What
r fver you do for your brothers VIII com
h back to you again. If you set him an II
o natured. censorious, unaccommodatin
4 example. it will recoil upon you fron
A his own irritated and despoiled nature
5 If you by patience with his inhrmitie
Q and by nobility Of character dwell Wit
v him in the few years Of your compan
/ ionsbip, you will have your counsels rt
q flected back upon you some day by hi
e splendor Of behavior in some crisi
:. where he would have failed but for you
o Don't snub him. Don't depreciate hi
'e ability. Don't talk discouragingly abou
= his future. Don't let Miriam get dow
d off the bank of the Nile and wade ou
If and upset the ark Of bulrushes Don
i tease him. Brothers and sisters do nc
1f consider it any harm to tease. Tha
y spirit abroad in the family is one OF th
l. ,naanest and most deyilish. There is