The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1898-02-11

| force unabated--GOd touched Cne Breao
lawgiver's eyes and they closed, and
his lungs and they ceased, and his
heart and it stopped, and commanded,
saying, "To the skies, thou immortal
spirit" And then one divine hand was
put against the back of Moses and the
other hand against the pulseless breast,
and God laid him softly down on Mount
Nebo. and then the lawgiver, lifted IN
the Almighty's arms. was carried 10
the opening of cave and placed IN
crypt, and one stroke of the divine hand
smoothed the features into an everlast-
ING calm. and a rock was rolled to the
door, and the only obsequies, at which
God did all the offices of priest and IN
dertaker and gravedigger and mourner,
were ended.
Oh. was not Miriam, the sister OF
Moses doing good thing, an lmpor-
tant thing, a glorious thing when she
watched the boat woven Of river plants
and made water tight with asphaltum,
carrying it's one passenger? Did she not
nut all the ages of time and of 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 dellverer
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 sisterhoodl For how
many lawgiver, and how many hero,
and how many deliverer, and how
many a saint are the world and the
church indebted to watchful, loving,
faithful, cody 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 prosperous start
to 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 sister wardrobe. While
the brother sailed off for a resounding
sphere the sister watched him from the
banks of self denial.
The Elder Sisters Influence.
Miriam was the eldest of the family.
Moses and Aaron, her brothers, were
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 it to-
ward the palace not of a wicked Pha-
raoh, but of a holy God, and brighter
princess than Thermutis should lift
him out of peril. even religion, whose
ways are ways of pleasantness and all
her paths are peace. The older sister,
how much the world owes herl Born
while yet the family was in limited cir
cumstances, she had to hold and take
care of her younger brothers. And if
there is anything that excites my sym
pathy it is little girl Juggling round a
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 her attractiveness 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 III the r6COru VI ulrtHS dIo Ino
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
comingW
Let sisters not begrudge the time and
care bestowed on a brother. 1t is hard
to believe that any boy that you know
SO well as your brother can ever turn
out anything very useful. Well, he may
not be Moses. There is only one of
that kind needed for 6, 900 years. But l
tell you what your brother will be
either blessing or a curse to society
and candidate for happiness or wretch
edness. He will, like Moses, have the
choice between rubies and living Goals,
and your influence will have much to
do with his decision. He may not, like