Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1898-07-09

dying day, and scores and hundreds OF
women, unknown on EARTH who have
given water to the thirsty, and bread tc
the hungry, and medicine to the sick,
and smiles to the discouraged, theil
footsteps heard along dark lane, and il
government hospital, and i'll 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 strucli
hospital and plague blotched lazarettC
in greeting her as she passes: "Hail,
hail, Queen Vashti!"
Stamp OF Womanly Indignation.
Again, 1 want you to consider Vashti
the yelled Had she appeared before
Ahasuerus and his court on that day
with her face uncovered she would have
shocked all the delicacies of oriental so.
ciety, and the very men who in theil
intoxication demanded that she come
III their sober moments would have de-
spised her. AS some flowers seem tc
thrive best i'll the dark lane and i'll the
shadow and where tho sun does not seem
to reach them, so God appoints to most
wonlanly natures a retiring and unob-
trusive spirit God once i'll awhile does
call All Isabella to throne or Miriam
to strike the timbrcl at the front of a
host or Il Marie Antoinettc to quell a
French mob or Il Deborah to stand at
the front of an armed battalion, crying
out: Cup, upl This is the day i'll which
the Lord will deliver Sisera into thy
hands. I" And when the women arc call
ed to such outdoor work and to such
heroic positions, God prepares them fol
it, and they have iron i'll their soul and
lightnings i'll their eye and whirlwinds
in their breath, and the borrowed
strength of the Lord omnipotent i'll their
right arm. They walk through furnaces
as though they were hedges of wild
flowers, and cross seas as though they
were shimmerinS sapphire, and all the
harpies of hell down to their dungeon
at the stamp Of womanly Indignation.
But these are the exceptions. Gencr-
ally, Dorcas would rather make Il gar
ment for the poor boy; Rebecca would
rather fill the trough of the camels
Hannah would rather make Il coat fol-
Samuel; the Hebrew maid would rath-
er give u prescription for Naaman's lep-
rosy; the woman of Sarcpta would rath-
er gather a few sticks to cook a meal
for furnished Elijah; Phebe would
er carry letter for the inspired AZ
tie; Mother Lois would rather educate
Timothy in the Scriptures. When sec
Il woman going about her daily duty,
with cheerful dignity presiding at the
table. with kind and gentle but firm
discipline presiding in the nursery, 60
ing out into the world without any
blast Of trumpets, following i'll the foot
steps of him who went about doing good
u say, "This is Vashti with a veil on.
But when l see woman of unblush-
ing boldncss, loud voiced, with tongue
Of infnitc Glitter clatter, with arrogant
look, passing through the streets with
the step of IL walking beam, gayly ar
rayed i'll very hurricane of millinery,
cry out, "Vashti has lost her veil !!
When I see woman, struggling for po-
litical preferment, trying to force her
way on up to conspicuity amid the mas
culine demagoSues who stand with
swollen fists and bloodshot eyes and
pestiferous breath to guard the polls,
wanting to go through the loaferisn
and deflcment of popular soverciSns
who crawl up from the saloons greasy
and foul and vermin covered to decide
questions of justice and order and civil
| lizatiolf-wlEs-nI Sec sec a woman, l say,
who wants to press through All Tn
horrible scum to get to public place al
power, I say: All, what a pity! Wash
| has lost her veil -
!, When 1 see a woman of comely fe
, lures and of a;lroitness of intellect al
, endowed with all that the schools C;
do for her and of high social position
!; vet moving in society with superciliou
ness and hauteur as though she won
have people know their place, and Wi
an underlined combination of giggle al
strut and rhodomontade, endowed Wi
allopathfc quantities of talk, but on
homeopathic ! .initesimals of sense, Il
terror of !, goods clerks and railro;
conductors, discoveries of signitical
meanings in plain conversation, prod
gies of badinage and innuendo, I sa.
"Vashti has lost her veil! -