Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-07-08

uOlN NOul III hUAAlN " Nun " ~ ARANf q
be associated with hunters horn, and
captiye's chain, and bridal hour, and
lute's thrOb, and curfew's knell at the
diving day, and scores and hundreds Of
women, unknown on earth, who have
given water to the thirsty, and bread to
the hungry, and medicine TO the sick,
and smiles TO the discouraged, their
footsteps heard along dark lane. and in
government hospital, and in almshouse
corridor, and by prison gate: There may
be no royal robe, there may be no pala-
tial surroundings. She does not need
them, for all charitable men will unite
with the cracking lips Of fever struck
hospital and plague blotched lazaretto
in greeting her as she passes: Hail,
hail Queen YashtiH
stamp of womanly Indignation.
Again, want you to consider Nashti
the yeiled. Had she appeared before
Ahasuerus and his court on thar day
with her face uncovered she would have
shocked all the delicacies Of oriental SOC
ciety, and the very men who in their
intoxication demanded that she come
in their sober moments would have de-
spiscd her. As some flowers seem TO
thrive best in the dark lane and IN the
shadow and where the sun does not seem
to reach them. SO God appoints to most
w0manly natures a retiring and unob-
trusiye spirit God once in awhile does
call IN Isabella 20 a throne or a Miriam
to strike the timbrel at the front of Il
host or a Marie Antoinette to quell a
French mob or a Deborah 10 stand at
the front of an armed battalion, crying
ont: up, up! This Is the day in which
the Lord will deliver Sisera into thy
hands. And when the women are call
ed to such outdoor work and % such
heroic positions God prepares them for
it, and they have iron in their soul and
lighmings in their eye and whirlwinds
in their breath, and the borrowed
strength Of the Lord omnipotent in their
right arm. They walk through furnaces
as though they were hedges of wild
flowers, and cross seas as though they
were ,himmering sapphire, and all the
harpies Of hell down 10 their dungeon
at the stamp of womanly indignation.
But these are the exceptions. Gener-
ally. Dorcas would rather make a gar
ment for the poor boy Rebecca would
rather fill the trough Of the camels;
Hannah would rather make a coat for
samuel; the Hebrew maid would rath-
er give a prescription for Naaman' ; lcp-
rosy; the woman of Sarepta would rath-
er gather few sticks to cook a meal
for famished Elijah; Phebe would rath-
er carry letter for the inspired apos-
tie: Mother Lois would rather educate
Timothy in the Scriptures. When l see
woman going about her daily duty,
with cheerful dignity presiding at the
table, with kind and gentle bur firm
discipline presiding in the nursery, GO
ing out into the world without any
blast of trumpets, following IN the foot
steps of him who went about doing good
II say. This is Yashti with veil on '
But when / see woman of unblush-
ing boldness loud voiced, with a tongue
of infinite Glitter clatter with arrogant
look passing through the streets with
the step of walking beam, gayly ar
rayed in a very hurricane Of millinery. l
cry out. "Nashti has lost her veil NY
When | see woman, struggling for po-
litical preferment, trying 70 force her
way on up to conspicuity amid the mas
culine demagogues who stand with
swollen fists and bloodshot eyes and
pestiferous breath 10 guard the polls,
wanting % 20 through the loaferlsm
and defilement of popular soycrcigns
who crawl up from the saloons greasy
and foul and yermin covered to decide
questions of justice and order and civil
| see a woman, l say,
who wants TO press through all that
horrible scum TO get 70 public place and
power, l say: All, what pity Nashti
has lost her yeil!'
When | see a woman Of comely fea-
lures and Of adroitness Of intellect and
endowed with all that the schools can
do tor her and Of high social position,
YET moving in society with supercillous-
ness and hauteur a. though she would
have people know their place and Will
an underlined combination of giggle and
strut and rhodomontade, endowed with
quantities Of tails but only
inhnite>imals of sons. thc
terror of dry goods clerks and milfoa
discoyerers of ,i-uiiicaE
IN plain conversation. proal
gle, Of badinage and innucndo. l say
"Nashti has lost her yeili'
A Oueenly Sacrifice.
Again, l want you thi, morning ~
Vashti the sacrifice. Who L.
thi. that | see coming out OF chat palace
gate of Shushan. IL seems % me that
| have seen her before. Sheccmes home
less. houseless. friendless trudging
along with a broken heart Who Is she!
1t is Vashti the sacrifice. Oh. what a
change it was from regal position to a
crust \ little while ago APP
proved and sought for; now none SO
poor as to acknowledge her acqualnt-
Yashti the sacrifice!
All, you and | have seen 1t many a
time. Here is home empalaced with
beauty. All that refinement and books
and wealth can do for that home has
been done, but Ahasuerus, the husband
and the father, is taking hold ON paths
of sin. He is gradually going down.
After awhile he will founder and strug-
gle like wild beast in the hunters
net. farther away from God, farther
away from the right. Soon the bright
apparel of the children will turn to
rags. soon the household song will be-
come the sobbing Of broken heart. The
old story over again. Brutal Centaurs
breaking up the marriage feast of Lani-
the. The house full Of outrage and
cruelty and abomination, while trudg-
ing forth from the palace gate are Vashti
and her children. There are homes in
all parts of this land that are in dan
ger of such breaking up. Oh, Ahasuerus,
that You should stand in home. by