Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1898-08-12
THE BEAUTIFUL QUEEN.
Nashti the Yelled, vashti the Sacrl.
feed, Nashti the Silent.
hev' T. Dewitt Talmage Commcnds Mod
es'y In Woman and Draws "a Useful Irs.
son From tho Story of Drunken
Ahasuerus and His Lovely Queen.


and the princes her beauty, for she
was fair to look upon; but the Queen.
Nashtl refused TO COME
We stand amid the palaces OF Shu-
shan. The pinnacles are ahame with
the morning light The columns rise
festooned and wreathed, the wealth of
empires flashing from the grooves, the
ceilings adorned with images of bird
and beast and scenes of prowcss and
conquest The walls are hung with
shields and emblazoned until it seems
the whole round OF splendors is cx-
hausted, Each arch is n mighty leaf of
architectural achievement. Golden
stars shining on glowing arabesque.
llangings of embroidered work in
which minele the blueness of the sky,
the greenness of the grass and the
whltenesS of the sea foam. The tapes
tries hung On silver rings, wedding to-
gether the pillars of marble pavil-
ions reaching out in every direction.
These for reposc, filled with luxuriant
couches, in which weary limbs sink
until all fatigue is submerged. Those
for carousal where kings drink down
ing spectacle! Light of silver drip
ping down over stairs of ivory on
shields of gold. Floors of stained mar
bic, sunset red and hight black and in
laid with cleaning pearl. In connec-
ton with this palace there is Il garden
where the mighty men of foreign lands
are seated at banquet Under the
spread OF oak and linden and acacia
The tables are arranged. The breath
of honeysuckle and frankincense fills
the air, Fountains leap up into the
light, the spray struck through with
rainbows falling with cryptalline bap-
tism upon Towering shrubs, then roll
ing down through channels of marble
and widening out here and there into
POOLS swirling with fnny tribes of
foreign aquariums, 'bordered with
scarlet anemoncs, hypericums and
many colorcd ranunculi.
Meats of rarest bird and beast smol-
ing up amid wrcaths of aromatics.
The vases filed with apricots and al
moads. The baskets piled up with
anricots and hgs and oranges and POM
egranates. Melons tastefully twined
with leaves of acacia The bright wa
tiers of Eul@us filing the urns and
dropping outside the rim in flashing
beads amid tie trGceries. Wine from
the royal vats of Isl ahan and Shiraz,
| -, 1attlna nf t;a,rnl cl,a11 ap1 lilt.
shared cups of silver aud flagons and
tankards of solid gold. The music
rises higher and the revelry breaks out
into wilder TRANSPORT, and the wine
has flushed the cheek and touched the
brain, and louder than all other voices
are the hiccough of the inebriates, the
gable OF fools and the song of the
drunkaris.
In another part of the palace Queen
Vashti is entertaining the princess of
Persia at a banquet. Drunken Ahas-
uerus says to his servants, You go
and fetch Vashti from that banquet
with the women and bring her to this
banquet with the men and let me dis
play her beauty" The servants i'm
mediately Start to obey the kings
command, but there was a rule in
| Oriental society that no woman might
appear in public without having her
face yelled. Yet here is mandate
that no one dare dispute, demanding
that Vashti come in unveiled before
the multitude. However, there was in
Vashti's soul principle more regal
| than AhasueruS, more brilliant than
the gold of Shushan of more wealth
than the realm of Persia, which com
lmanlcd her to disobey this order
Of the king. ard SO all the righteous
ness and holiness and modesty of her
nature rise up into one sublime re-
fusal. She says: Il will not go into
the banquet unveiled" Ahasuerus was
infuriatc, and Nashti, robbed of her
position and her estate. is driven forth
in poverty and ruin to suffer the scorn
OF nation, and yet to receive the APP
lauSe of after generations, who shall
rise up to admire this martyr to king
ly insolenct. Wen, the last vestige OF
that feast is gone, the last garland
has faded, the last arch has fall IN. the
last tlnkarl has been destroyed, anc
Shushan is a ruin, but as long as tho
void stands there will be multitude'
of men and women familiar with the
Bible who will come into this picture
CELERY of God and admire the divine
ortrait of Vashti the queen, WASN'T
the We ID, Vashti the sacrifice, WASN'T
the silent
In the first place want you to look
upon Na>hti the queen. A blue ribbon
rayed with white, drawn arounC
her forehead, indicated her queenlN
position. 1t was no small honor to bc
queen in such Il realm as that Harl
to the rustic Of her robes! See thu
blaze of her jewels, and yet it is no
necessary to have place and rega
robe in order to be queenly. When
, see n woman with stout faith in Coo
putting her foot upon all meannes
and selfishncss and Goddess display
going right forward to serve Chris
and the race by grand AMI gloriou
service. | say, that woman is
queen" and the ranks OF heaven 1901
over the battlements upon the corona
ton. and whether she comes up from
the shanty on the commons or tn
.lansion of the fashionable square
or ct her with the shout, 'all hail
Queen VashtiV
What glory was there on the brow O
Mary of Scotland, or Elizabeth O
England, or Margaret OF France, o
Catharine of Russia compared wit
the worth Of some of our Christian
mothers, many of them gone int
glory; or of that woman mentioned i
the scriptures who PUT her all into tn
Lords treasury; or OF Jephthah
daughter, who made a demonstrate
of unscldsh patriotism; Or OF Abigail
who rescued the herbs and flocks c
b-y husband; or of Ruth, who toile
!. ptder n tropical sun for poor, ole
helpless Naomi; or of Florence Nigh
1 .ss.1.4 a..