The Princeton union., 1898-07-14

the battle wounds Of the Crimes? ?-or
OF Mrs. Adoniram Judson. who kindled
the lights Of salvation amid the dark
ness of Burmah?-o Of Mrs. Hemans,
who poured out her holy soul in words
which will forever be associated with
hunters horn, and captive's chain, and
bridal hour, and lute's throb, and cur
few's knell at the dying day ?-and
scores and hundreds of women, un-
known on earth, who have given wa
ter to the thirsty, and bread to the
hungry, and medicine to the sick, and
smiles to the discouraged-their foot
steps heard along dark lane and in gov
ernment hospital, and in almshouse
corridor, and by prison-gate? There
may be no royal robe-there may be
no palatial surroundings. She does
not need them; for all charitable men
will unite with the cracking lips CT
fever-struck- hospital and plague
blotched lazaretto in greeting her as
she passes: Hail! Hail! Queen
Vashti!" .
Again, want you to consider Wash
ii the veiled. Had she appeared be-
fore Ahasuerus and his court on that
day with her face uncovered she would
have shocked all the delicacies of ORR
their intoxication demanded that she
come, in their sober moments would
have despised 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 womanly natures a
retiring and unobtrusive spirit. God
to throne, or Mirian to strike the
tlmbrel at the front of a host, or
Marie Antoinette to quell a French
mob, or Deborah to stand at the front
or an armed battalion, crying out, Cup!
Up! This is the day in which the Lord
Will deliver Sisera into thy hands"
And when the women are called TO
such outdoor work and to such he
roic positions, God prepares them for
it.; and they have iron in their SOUL
and lightnings in their eye, and whirl-
winds in their breath, and the bor-
roWed strength of the Lord Omnipo-
tent in their right arm They walk
through furnaces as though they were
hedges of wild-fowers, and cross seas
as though they were shimmering sap
phire; and all the harpies of hell down
to their dungeon at the stamp of wom-
anly indignation.
But these are the EXCEPTIONS Cen
orally, Dorcas would rather make a
garment for the poor boy; Rebecca
would rather fill the trough of the cam
els; Hannah would rather make a coat
rather, give a prescription for Naa-
mans leprosy; the woman of Sarepta
would rather gather few sticks to
cook a meal for famished Elijah:
Phebe would rather carry letter for
the inspired apostle; Mother Lois
would rather educate Timothy in the
Scriptures. When I see a woman 60
ing about her daily duty, with cheerful
dignity presiding at the table, with
kind and gentle but firm discipline pre-
siding in the nursery, going out into
the. world without any blast of trum-
pets, following in the footsteps of him
who went about doing good say:
This is Vashtt with veil on
But when I see a woman of unblush-
ing boldness. loud voiced, with
tongue of infinite clitter-clatter, with
arrogant look, passing through the
streets with the step of a walking
beam, gayly arrayedj in very hurri-
cane of millinery, I cry out: "Vashti
has lost her veil!" When I see a wom-
an struggling for political preferment
trying to force her way on up to con-
spicuity, amid the masculine dema-
gogues, who stand with swollen fists
and bloodshot eyes and pestiferous
breath, to guard the polls-wanting to
go through the loaferism and defile-
ment Of popular sovereigns, who crawl
up from the saloons greasy and foul
and vermin-covered, to decide uues-
tions of justice and order and civiiiza-
tion-when I see woman. say, who
wants to press through all that horri-
BILE scum to get to public place and
power, say: "Ah. what pity! Wash
tt has lost her veil!"
- When I see woman of comely fea-
lures, and of adroitness Of intellect,
and endowed with all that the schools
can do for her, and of high social DO.
sition, yet moving in society with su-
perciliousness and hauteur, as though
she would have people know their
place, and with an underlined combina-
tion of giggle and strut and rhodomon-
tade, endowed with allopathic quanti-
ties of talk, but only homeopathic in
fnites;mals of sense, the terror of dry
goods clerks and railroad conductors,
discoverers of significant meanings in
plain conversation, prodigies of bad
image and innuendo-I say: ''VashtI
has lost her veil.'
Again, I want you this morning to
consider Vashti the sacrifice. Who is
this that see coming out of that pal
ace gate of Shushan? 1t seems to me
that have seen her before. She comes
homeless, houseless. friendless, trudg-
ing along with broken heart. Who is
she? 1t is Vashti the sacrifice. Oh!
what a change it was from regal posi-
ton to wayfarer's crust! A little
while ago, approved and sought for;
now, none so poor as to acknowledge
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