The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-02-15

tOOK u Old IaW-g1verS breath away
as he looked at it. And then without
a pang-as I learn from the statement
that the eye of Moses was undimmed
and his natural force unabated-God
touched the great lawgiver's eyes and
they closed, and his lungs and they
ceased, and his heart and it stopped,
and commanded, saying, ITO 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 to the opening Of a
cave and placed in a crypt, and one
stroke of the divine hand smoothed
the features of the everlasting calm,
and a rock was rolled to the door, and
the only obsequies, at which God did
all the Offices of priest and undertaken
and g~ravedigger and mourner, were
ended.
Oh, was not Miriam, the sister of
Moses, doing a good thing, an impor-
tant thing, a glorious thing when she
watched the boat woven of river plants
and made water tight with asphaltum,
a IuSo tto jill pdSSCuScl DIu Suc
not put all the ages of time and of a
coming eternity under obligation when
she defended her helpless brother from
the perils aquatic, reptilian and raven
GUS? She it was that brought that
wonderful babe and his mother togeth-
er, SO that he was reared to be the de-
liverer 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 W this adopted child would
have come to coronation. Had there
been no Miriam there would have been
no Moses. What a garland for faith
full sisterhood! For how many a law
giver, and how many a hero, and how
many d%eliverer and how many a saint
are the world and the church indebted
to a watchful, loving, faithful, godly
sister? Come up out of the farm
houses, come up out OF the incOnspic-
uOus 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 Mi
Rams who watched and protected the
leaders in law, and medicine, and mer-
chandise, and art, and agriculture, and
mechanics, and religion! If I should
ask all physicians, and attorneys, and
merchants, and ministers Of religion,
and successful men of all professions
and trades who are indebted to an
o1dor1u cictar for ooOI inA,1anonc on1
perhaps for an education or a prosper
Gus start to let it be known, hundreds
would testify. 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 replenishing of a sisters ward
robe. 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
character for usefulness and for heav-
en-! She can keep off from her broth
err more evils than Miriam could have
driven back waterfowl and crocodile
from the ark of bulrushes. The older
sister decides the direction in which
the cradle boat shall sail. By gentle
ness, by COON sense, by Christian prin-
ciple, she can turn it toward the palace
not of a wicked Pharaoh, but of a holy
God, INT a brighter princess thar
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 her! Born while yet
the family was in limited circum-
stances, she had bold and take care
of her younger brothers,. And if there
is anything that excites my sympathy
it is a 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 woman
hood she is pale and worn out, and
her at~tractiveness has been sacrificed
on the altar of sisterly fidelity, and
she is consigned to celibacy, and socie-
ty call her by an unfair name, but
il heaven they call her Miriam. In
most families the two most undesira-
BILE places in the record of births are
IlC ulSId Ill IlC loOt III LIZ bCSou0S
she is worn out with the cares of g
home hat cannot afford to hire helI
and the last because she is spoiled as
a pet. Among the grandest equipages
that sweep through the streets Of
heaven will be those occupied by sis
tiers who sacrificed themselves fol
brothers. They will have the finest
of the A%poclyptic white horses, ant
many who on earth turn out to LEI
them pass, the charioteer crying
Clear the way! A queen is coming!'
Let sisters not begrudge the time
and care bestowed on a brother. It i:
hard to believe that any boy that yot
know so we'll as your brother can eve
turn out any thing very useful. Well
he may not be a Moses. There is ONLY
one of that kind needed for 5000 years
But 1 tell you what your brother will
be-either a blessing or a curse tt
society and a candidate for happiness