The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-04-14
a. saying. TO tns iii;. skie. shou ,nmors.,

tire Almighty's arms. was carried u
Che opening. of a cave and plaeel ina
crypt. and one stroke OF the ditm1
hand smoothed the features nto an
everlasting calm, and a rock was
rolled to the door. and the only
obsequies, at which God did al! the *
fees of priest and undertaken and
gravedigger and moIrner, were ended.
Oh, was not Miriam, the sister OF
Moses. doing a good thing, an impor.
tant thing when she watched the boat
woven of river plants and made water
tight with asphaltum, carrying its one
passenger. Did she not put all the ages
of time and of a coming eternity under
obligation when she defended her help
less brother from the perils aquatic.
reptilian and ravenous? She it was that
brought that wonderful babe and his
mother together, 80 that he was reared
to be the deliverer 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 Pha-
raohs: for Princess Thermutis of the
bathing house would have inherited the
crown of Egypt, and as she had no
child Of her own this adopted child
would have come to coronation. Had
there been no Miriam there would have
been no Moses. What a garland for
faithful sisterhood! For how many
deliverer and how many saint are the
world and the church indebted to
watchful, loving, faithful, godly sister?
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 char
acter for usefulness and for heaven!
She can keep Off from her brother more
evils than Miriam could have driven
back waterfowl or crocodile from the
ark of bulrushes. The older sister
decides the direction in which the
cradle boat shall sail. BY gentleness,
by good sense. by Christian principle
she can turn 1t toward the palace, not
of wicked Pharoah, but OF holy
God, and a brighter princess than
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 circumstances,
she had to hold and take care Of her
younger brothers. And II there is any
thing that excites my sympathy 1t Is
a little girl Juggling round a great fat
child and getting her ears boxed be-
cause she canot keep him quiet. BY
the time she gets to young womanhood
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 society calls
her by an unfair name, but in heaven
they call her Merriam. In most families
the two most undesirable places in the
record of births are the first and the
last-the first because she is worn out
with the cares OF home that cannot
afford to hire help. and the last because
she is spoiled as a pet.
Let sisters not begrudEe the time and
care bestowed on a brother. 1t is hard
to believe that any boy that you know
50 we'll as your brother can ever turn
out anything very useful. Well, he
may not be a Moses. There is only one
of that kind needed for 5000 years.
But l tell you what your brother will
be--ether a blessing or a curse to So
ciety and a candidate for happiness or
wretchedness. He will. like Moses, have
the choice between rubies and living
Goals, and your influence will have
much to do with his decision. He may
not. like Moses, be the deliverer of a
nation, but he may. after your father
and mother are gone, be the deliverer
Of a household. What thousands of
homes to-day are piloted by brothsrs
There are properties now well invested
and yielding income for the support OF
sisters and younger brothers because
the older brother rose to the leadership
when the father lay down to die. What
ever you do for your brothers will come
back to you again. II you set him an
ill-natured, censorious, unaccommodat-
ing example. it will recoil upon you
nature. II you. by patience with his
infrmities and by nobility Of charac-
ter. dwell with him in the few years OF
your companionship, you will have
your counsels reflected back upon you
some day by his splenGor OF behavior
in some crisis where he would have fall
ed but for you.
Don't snub him. Don't depreciate his
ability. Don't talk discouraginRly
about his future. Don't let Miriam get
down OFF the bank Of the Nile and wade
out and upset the ark Of bulrushes.
Don't tease him. Brothers and sisters
do not consider 1t any harm to tease.
That spirit abroad in the family Is one
Of the meanest and most devilish. There
IL a teasing that is pleasureable and IL
only another form Of innocent raallery
but that which provokes and irrdtates
and makes the eye fash with anger Is
to be reprehended. 1t would be less
blameworthy to take bunch Of thorns
and draw them acro9s YOUR slater I